Rewatching The Early Years

[nenehcherry2]

8 hours ago, cymbaline said:

They only reunited these couples when the writers knew the actors were heading for the door, right?

Yes! What I've always termed "reactive story-writing".

An actor wants to leave (or TPTB wish to use their ), so they write hasty "we love each other after all" or "they only married on the rebound" type stories. 

[adam436]

On 24/12/2024 at 08:11, cymbaline said:

If you move forward to the present day, Alf is effectively single again. Irene and John are on their own. 

I never understood the creative reasoning behind splitting up John and Marilyn. I really liked them as a couple and neither have really developed as characters since. Given both Shane and Emily are still around, they would have been on track to rival Alf and Ailsa's as H&A's longest-running onscreen marriage at this point if they were still together. 

Irene must be the only long-term character to never have a permanent love interest. Ken and Barry Hyde are her only love interest who was part of the regular cast and those relationships lasted less than a year, and all the others like Paris and Lou, are only guests. 

 

On 26/12/2024 at 11:26, cymbaline said:

They only reunited these couples when the writers knew the actors were heading for the door, right?

Yes - Natalie and Shelley both returned for the exits of their husbands. I suspect Rhys' exit must have been quite a hasty decision, since he'd married Beth to a few months and the producers had gone to a lot of trouble to set up the Sutherlands/Hunters as a new central family unit. 

[CaptainHulk]

Bringing back Martha just seemed like a waste as she hasn't been on screen in 2yrs+ 

[nenehcherry2]

15 hours ago, adam436 said:

I never understood the creative reasoning behind splitting up John and Marilyn. I really liked them as a couple and neither have really developed as characters since. Given both Shane and Emily are still around, they would have been on track to rival Alf and Ailsa's as H&A's longest-running onscreen marriage at this point if they were still together. 

Irene must be the only long-term character to never have a permanent love interest. Ken and Barry Hyde are her only love interest who was part of the regular cast and those relationships lasted less than a year, and all the others like Paris and Lou, are only guests. 

 

Yes - Natalie and Shelley both returned for the exits of their husbands. I suspect Rhys' exit must have been quite a hasty decision, since he'd married Beth to a few months and the producers had gone to a lot of trouble to set up the Sutherlands/Hunters as a new central family unit. 

Shelley was very unlikeable in that return storyline too. She'd never exactly been a favourite of mine (though I did think Paula was a good actress) but was written as relatively "nice" in her regular stint; she was hard-faced as anything when she got back together with Rhys, very out of character. 

Edited January 6 by nenehcherry2

[Sb boy]

 She had. Two returns didn’t she once when she came back for Rhys and the second around 2009. When she  came back for Kirsty when  she was leaving miles. I agree they should never have  split up maz and palmer.  They were the only long term. Couple. Apart from Alf and  the dreadful  Martha  who I was glad to see the back off it’s like  the current writers. Didn’t care for Alfs history with ailsa at all 

 Also wasn’t really a big fan of the Sutherlands anyway  I liked jade. But loathed Rhys and Dani  

[adam436]

1 hour ago, Sb boy said:

 She had. Two returns didn’t she once when she came back for Rhys and the second around 2009.

Shelley returned a few times throughout 2003 and 2004. I'm pretty sure she returned when the truth about Jade not being a Sutherland came to light, then she returned for Kirsty and Kane's second wedding (the double wedding with Noah and Hayley), and then finally when Rhys was leaving. 

Given all the drama the Sutherlands had, I feel like there were probably more return appearances I've forgotten. 

She also returned with a new partner at one stage, though I can't remember if that was part of one of the aforementioned appearances or not. 

 

1 hour ago, Sb boy said:

Also wasn’t really a big fan of the Sutherlands anyway  I liked jade. But loathed Rhys and Dani  

Me too! I liked Shelley and Max (who didn't arrive until much later!), but I couldn't stand Dani, Rhys, Jade, Kirsty and honourary Sutherland Brodie. 

[CaptainHulk]

51 minutes ago, adam436 said:

Shelley returned a few times throughout 2003 and 2004. I'm pretty sure she returned when the truth about Jade not being a Sutherland came to light, then she returned for Kirsty and Kane's second wedding (the double wedding with Noah and Hayley), and then finally when Rhys was leaving. 

Given all the drama the Sutherlands had, I feel like there were probably more return appearances I've forgotten. 

She also returned with a new partner at one stage, though I can't remember if that was part of one of the aforementioned appearances or not. 

Shelley had met someone named David Callahan during her divorce from Rhys but it ended over his phobia of scars which Shelley recieved when giving Kirsty a kidney. He also represented Dani in Sutherland v Phillips II (When she ran down Kane)

She returned in 2009 for Kirsty's exit following her miscarriage of Miles' baby. She took her and Ollie back to the City.

[Red Ranger 1]

10 hours ago, adam436 said:

Shelley returned a few times throughout 2003 and 2004. I'm pretty sure she returned when the truth about Jade not being a Sutherland came to light, then she returned for Kirsty and Kane's second wedding (the double wedding with Noah and Hayley), and then finally when Rhys was leaving. 

Given all the drama the Sutherlands had, I feel like there were probably more return appearances I've forgotten. 

 

9 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Shelley had met someone named David Callahan during her divorce from Rhys but it ended over his phobia of scars which Shelley recieved when giving Kirsty a kidney. He also represented Dani in Sutherland v Phillips II (When she ran down Kane)

She returned in 2009 for Kirsty's exit following her miscarriage of Miles' baby. She took her and Ollie back to the City.

We also saw her when Kirsty and Kane split up for a bit and Kirsty came to stay with her. She didn't really leave until about a year and a half after she stopped being a regular, she was always popping up.

[adam436]

I have a feeling Paula Forrest wanted to leave (I think she had a young child at the time!), but the producers fought for her to stay, so the sporadic appearances were probably a compromise. As I said, the decision to write out Rhys must have been a fairly 11th hour decision, since they'd married him off to Beth and created the blended family. 

Kit was another character who departed the regular cast, but didn't really "leave" until 2007. I think Channel 7 wanted to get rid of the character, but the producers wanted her to stay for vice versa? 

[j.laur5]

I wonder if Paula Forrest had not quit in 2002 and then Rhys and Shelley might stayed long term and took in teenagers after there children left or would they be axed in 2004 and they bring  in new family to replace them.