Rewatching The Early Years

[nenehcherry2]

1 hour ago, adam436 said:

I think that comes down to the fact there was a mostly stable older cast in the early years: Alf, Ailsa, Pippa, Tom/Michael, Donald, Irene. Then we got Judith, Joel and Natalie in later years, who were introduced with their teenage children.

The 2000s had more traditional families like the Sutherlands, Hunters, Holdens, Austins etc. as it somewhat drifted away from fostering.

 

Exactly. And, until the Nashes came, the natural kids living with their parents were either part orphaned (Roo) or from broken homes (Haydn). So it was still "untraditional" compared to other soap families. 

Then, of course, we had the "reconcilation relationships" of Bobby/Don, Sam/Greg and Irene with her kids. 

Just now, nenehcherry2 said:

Exactly. And, until the Nashes came, the natural kids living with their parents were either part orphaned (Roo) or from broken homes (Haydn). So it was still "untraditional" compared to other soap families. And the kids who were living away from loving parents for education / prison reasons but not fostered were also from broken homes (e.g. Sarah and Simon). 

Then, of course, we had the "reconcilation relationships" of Bobby/Don, Sam/Greg and Irene with her kids. 

 

[adam436]

10 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Then, of course, we had the "reconcilation relationships" of Bobby/Don, Sam/Greg and Irene with her kids. 

And Ken Smith with his kids too, but he was only around a year or so. 

 

[CaptainHulk]

On 12/06/2024 at 08:03, nenehcherry2 said:

Talking about kids continuously living with at least one stable, natural parent from birth, I can only think of Roo, Haydn, Tom, Gypsy and Edward in the pre-Sutherland era. With the exception of Tom, four of those five started out as either entitled, spoiled, cunning brats (Roo & Haydn) or highly rebellious in their own way (Edward & Gypsy). "Rebels WITHOUT cause". 

Not including the legendary character of Christopher nor the rapidly aging Duncan of course!

Still laugh at Edward's "Ja Wohl!" scene with Judith in his first episode.   He was a one-off.

[nenehcherry2]

Was Pippa & Michael with Sophie/Sal & Haydn the only time that we saw a "blended family" (of sorts) living together on screen in the pre-Hunter/Sutherland era?

And didn't Sally refer to Michael as her "Step-Dad" on a few occasions?

[CaptainHulk]

1 hour ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Was Pippa & Michael with Sophie/Sal & Haydn the only time that we saw a "blended family" (of sorts) living together on screen in the pre-Hunter/Sutherland era?

And didn't Sally refer to Michael as her "Step-Dad" on a few occasions?

He referred to as "kind of his stepdaughter" in a convo.

[cymbaline]

Did Michael adopt Christopher? 

[nenehcherry2]

2 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Did Michael adopt Christopher? 

Unless anyone remembers otherwise, I don't think that was ever directly confirmed. 

Whilst most guest characters surnames were included in the closing credits from around mid 90 onwards, Christopher (like Duncan) was only ever credited by his first name. So there's not even any indirect clues there. 

Chris was certainly calling Michael "Daddy" by late 94 (though he calls him "Michael" in 92-3), possibly earlier but referred to his "real Daddy being dead" to Selina a few weeks before Michael himself sadly perished.

As those of you who also know Coronation Street will too appreciate, it's similar to the Brian/Martin/Sarah Louise situation. Sarah was told at a very young age  that Martin wasn't her real Dad but always referred to him as being her Dad (despite calling him by his name) as she had no memory of Brian. 

It isn't unrealistic to imagine a now 36 year old Christopher coming back to the Bay to feel closer to BOTH of his Dads; the one he has some young, happy memories of plus the biological one where there is zero memory.

Edited June 15 by nenehcherry2

[Homeandawayfan.]

Yes Chris was only almost 2 when Tom died at the wheel in April 1990. He will have no memories whatsoever of Tom. It is practically impossible to remember anything from the first 2 years of your life.

[cymbaline]

When Debra Lawrance was answering (yet again) that question about Pippa coming back, she said they could bring Christopher back. In theory, he's 36 now but you know how consistent H&A's writers are when it comes to such things. I doubt they'll bring him back because they're not mad about LGBT characters. Besides, Chris would have to be insane to return to the town of doom. While he was there his father died, his next dad died, his baby brother died, his foster sister died, the town got hit by bushfires, earthquakes, cyclones... He's only alive and well because even Pippa decided it was time to go. 

[nenehcherry2]

1 hour ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Yes Chris was only almost 2 when Tom died at the wheel in April 1990. He will have no memories whatsoever of Tom. It is practically impossible to remember anything from the first 2 years of your life.

Exactly.... "infant amnesia" kicks in when we hit around 9 to 10 years old. Before we reach that age, it's actually believed that we can remember even some things from the first year of life. After that point, the memories disappear (although we can "remember remembering"). 

2 years 5 months have been the earliest verified memories confirmed by psychologists and parents which are directly retained by adults but it's usually about 3 years for the average human. One of my earliest memories involved surfers in the H&A opening credits (true story!) as well as Gail being in Neighbours (was barely 3 when she disappeared from UK screens); in the latter case, seeing her again on UK Gold when I was 7 probably reinforced that. 

Edited June 15 by nenehcherry2