Stewarts Point

It just seemed too much after Shane's death. It also led to the end of Pippa as a character, albeit two bitter and depressed years later. It feels like his death killed the early years. Tom was given another chance in Michael (many prefer Tom). But he played his role. But after his death was a massive end that changed Home and Away. 1995 was finally a good year (relatively) for Pippa and Michael. His death ruined what he could have been as a character.

Forgetable misfire? What's your thoughts on her time in Summer Bay? I feel the 89/90 transition of characters prooved tricky and she suffered accordingly.

His character seemed to represent this period, for good or for bad. It seems many here are slightly indifferent about the early 90s. For me the character that comes first to mind that embodies 91-94 is Nick. At one utterly forgetable, yet with another look, totemic as a central character (the love triangle/Shane's brother). Bob Barnett was the beer bellied 80's cop. Was Nick some kinda sharp minded 90s andidote, yet subtler version of Chris Hale? Did he mitigate Chris Hale, or ultimately lead to him?

He was the 'guy'. Kind, macho, sun lover, hard working, kinda goofy, without a side. The ruthless world of soaps chewed him up and spit him out far too quickly. But if one character is brought up that encapsulates 1994/95 it's Rob Storey.

Smackings of Martin's mullet and Dallas/Dynasty/Howard's Way yuppies descended on 1989 Summer Bay. Yet by 1990 it was as if it had never happened. Wouldn't the employer been useful as an ongoing post school employer? Couldn't the reality of business been better portrayed as a 'nasty capitalists give nice Tom a stroke, dump waste, slander, blackmail, behave as crooks'? Was a part of 1990's problem that Macklins had departed? Did Macklins pose too much of a threat to the concept of Summer Bay in 1990 that it was best left burried?

He was a pompous blow hard who once he got his beloved Range Rover in 1989, killed off 'edgy' Ailsa of 1988. He was judgmental and often quite nasty. How he treated Blake after he found out about his real father in 1992 and Sarah as a babysitter in 1994 was hard to justify. Yes he had the 'bants' with Marilyn and 'flaming galahs' and water bed issues of humour' but do we too over look his pompous pride and know it all arrogance? Early 1988 was very good precisely because Alf was a minor character. Alf was the 'measured know your place' police', and it was tiresome.

Carly and Andrew were a great couple. If the PTB had decided in 1989 not to give Andrew his alcoholism problem they were a couple made for each other. 1988 and 1990 Carly were hard watches (Her sister and dad made 1988 difficult, and Ben of 1990 was a 19th century Sicillian godfather mafiosi chauvinist). I tended to dislike Carly, but in 1989 she was a mature and collected likeable individual. As ever the early days had a great fault in knowing what to do with post school students (Carly repeated in 1989), but at least there was chemistry between them.

I think a schism in Frank's mind was between Bobby on 'his side', the outside rebel, something they they had in common in their growing up years and the 'I'm part of the establishment shilling for Macklins and the town royalty (Roo Stewart).' But there was no plan. Alf hated him after 1989... Ultimately, Frank wanted the curvy sexy Roo. He was a guy. Simples...

Within the scope of the show as it was, I think the 10 or so months that Haydn appeared in 90-91, was handled well and realistically. It showed a handsome, intelligent and cultured young man who had lost his bearings, presumed class position, parents, and was trying to hold it all together behind a shield of polished coldness. He could have been an Oscar Wilde character. But ultimately his complexity was wasted on his immature running mates in Blake, Karen and Sophie (who despite her obvious attraction seemed out of her comfort zone with Haydn). They seemed to bore him rather. Aside from the gambling issues which would effect his father in 1994, Fin was another who seemed to bore him. It was a pity Marilyn wasn't around at that time. Where he worked as a character, and rather like Steven with his intelligence and relative sophistication impressing an older woman, was his relationship with Marilyn. It was this which brought him alive. Did Marilyn make the better decision in choosing Donald over Haydn in 1996? That's a good question.

I couldn't see a thread for Blake, so here goes. Early 90s heart throb who appealed to teenage girls in the New Kids on the Block and Beverley Hills 90210 era. Likeable character who had two lives on the show, before and after his sister Karen's descent into crime. Before he teamed up with Sophie and Hayden, after with Simon and Finn. And then there was the Meg storyline, which is infamous in Home and Away lore. I think he faded in his final months as he was replaced by Shane in the school boy hunk role. Showing that even the new kid on the block has but a brief moment in the sun. Interestingly he had a deep relationship with Alf (more so than Curtis) which perhaps wasn't replicated in the rest of the 90s. What are your memories?

