Homeandawayfan.

In early 1989, the show was just over a year old, and the new producers wanted it to be a mainly younger persons soap, hence why they introduced a modern Diner, and then the Surf Club in August 1989, and axed Floss and Neville, and, in regards to Tom and Pippa, especially Tom, becoming a more supporting character. The original shop went in April 1989 due to the real life premises being derelict but I feel it would have been written out or majorly refurbished anyway. As said while the 1988 season had several youngsters such as Stevo, Roo, Carly, Alison, Sally, Frank, Bobby and Lance and Martin, we also had the older characters such as Tom, Pippa, Ailsa, Alf, Floss, Neville, Celia, Colleen, Morag and Don, and they were heavily involved in the storylines which focused on the brat pack. We had many scenes in the school classrooms but usually Don was there, and Walter.

Yes, also the Fletcher house was very dated inside in 1988, and the bait shop, on top of the very old fashioned store. Whereas in Neighbours in 1988 the sets were all modern looking and quite clean and tidy. When H&A began, Summer Bay was deffo an old fashioned small remote township by the coast with very few amenities for the locals. Erinsborough was a city suburb, and within easy reach of the city centre.

Yes the first year of the show, while it had younger characters, it did cater for all ages and had several older characters. And yes, the original store did look very dated, and twee. It could have been a 1950s store, not late 1980s. We did have the pinball machine and a small refreshments counter but that was all we got in terms of modernity.

What I liked was in that first year, the original Hogan's store was seen as a main meeting place for the Summer Bayyers, or the rarely seen community hall, or maybe chatter between 2 or more characters on the beach. I guess as the show progressed they needed to bring in more locations such as the Bayside Diner and then the Surf Club. As we know the original store had a sweet/refreshments area and a couple of tables and the pinball machine. For a TV show where younger characters were often the main focus I guess H&A needed to introduce a bigger meeting place or 2.

Shane and Angel. Yet he was killed off and Angel got with boring and forgettable Alex. Lance and Martin in their 2006 return, announcing they are an LGBT couple and leave together.

The amount of Neighbours and H&A actors in either All Saints or Blue Heelers is through the roof. Usually it is many H&A actors in All Saints and many Neighbours actors in Blue Heelers.

Lance and Martin's kitchen and living room in 1988/1989 has a virtually identical layout to Amos and Mr Wilks back living quarters of the first Emmerdale Woolpack 1972-1976. And the walk in cupboard in the top left corner of the room. Must just be coincidence as I doubt sets in British TV soaps get shipped to Australia once no longer used. It is like the interior brick walls of Summer Bay High in H&A looked pretty identical to some of the prison walls in Prisoner Cell Block H. Same design. Yes, another comparison but this is different to Morag and Madge looking identical.

It was nice to see that Alf's grief was genuine in that flashback we saw in Feb 1989 episodes, and he assumed Martha was dead, and he was expecting her to walk through the door. During the 1988 season Alf did a fantastic job of keeping the fact she was alive a secret. It was a retcon I know 30 years later. All soaps have done this though, rewritten history. Alf said he had had just found out Morag was Bobby's birth mother but was as yet unsure who the father was, the "other fella" who Morag had a one night stand with as Alf said.

Tell me "You are gonna feel the leather of my belt" next time. Alf Stewart style.

What is so funny nenehcherry????? You have laughed a few times at my posts lately. I was not trying to be "funny".

While they had different personalities, I feel 1988-1989 Morag Bellingham and 1986-1992 Madge Bishop looked alike.

If Pippa was around, she'd be the Susan Kennedy of the bay. I feel Irene is the closest to that. Ironic to think "Susan Kennedy" almost became Pippa decades ago. Jackie Woodburne auditioned twice but lost out. And another unknown actress apparently auditioned.

I guess Crossroads, ED and H&A found it very hard to keep up with the exact geography of their locations so tweaking helped them and eased the pressure for the writers/producers. And occasionally using different locations to represent the same place onscreen.

H&A started showing episodes in the UK in Feb 1989. I think on 17th January 1988 when it began in Australia, I doubt for the first few months of its Australian showing it was ever heard of in the UK. I think it was September 1988 when ITV said it would start showing H&A in the New Year in the UK. 17 Jan 1988, the Australian first ever episode was a Sunday so the next episode of Corrie was 18 Jan 1988, and Emmerdale and EastEnders was on Tuesday 19th Jan 1988, and to think they were the first episodes of the 3 main UK soaps which ran contemporary with H&A when it was running in Australia.

I have one of the H&A DVD's Romances, which also has the 17 Jan 1988 pilot movie, the start of the H&A journey.

