Homeandawayfan.

Funny how soap opera characters called Bobby can come back to life in household appliances such as fridges and showers.

Maybe Yabbie Creek is now secretly twinned with Chernobyl.

I think the original Ailsa's shop would have been kept if not for issues in real life surrounding the Palm Beach location they used for filming. Ailsa's original shop had a small Diner area and some outside seats, plus the pinball machine and sweet/drinks area. At least both the original store and the new Bayside Diner appeared in the show alongside one another for a few months until Dodge fired the original shop.

EastEnders is the same as H&A in that regard, there is no fixed location as to where in the East End Walford is supposed to be. Recently we have been lead to think it is the Bromley By Bow area but past refs have differed. In 1985 Lofty said there is no countryside within 10 miles of here hinting Walford was near Stepney, but later refs hint it was near Walthamstow or Leyton, or even as far out as Dagenham. "Walford" is a combination of Walthamstow and Stratford. But when we see scenes on the roof of the Vic that breaks the 4th wall as it looks nothing like London outside Albert Square, and we even see countryside when it is supposed to be inner city. As the show is filmed well away from the real East End, when they do film in and around Elstree and Borehamwood it looks to green, open and suburban. The real East End is full of high rise buildings and huge bulky office/residential blocks and skyscrapers.

It was sad to see the Diner go but I take into account it was not an original location, as it first appeared a year into the shows run. But I guess it became iconic. If Neighbours lost the Lassiters complex around 2000 I think we would be having the same discussion. As we know Neighbours is much more in tune with its roots visually and tonally than H&A is now.

I thought Yabbie Creek was said to be about 100KM from Summer Bay when the show began.

Yabbie Creek moving nearer to Summer Bay over the years.

And some say Neighbours and H&A should have ended years ago. In a way that would have been good if they had ended c1997-2000 while still on a high. Helen's death in Neighbours and Ailsa's death in H&A would have made good final episodes, with other stories wrapped up as well, then the residents of Summer Bay and Erinsborough could live happily ever after , like in one of those story books you read as a kid. I feel Jason Herbison has done better than Lucy Addario but both Jason and Lucy have surpassed the durations of any previous producer. I think it was a refreshing thing to do in 2011 to bring in the raucous Braxtons to cause trouble in Summer Bay. This was just before Lucy became EP. But they soon became overrused. In real life I know of a family similar to the Braxton's who live in a small coastal town as well, who cause trouble and if you stand up to them in a pub or the street, if any other of the family members are nearby, you just get kneecapped by them all, they have an all for one attitude even if you are up against the toughest most independent member of the family, they just automatically back each other up.

Also AFAIK H&A has never had an archivist, nor has Neighbours, so scripts will always vary with characters personal details such as age, length of marriage, children etc. In a very early episode Celia said Roo was her only niece, yet later on Rebecca turned up and from then on was always spoken of as if she existed.

When the show began as we know Don Fisher had a slight touch of the JR Ewing type personality, a guy who would try to pull strokes against people he held grudges with such as Bobby and Nico. But this was abandoned after a few months when he mellowed. In one workplace I had a guy like that who was my works minibus driver, and he hated having to drop me off and pick me up due to my village being slightly off the beaten track, and a few times he tried to find a way to get me off the minibus so to save the poor soul 20 minutes. Watching the first few months of Don in H&A reminds me of my former minibus driver. Another colleague though said she was always being told by this same driver that "he was going out of his way" when dropping her off and picking her up.

1995 onwards was when the writers cranked up the pace and it alienated some long term viewers who had watched it for its feel good factor, not for it to be a Australian EastEnders which H&A felt like from 1995 onwards. Maybe the writers felt that is what a lot of the viewers wanted though, but the tone changed to darker stories and more ominous underscore music.

The show was quite a feel good show from 1988 to 1994 and I wish it had stayed that way.

1995/1996 was also when I started to feel the wind of change, due to the increase in dramatic storylines and more ominous tones, and the increase in natural disasters and misery filled stories such as the religious cult, the bushfire, earthquake, Nelson's breakdown etc. The fostering element was still there though, but Pippa leaving in 1998 was the start of the end of the fostering aspect.

I think Channel 7 do not want to admit that H&A is 36 years old, and they pretend it began in 2011 which is when a lot of the current style of the show began. They may see 1988-2010 as perhaps a prequel to modern day H&A, and if they do even that is being generous. Anyway, the H&A that Alan Bateman created died many years ago.

Ages of younger characters in soaps are often messed around with and they are aged or de aged. As Neighbours and H&A have always had a younger age demographic the ages of characters have always been fiddled, or kept anonymous so the writers could tamper with them later on. Although ages of older characters are probably not sorased or desorased as much, you forgotten about if the shows have no archivist. Like Alf Stewart was 45 in April 1988, and 47 in 1995. Wish I could age as slowly.

Ailsa was only supposed to be about 38, yes 38, in 1988 but looked about 52. I think she had her 50th birthday in 2000. And to think Jeff Truman was only 30 in 1988 when he played Sam Barlow who looked about the same age as Tom, Alf and Don.

Also I will not forget how in those first few months, vice principal Donald Fisher started off as a local JR Ewing type figure who would use underhand tactics against people he did not like such as Bobby and Nico, and even encourage others to commit perjury, but once he became more established he mellowed again, but his inner JR did occasionally surface from time to time.

And Emmerdale can sue Channel 7 for copyright for stealing their plane crash idea.

Travis was the best of the Nash family, I never liked Joel much.

H&A could do a plane crash, and a huge passenger airliner explodes over Summer Bay one dark July night, and fireballs rain down from the sky. Tane, Bree, Felicity, Roo and Levi are the Summer Bay residents who are killed. Although Tane kills Felicity and tries to use the plane crash as a cover up. Alf is temporarily blinded by aviation fuel and Levi is vapourised by plane flames and fuel.

As we know the current show has lost much of the original format. I worry that Neighbours is going the same way since the revival, more focus on crime and police settings.

I quite like the occasional anonymity in TV shows such at the unnamed and unseen brother of Martin Dibble outside Errol and Scott. And the mystery of Maureen Evan's father etc. I guess a young Coleen just had a ONS with a random bloke in Summer Bay.

H&A's first year was moreish. Very watchable and addictive.

I loved the scene in one of the very early episodes where Carly slagged Tom off in the lounge and exited for the hallway to be met by Tom who had heard every word and in the small post credits scene he said "Well I am sorry to disappoint you". I bet Carly's stomach sunk when she knew he had heard every word.

The first year and a half catered for all ages, while the show did have quite a few younger characters in 1988-1989 we did have more characters above 40 such as Tom, Don, Alf, Floss, Neville, Coleen, Celia and Morag. And even Ailsa and Pippa seemed like late 40s but were only supposed to be about late 30s. And the younger characters interacted with the older ones a lot.