Rewatching The Early Years

[adam436]

  On 12/02/2025 at 18:58, cymbaline said:

He hadn't taken to newer faces such as Adam and Viv and wasn't looking forward to Dannii Minogue and Terence Donovan showing up. 

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Can't really blame him there
I can't really say I took to most of the 1989 additions either except for Morag and Marilyn. Viv and Matt had zero personality and were pretty forgettable. Emma was okay, but she was saddled with Viv and Adam for much of her stint, which I felt dragged her down. 

Marilyn and Morag were a great comic pairing, so it's a shame that didn't last longer. For me, that was one of the highlights of the 1989 season. 

[CaptainHulk]

Early Adam straddled the line between good-hearted layabout and tool.

[Red Ranger 1]

  On 13/02/2025 at 09:26, CaptainHulk said:

Early Adam straddled the line between good-hearted layabout and tool.

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Middle Adam was pretty much over the line!

[Homeandawayfan.]

Floss McPhee is one of my fave older characters of all time. Shame she left after only a year and a bit but did return briefly in 2000 and 2008 I think.

Floss' age was never fully stated AFAIK but she and Neville had their 39th wedding anniversary in a May 1988 episode. So I would say in 1949, Floss was about at least 18, so I estimate she was born about 1930. And Nev was a few years older.

[adam436]

  On 19/02/2025 at 18:08, Homeandawayfan. said:

Floss McPhee is one of my fave older characters of all time. Shame she left after only a year and a bit but did return briefly in 2000 and 2008 I think.

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She also returned briefly in 2002 and 2004. She returned Summer Bay's bicentenary(?) in 2002 in which she predicted something bad was going to happen, which turned out to be the ferry sinking. She returned in 2004 believing that she was dying and asked Sally and Flynn to help her die. 

I liked Floss when I watched the early years as a child, but re-watching the 1988 season last year on 7Plus, I really didn't like her. I just found her to be really in-your-face and a bit of a busybody. She was never a gossip like Celia was, but she would always interfere and often make situations worse. The Bobby stuff being the prime example, but also working with Celia on the Mikado production. Her bickering with Neville always felt really forced and OTT too. 

Having said that, I did really enjoy her relationship with Sally and I did feel for her during the storyline with her grandson. 

[j.laur5]

  On 19/02/2025 at 19:52, adam436 said:

She also returned briefly in 2002 and 2004. She returned Summer Bay's bicentenary(?) in 2002 in which she predicted something bad was going to happen, which turned out to be the ferry sinking. She returned in 2004 believing that she was dying and asked Sally and Flynn to help her die. 

I liked Floss when I watched the early years as a child, but re-watching the 1988 season last year on 7Plus, I really didn't like her. I just found her to be really in-your-face and a bit of a busybody. She was never a gossip like Celia was, but she would always interfere and often make situations worse. The Bobby stuff being the prime example, but also working with Celia on the Mikado production. Her bickering with Neville always felt really forced and OTT too. 

Having said that, I did really enjoy her relationship with Sally and I did feel for her during the storyline with her grandson. 

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I think anyone who watches 1988 season would understand why Neville and Floss didn’t last long . 
 

I think Celia and Morag and even Colleen added more flavour to show then Floss and Neville .

Morag and Celia had family on show too and Celia work in store so gave her better reason for interaction with other characters and Morag was look upon as town villain and could spice things up. 
 

Where’s Neville and Floss really had not much purpose other than Floss working at store for bit and Neville had even less purpose. 

[Jamie!]

I've always liked Floss. I like how she has such a big personality with an equally big heart. I could imagine she'd be a lot of fun to hang about with in real life.

[Homeandawayfan.]

  On 19/02/2025 at 19:52, adam436 said:

She also returned briefly in 2002 and 2004. She returned Summer Bay's bicentenary(?) in 2002 in which she predicted something bad was going to happen, which turned out to be the ferry sinking. She returned in 2004 believing that she was dying and asked Sally and Flynn to help her die. 

I liked Floss when I watched the early years as a child, but re-watching the 1988 season last year on 7Plus, I really didn't like her. I just found her to be really in-your-face and a bit of a busybody. She was never a gossip like Celia was, but she would always interfere and often make situations worse. The Bobby stuff being the prime example, but also working with Celia on the Mikado production. Her bickering with Neville always felt really forced and OTT too. 

Having said that, I did really enjoy her relationship with Sally and I did feel for her during the storyline with her grandson. 

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Floss was kind of like the Eileen Clarke of Summer Bay, or even a nicer version of Mrs Mangel.

[adam436]

  On 19/02/2025 at 23:07, j.laur5 said:

I think anyone who watches 1988 season would understand why Neville and Floss didn’t last long

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They faded into the background pretty quickly too, long before they were written out in the space of 1 or 2 episodes. I vaugely recall reading somewhere the actors learned they were being written out after reading it in TV Week, though I can't find that information now.

[j.laur5]

  On 21/02/2025 at 03:06, adam436 said:

They faded into the background pretty quickly too, long before they were written out in the space of 1 or 2 episodes. I vaugely recall reading somewhere the actors learned they were being written out after reading it in TV Week, though I can't find that information now.

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It’s on H&A IMDb trivia page .

I had just checked. 
 

Like I once said Neville and Floss could easily just be in pilot episode and disappeared after that. 

I actually look at Colleen as Eileen Clarke of Sumner Bay and Floss as Marlene Kratz of Summer Bay and Doris Peters in pilot episode is probably closest thing to Mrs Mangel.

Edited February 21 by j.laur5