Possibly along with the original outing of Steven, Carly truly belonged to the Pippa and Tom era of the show. Maybe it was her late 80s style, I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it exactly. It just seemed that she suddenly looked out of place in the Debra Pip and Michael era. Dated in some way. The usual post school not knowing what to do with a character, let's get her married, usual stuff happened with her and the possessive passive aggressive Ben. Maybe best to have had her run away with Andrew or Martin when they left in early 1990 ?

This being moralistic Home and Away from 1993, of course for no good reason Greg admitted to Bobby about his affair with Fiona. An affair which was full of the passion which his marriage with Bobby sorely lacked. If Greg had stopped and thought about leaving Bobby for Fiona and bringing Sam with him (Bobby was not his mother and had only been his foster mum for 2 years), then Greg would have been far happier and two characters could have left in a realistic fashion. Bobby's distraught reaction of losing Sam and her marriage could have led to the death she got a month later anyway. Maybe Adam encourages her to do something reckless and he gets the blame he also subsequently got anyway. Instead Greg goes back to Bobby, is shouty and upset as he had been for the entity of his marriage, Sam is crying and storming out of every scene, Bobby goes and dies, more shouting and crying, then Greg ups and leaves forgetting about the son he'd fought so hard for for the previous 2 years.

What was good about Adam was that he represented the larrikin interest post Martin and Lance, and balanced out the young adults who were often old before their time (Ben) or righteously upstanding (Nick, Grant, Luke). It was interesting that he was generally portrayed positively (no one thought beyond his sloth that he was a baddie), and he generally managed to get on with everyone, even turning the other cheek when he had been wronged. That he was portrayed thus when he was openly workshy and lazy was quite interesting. I think being handsome and having a murcurual charm helped him and made him a likeable character. He had many an amusing set tos with Alf and Donald and was great as a pairing with Maz. Matt bringing pizza, beer and a playboy mag into his hopistal bed when Marylin wasn't looking was a humerous example.

I think she would have been the one to have been written out with Alf staying. I don't think it would have worked if they both stayed or Alf had gone. I seem to remember she got close to her classmate in Italian lessons she took perhaps in 1996. He really liked her and I think Ailsa was tempted. Alf of course didn't understand her interest in this learning or yearning for culture. So no, no character that I can think of. They would have needed to have written a new character for her much as Michael was written in for Pippa. But as I say, Pippa leaving the bay by 96/97 might have been the most realistic option if they had have split.

She was very much the continuity Lucinda character. Slighlty bland, good looking, would get the attention of all the young men in the show. Both being good looking swayed me then and sway me now. So there!

Another reason for the show's decline in the late 90s. He was the apogee of the ridiculously authoritarian parent, rather in the Joe Scully mould, Holly Valence's petty minded dictatorial father in Neighbours. Yes Alf, Michael and Donald could be judgmental and harsh on their offspring at times, but at least they had an ounce of likeability. I've got to say that Joel Nash was a big reason I switched off from Home and Away.

Just a personal opinion of course, but if I think Pippa was best between 1991-1996, or when she was married to Michael. There was a depth to that relationship, no doubt aided by their real life marriage, as well as acting skills, which brought alive their household during this period. I would suggest no other relationship came close to theirs, warts and all during the early years. Just go and have a look back at the little playful hugs and kisses; the rows and strops. It was passionate and it showed. I think Pippa pre 1990 didn't have the depth or range. Okay she was brighter and more upbeat, but I also think more wooden. The real problem for me came with Michael's death in 1996. For whilst I praise the realism of the more negative worrying Pippa of Debra's portrayal, the sheer amount of misery the poor woman had to go through made her bleaker than a bleak thing from bleaksdale. And the Ross household suffered and the whole show suffered. I guess with her personal circumstances, her becoming a widow was more realistic than Michael leaving her, and Debra seemed glad Denis was at home to look after their kids. But still. Yes she could be a scold and prim and proper. The whole shtick about the chores for all the kids seemed overly done at times. But until the last two years these negatives could be mitigated. She did well by the kids she looked after and despite mistakes, always meant well. But worst of all there was her departure. She got the award for being a nationwide recognised brilliant foster mother, only for her then to then completely renege on all her principles and **** a snoop at the award givers by deciding to drop Sally and Sam in it by running off with a new man. Yes she'd been through a lot and understandably might have wanted to move on. But if memory serves me right, she hooked up with this kind of cold and selfish guy in Ian who went around telling and upsetting Sam that he was going to take Pippa away from these selfish brats like him. Far from standing up for Sam and Sally who was still only a young adult, she completely took Ian's side and threw her household under the bus. So much for being Australia's greatest foster mum.

