H&A in 1996, was it the end of an era or not?

[beau_t]

Oh yeah I forgot about that - Casey and her mother was like the prequel to Christine and Melody Jones in 2008. Casey's mother was a completely loony, I remember her attacking Ailsa in the Diner regarding Ailsa's murder history. And I'm sure the actress who played her also played another part in the show but I can't remember for sure.

[Dan F]

Oh yeah I forgot about that - Casey and her mother was like the prequel to Christine and Melody Jones in 2008. Casey's mother was a completely loony, I remember her attacking Ailsa in the Diner regarding Ailsa's murder history. And I'm sure the actress who played her also played another part in the show but I can't remember for sure.

Yes she also played Eve Smith - not that she was typecast I'm sure....

[j.laur5]

Oh yeah I forgot about that - Casey and her mother was like the prequel to Christine and Melody Jones in 2008. Casey's mother was a completely loony, I remember her attacking Ailsa in the Diner regarding Ailsa's murder history. And I'm sure the actress who played her also played another part in the show but I can't remember for sure.

But where was Irene?.

Why did she let Ailsa be attacked by Casey's Mother  and surely she would of been there at  the Diner in time to protect Ailsa?. 

[Red Ranger 1]

Of course, UK viewers never got to see that since ITV hacked the episode to pieces: The last we saw of Casey's mother was her glaring at Ailsa, then next thing we know Casey's signing forms to have her sectioned and everyone's talking about "what happened in the Diner"...

[Homeandawayfan.]

Floss predicting things, a car crash happening and then Bobby burning the car to flush away the spirits in 1988 etched the show into WTF territory.

[Spinach]

Home and Away's dabbling with the supernatural over the years has been one of the things I've loved most about the show, personally. It's always dealt with farfetched things but, in my opinion, has done it in a believable way.

As to whether 1996 was the end of an era, I don't think so. I don't understand why 1997-1999 has such a bad reputation. This was the period I started watching regularly so perhaps I'm biased but, 1997 to me seems every bit as engaging as 1995 and 1996 - and still retained many of the characters from 'the golden years' e.g. Pippa, Shannon, Selina etc.

As to the Joey, Casey, Liam, Stephanie teen group, Liam was boring - but Casey and Stephanie were interesting characters.

[beau_t]

Yes she also played Eve Smith - not that she was typecast I'm sure....

That's it! I remember as soon as you said it, she was very similar in both roles. A bit disappointing that Eve was never seen or mentioned again after 2000.

[CaptainHulk]

ITV needed a slap at times for cutting H&A to ribbons when worse had probably been shown. I think they repeated the Emmerdale Post Office/Home Farm Siege of 1994 in the daytime (which I'm surprised actually went out at 7pm originally, a fair bit later than H&A was aired at the  time but still violent as).

 

[adam436]

I don't recall remembering 1996 as the end of the era in the same way I remember 1999-2000 being the end of the era: 

• Many established characters departed over the course of that 18 months (Sam, Marilyn, Travis, Rebecca, Ailsa, the Nashes, Justine) and were replaced by a number of new characters. Admittedly, many of these characters became extremely popular and still considered iconic (such as Leah, Colleen, Noah), but the Sutherlands took over the show in much the same way the Braxtons did years later.
• The Stewart House and the Bayside Diner (two sets dating back to the 80s) were destroyed.

[Trudy Heine]

Melody and Christine reminded me of Carrie and her mum, especially the 2008 final cliffhanger. Anyone else think so?