Rewatching The Early Years

[CaptainHulk]

4 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Believing 88 Don to be 39 is a HUGE stretch of one's imagination!

Hey, Like Isobel said he was "born 50" lol

[nenehcherry2]

1 hour ago, CaptainHulk said:

Hey, Like Isobel said he was "born 50" lol

Indeed, she did!

[adam436]

From what we know in 2023, some other musings I had watching 1988 season: 

Lance, Roo and Bobby are all cousins, yet none of them know it yet. 

Alf hiding Martha being alive is a far bigger secret than Ailsa being in prison.

Alf commented to Ailsa that it's a shame she never had kids. Little does he know that she had already given birth to Shauna.

Sally's imaginary friend is her brother. Surely her having a brother would have been on record somewhere and Tom and Pippa would have known a brother existed.

Lance and Martin wanted Ailsa's autograph because they'd never met a killer before. Many regulars in the last 10 years or so have now been killers

Edited December 19, 2023 by adam436

[CaptainHulk]

12 hours ago, adam436 said:

From what we know in 2023, some other musings I had watching 1988 season: 

Lance, Roo and Bobby are all cousins, yet none of them know it yet. 

Alf hiding Martha being alive is a far bigger secret than Ailsa being in prison.

Alf commented to Ailsa that it's a shame she never had kids. Little does he know that she had already given birth to Shauna.

Sally's imaginary friend is her brother. Surely her having a brother would have been on record somewhere and Tom and Pippa would have known a brother existed.

Lance and Martin wanted Ailsa's autograph because they'd never met a killer before. Many regulars in the last 10 years or so have now been killers

Aaron took Miles "outside the system" after deciding that Sal was better off with the Fletchers.

And as far as the Fletchers/DOCS knew Derek, Diana and and Granny Keating were all Sally had (before Diane's brother, Ross and his wife Louise  bowled up) before they all died.

Bobby died before she found out she was related to the Smarts (Lance and Colleen anyway)

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by CaptainHulk

[Homeandawayfan.]

I admit I am a bit picky with character ages and backstories. Although in EastEnders Nick Cotton was said to be 33 in 1985 and 36 in 2000. And in Midsomer Murders, Tom Barnaby, who looked mid 60s in 2010 said in two 2010 episodes that 17 years earlier he was a "keen junior officer in 1993 and no one took much notice as he was a junior officer", hinting he was a young man and a young copper in 1993, yet he looked like he would be at least late 40s or 50 in 1993.

Ena Sharples in Corrie was about 70 in 1960 but aged down and said she was 67 in 1966. So I guess the same happened with Don in H&A, perhaps to make him a bit closer to Marilyn's age. In Neighbours Helen Daniels and her late husband were said to be born 1929, but had their eldest in 1943. Anne, mother of Paul, Scott, Julie, Lucy.

In regards to Milco, did Sally know all along he was based on a real person, or someone she thought was real but was not 100% sure, as she had not seen Miles since she was 3. By 1988 she was about 8 or 9.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Homeandawayfan.

[nenehcherry2]

46 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

I admit I am a bit picky with character ages and backstories. Although in EastEnders Nick Cotton was said to be 33 in 1985 and 36 in 2000. And in Midsomer Murders, Tom Barnaby, who looked mid 60s in 2010 said in two 2010 episodes that 17 years earlier he was a "keen junior officer in 1993 and no one took much notice as he was a junior officer", hinting he was a young man and a young copper in 1993, yet he looked like he would be at least late 40s or 50 in 1993.

Ena Sharples in Corrie was about 70 in 1960 but aged down and said she was 67 in 1966. So I guess the same happened with Don in H&A, perhaps to make him a bit closer to Marilyn's age. In Neighbours Helen Daniels and her late husband were said to be born 1929, but had their eldest in 1943. Anne, mother of Paul, Scott, Julie, Lucy.

In regards to Milco, did Sally know all along he was based on a real person, or someone she thought was real but was not 100% sure, as she had not seen Miles since she was 3. By 1988 she was about 8 or 9.

I used to be myself, as a History graduate with an eye for chronological details, but I don't bother giving it much thought now. Different scriptwriters threw in random mentions of character ages / birthdays here and there, often for no real reason. They can't be taken as canon. It was interesting to find out on that "G'day Summer Bay" documentary that they kept a bible with such facts behind the scenes as the inconsistencies of these facts in the first 10 years at least of the show would suggest otherwise. 

I've actually found the most consistently reliable age indicator on H&A to be the school year of a character. The intake cut off in NSW is 1st Aug-31st July (though parents with kids born between late December - 31st July can "hold" their kids "back" for another year). For example, Bobby could have been born any time between late 1969 to 31st July 1971 based on her school year. The scriptwriters seem to have stuck to an age within that range whenever her age was mentioned over her tenure, albeit the birthday and year of birth differs. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[CaptainHulk]

6 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

I admit I am a bit picky with character ages and backstories. Although in EastEnders Nick Cotton was said to be 33 in 1985 and 36 in 2000. And in Midsomer Murders, Tom Barnaby, who looked mid 60s in 2010 said in two 2010 episodes that 17 years earlier he was a "keen junior officer in 1993 and no one took much notice as he was a junior officer", hinting he was a young man and a young copper in 1993, yet he looked like he would be at least late 40s or 50 in 1993.

Ena Sharples in Corrie was about 70 in 1960 but aged down and said she was 67 in 1966. So I guess the same happened with Don in H&A, perhaps to make him a bit closer to Marilyn's age. In Neighbours Helen Daniels and her late husband were said to be born 1929, but had their eldest in 1943. Anne, mother of Paul, Scott, Julie, Lucy.

In regards to Milco, did Sally know all along he was based on a real person, or someone she thought was real but was not 100% sure, as she had not seen Miles since she was 3. By 1988 she was about 8 or 9.

Sally basically kept his memory alive for the best part of 20s years, when the real deal bowled up we got flashbacks of them aged 3 and Sal being unable to say Miles' name properly despite coaxing from Diana, the nickname just stuck. Miles himself told Sal.

[Homeandawayfan.]

On occasions at night when waiting to fall asleep I have thought about the Sally and Milco storyline and how it turned out it was a twin brother and it has sent chills down my body, but I have to remember it is just a fictional TV programme. But my cousin once had an imaginary friend Peter, and she said she got images of him at night when laying in bed. Again i think it is the brain making you see things not there. At least Milco was based on a real person. My cousin never had a secret long lost twin brother .

 

[early years fan]

Just up to the episodes with Allen’s death.  Pity he was killed off as he was a good actor and interesting character.

I found the scattering of the ashes scene quite sad 

[early years fan]

Episode 186, John Farnham visiting Sally. Classic 
Bad timing for the chicken pox, back in the days when most kids had it.