I feel that Selina was pushed forward to be the new star of the show when she moved in with Irene in the Beach House. Whether she lived up to that or not is another matter. By the time she left I think they wanted Chloe to be the new Summer Bay queen. But for a time (95-97) Selina was the new Sophie (pregnancy storyline, Curtis and Jesse as boyfriends, the Saul storyline).

I think she had great chemistry with Selina, a pairing in the beach house which contributed so much to making 1995 such a good year.

That is a beautifully written argument that you set out! I very much agree. To take it further, am I the only one who thinks that Alf and Ailsa weren't suited? Certainly after her breakdown in 1995 Ailsa tells Alf that she doesn't love him. She quickly backtracks on what she said, but her initial sentiment felt the more truthful. I just get the feeling that after everything they had gone through, that yes Alf was hard working and at heart a decent guy but Ailsa felt she had compromised with him. He wasn't the man to stimulate her intellect, or excite her passions. Alf and Ailsa remind me a bit of Mr and Mrs Meldrew from One Foot in the Grave. So whilst Alf and Victor Meldrew's upsets and temper tantrums were amusing to the audience (I say this as someone who loves Alf), you can see their wives were being ground down by their antics. It's like okay you might have a genuine reason for being boorish but you're still being boorish. If Ailsa went though those stages as you say, then I think a lot of the reason is that Alf hadn't gone through any stages at all. Perhaps a brave move might have been for the couple to divorce at this point (1996/1997) and to have Ailsa be written out and for her to take Duncan with her leaving Alf to find a new love. I'm sure Judy would have been happy to have obliged considering her writing career.

Does anyone know if she wanted to leave in 1999 or was she axed?

I admit I don't remember her from first viewing, but on watching back I really liked her. She was pretty and 'viv'acious and worked really well with Emma as her friend and Steven as her boyfriend. Seemingly the actress wanted to leave, which is a shame because I think Emma was diminished as a character by Viv not being there in the last few months of her stint on the show.

For me Shannon was one of the best looking girls in the early years of Home and Away (Sophie and Chloe would be included). But more than that she had a certain charisma and sparkle that set Isla Fisher out among her contemporaries. But there was something about how she was portrayed to the audience as a character which showed that she was always a slight outsider, and never to become the star in the way Sophie had been a few years earlier. During her time (1994-1997) the show IMHO very much looked to Selina and then Chloe to be the sensible settle down types who were the main focus of events. Shannon's outsider qualities, as seen in her bisexuality (merely hinted at for most of her stint, but noticed), and her challenging intellect (Chloe was not challenging in the same way despite her intelligence), for me at least, made it feel like she had great potential, yet never quite lived up to that potential as a character. It was never going to happen in 1995, but I did wish at the time that her storyline with Mandy wasn't curtailed as it was, and that they'd have developed it with Mandy staying as a permanent character for the next year or so. Shannon's crush on Mandy was brilliantly portrayed by Isla Fisher, I think so much so that Tristan Bancks (Tug) cheekily asked if she'd had any real life experience when he brought up the storyline in G'Day Summer Bay. Alex was perfectly okay as her boyfriend post Mandy, but this return to the quotidian was a disappointment to me at the time. I think that had this story line occured three or four years later in the days of online chat forums and Warrior Xena Princess, just maybe they would have been braver with the Mandy storyline after her first visit, as opposed to waiting for her departure two years later to reignite the feelings. I also tend to think her best storylines were in the time before Michael died and that she kind of lost something afterwards, but perhaps I'm nitpicking too much. On a slightly sour note, I do think Shannon is slightly diminished as a character for all of Isla Fisher's rubishing of Home and Away in the years since she left, but heyho, live and let live. And after all she isn't the only one.