Also in 1992/1993 H&A was getting up to 17 million viewers, and one time in November 1992 in the UK it beat Neighbours. I guess it was also timing as well, as ITV showed it at different times in different regions, if they networked H&A to she shown nationwide at the same time it could have beaten Neighbours even more. I feel by 1992 H&A was becoming a very talked about and loved soap for what was happening now, whereas Neighbours was still living off its brand as you say, which may also explain more viewing figures, but H&A mainly was only about a million behind or two. I guess H&A's ITV timing (not being networked) and the Neighbours "brand" stopped H&A getting higher figures.

Also all 3 shows expanded their formats away from the Fletcher/Sugden/Mortimer and Richardson families and became more about the villages. But out of the 3 of them, H&A was the more urbane one right from the start as it focused on brash youngsters being looked after by Tom and Pippa, and these youngsters were filling up Summer Bay and giving this semi rural town a shake up. The school was modern, some of the interior of Ailsa's shop was quite modern around the counter and pinball machine and characters clothes were modern. Also H&A had such a sunny and bright setting.

Also ED and H&A began focusing on one main family. You could also say that about Crossroads, it began focusing on the Mortimer/Richardson family and was set in a motel in a village called Kings Oak.

Even EastEnders Walford has seemingly moved around the East End, and as it is filmed in Borehamwood, a town just outside London but within the M25, scenes on the roof of the Vic give that game away that it is not in London at all, and the surrounding streets just do not look like inner city London and and you can see fields in the background, not lots of towerblocks, office blocks, urban churches or highways etc and bulky blocks of flats. Over the years Walford has been hinted as being near Walthamstow, then Stepney and even as far east as West Ham before being more fixed at Bromley by Bow. I agree Emmerdale has become more fixed since the Harewood set but Neighbours and H&A still do have geography problems, H&A the most. Yabbie creek was once said to be a good hour or two bus ride away but now it seems just a 5 minute drive.

I think apart from their locations and being set in entire settlements, after that, the 2 soaps go their separate ways. I feel Emmerdale is more like Neighbours in terms of format, characters and community spirit. Take The High Road was another soap set in an entire area like ED and H&A though.

And Corrie went through such a revamp in 1983-1986. Exits of several original characters (Annie, Elsie, Albert) and iconic ones (Stan, Len, Eddie, Fred, Billy), and the Rovers revamp after the 1986 fire, and the conversion of Alf's corner shop into a mini market in 1985, getting rid of the original look of the shop that had been there since the show began. Also 2000 saw Ailsa leave in H&A and the Sutherland arrival.

Also 1993 saw the exit of the original Emmerdale farmhouse and Demdyke Row, 2 major long standing locations, plus we had the plane crash and the exit of Annie and Joe in 1994. And the arrival of the Dingles and Glovers. In real life the new owners of the property that dubbed as "Emmerdale Farm" got shirty about a pay dispute so in the end they backed out and would not allow filming there unless they got a certain amount of money. I feel if the original farm had stayed, the change 1993-1994 would not have felt so drastic, as some of it was beyond Yorkshire TV's control. Neighbours also had a similar revamp at the same time, as it also faced the axe like Emmerdale but an agreement was reached, but 1993-1994 saw the exit of the iconic Waterhole, and the exit of Jim, Julie and Paul and the arrivals of the Kennedy's and Starks, and Rebecchi's in 1995. H&A has managed to keep its key set, Summer Bay House, since the pilot.

CS, EE, Brookside and Neighbours have always been city/suburban soaps I agree. H&A and Emmerdale have always been more rural as Summer Bay is semi rural, as it is an isolated seaside town. In the early years of the show Summer Bay deffo was a daggy hick town, with basic facilities and a couple of schools. The only real meet up place when the show began was Ailsa's store with a 1 table cafe area and a pinball machine. Then the Diner came along in late 1988 and the Surf Club in August 1989. Erinsborough has always been a suburb, and the city centre about half an hour drive away, and we have Lassiters complex which always had good facilities. I think Summer Bay was about 2 hours from the city. I feel that is why CS, EE and Neighbours were more popular in the UK than ED and H&A due to the city/suburb setting, and Brookside by Channel 4 ratings standards, was a hit. I feel viewers associated more with suburban settings such as a Liverpool outer cul de sac, East London square, Melbourne suburb and a cobbled street in Salford near Manchester, than to associate with a show set in the remote Yorkshire countryside, or a isolated Australian seaside town, which was not as compelling.

Although in Australia it is the flip side, H&A is the more iconic, award winning and loved soap. I cannot say which one is more iconic worldwide as a whole.

Also Neighbours is much more iconic, watched and talked about in the UK than H&A ever was. H&A may have nipped at the heels of Neighbours but never went further than that. Neighbours was the only Aussie soap that could give CS, EE and Emmerdale a run for their money, so I guess the UK tour is reflecting that popularity.