What things never made sense to you on Home and Away?

[Bobby Forever Missed]

23 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Nicolle has been short sighted since she was a child (believe she's since had LAZIK) and was already in glasses most of the time offset by the time the show started. Read interviews from the time where she said the glasses became a necessity for Bobby too as her eyesight worsened and she was struggling to film without them. But then she soon started wearing contacts, so we can assume they were no longer needed when she was at work on set either. Shame they couldn't keep them for Bobby at least, it was great realism to have a character with glasses on the show (H&A's answer to Deirdre Barlow, at least Bobby stopped short of a Weetabix-shaped perm!). And no on screen explanation for their disappearance

Interesting fact, the last time Bobby wears them was the episode before Greg arrives. Her first meeting with Greg also happened to be the last time she ever uttered a "rack off". 

 

 

I’d tell Steve Irwin I mean Greg to rack off too (he looks like Steve Irwin)

[Homeandawayfan.]

The age of Morag has seemed to have fluctuated as well. One site said she was born 1948. But I always thought she was older than Alf.

Not sure how old Neville was but he and Floss married in 1949 as they had their 39th wedding anniversary in a 1988 episode. So this means Floss was born at least 1931 so must have been at least 57 in 1988, yet looked late 40s. In March 1988 Floss said Nev was "60 odd". I would say in 1988 Nev looked about 70. He was the only "old codger" in the show at the time, a show which was mainly full of younger people.

[nenehcherry2]

52 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

The age of Morag has seemed to have fluctuated as well. One site said she was born 1948. But I always thought she was older than Alf.

Not sure how old Neville was but he and Floss married in 1949 as they had their 39th wedding anniversary in a 1988 episode. So this means Floss was born at least 1931 so must have been at least 57 in 1988, yet looked late 40s. In March 1988 Floss said Nev was "60 odd". I would say in 1988 Nev looked about 70. He was the only "old codger" in the show at the time, a show which was mainly full of younger people.

I'd always assumed that Morag was the oldest Stewart sibling too until I also saw that clip where Alf suggested she was younger. 

[cymbaline]

Gosh, I'd always assumed Morag was older too. She even looked it, though I see Cornelia was only 3 years older than Ray. 

If their ages on the internet are correct, Frank Lloyd was born in 1928 and Sheila Kennelly in 1936. That'd made them 60 and 52 respectively. That surprises me because I always assumed they were older. Maybe I was thrown, not only by my teenage "everybody is old" eyes but by their occupations. Even in 1988, circuses and travelling carnivals were a bit passé. That gypsy van of theirs was so cramped and claustrophobic. 

[Bobby Forever Missed]

I see (and always have seen) the Stewart siblings ages as Alf Morag Barbara Debra Celia in that order Alf acts like the oldest child Celia acts the youngest Morag and Barbara always struck me as middle children 

[j.laur5]

It’s a shame we never got much with Morag and Barbara. The only time they shared screen time was when Morag was reading Alan's will. Morag was being quite civil in those and was being even civil to Bobby but I guess it was before the whole mother and daughter reveal. 
 

I remember Ailsa saying to Alf that Barbara was his most normal sister and I bet in 1996 Ailsa changed her tune .

[Homeandawayfan.]

Those days of H&A were total gold, and infinitely better than modern day H&A.

I always found the Alf flashback scene from around 2010 a bit odd where Ray Meagher even played Alf's own father Gordon Stewart. No one looks that identical to their father surely.

 

[nenehcherry2]

I loved the fact, in that 88/9 era, that there was a clan (the Stewarts) who'd been in the Bay for many generations. Very reflective of real life rural communities (especially back then) and gave a stark contrast to the fostering outsiders from the City.

The complex (not so) adult sibling relationships between Alf, Morag and Celia added to this unique role in the series, as well as Roo's manipulation of these inter-relationships / later conflict of interest and the audience viewing these dysfunctionalities from the objective POV of Ailsa marrying into the context provided further nuance (i.e. illustrated the irony that a traditional, settled "blood family" could be even more dysfunctional than a transient foster family). 

We lost this juxtaposition somewhat when Roo, then Morag and then Celia left. Alf and Ailsa just simply evolved into yet another example of a couple taking in teens or lodgers in Summer Bay's fostering capital for some years. Ok, so Alf ran a store and lost his temper a bit. And Ailsa (apparently) ran the diner. But that was about it. Especially with little to no presence of Morag, Celia and Barbara through the 90s, the Stewarts as a FAMILY lost their initially important key differential role in the show for a decade or so (albeit, Alf and Ailsa remained linchpins themselves). They became "Pippa overflow".  Even Don, Bobby and Rebecca's close links with them were virtually forgotten. 

It only really changed again as Duncan grew up and Morag started making more regular visits again. For me, that generated a "Stewart renaissance" (something the show really benefited from with Sally's eventual departure).

Not mentioning post 2008 developments since they do not exist in my universe!

Edited July 10, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[Homeandawayfan.]

Summer Bay was founded in 1852 by one of Alf's Scottish ancestors. In 2008 Morag said their mother Sarah Jane was a Townsend before she wed Gordon.

Post 2008, some say H&A "ended" when Sally left. But it died when she returned in 2013.

[cymbaline]

It would've been nice to see Barbara again. Not the loopy 1996 iteration but the sane one from 1988. She looked right at home with the rest of her family and was a believable ex for Donald. I guess they didn't want to bring her back because she was middle-aged and (mostly) normal. I don't believe we ever saw Debra, the other sibling. I wonder what she was like? Especially if Ailsa said Barbara was Alf's most normal sibling.