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

[nenehcherry2]

45 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

 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.

My money's still on the Stewarts making interesting choices when it came to naming family pets...

Seriously, was there ever any scriptural evidence of Debra's humanness? 

1 hour ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

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.

Hark at you, Daran Little!

You impress me, you should have been employed by Seven as the show's archivist! 

Edited July 11, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[Dan F]

38 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

Seriously, was there ever any scriptural evidence of Debra's humanness?

One mention in press material, one mention in dialogue (listed alongside the other siblings, though not explicitly referred to as one), and one visible appearance/credit via flashback:

https://www.backtothebay.net/characters/stewart_debra/

[nenehcherry2]

7 hours ago, Dan F said:

One mention in press material, one mention in dialogue (listed alongside the other siblings, though not explicitly referred to as one), and one visible appearance/credit via flashback:

https://www.backtothebay.net/characters/stewart_debra/

I'd only personally heard the dialogue mention (Celia could have easily been referring to a pet).

Thanks for highlighting the other two. Though, I never take press material as "canon". I'd long stopped watching the show by the time of the flashback. Good to know, ta.

Edited July 12, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[nenehcherry2]

11 hours ago, cymbaline said:

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.

I agree. I really liked 88 Barbara. She had similarities to both VanPip and to how Ailsa was in the first year or so but also more career driven, stubborn and hot headed with it. Don clearly had a "type" (pre-Mazza at least).

 Don implied that Barbara and Morag had "regular spats". It's a shame we never saw them on screen simultaneously. Particularly after the Don/Bobby reveal. I can personally imagine Barbara harbouring more distrust and anger towards Morag than to Don over that. She'd clearly moved on from Donald by 88 but to find out that her own sister had stooped so low (not just the infidelity itself but how she deceited Don, Barbara and Bobby, deprived Alan and Rebecca of a sibling etc) would have made for interesting viewing. As well as seeing Alf, Celia and (at the very point she was "changing") Roo all caught up in the torn loyalties. 

13 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

I agree. I really liked 88 Barbara. She had similarities to both VanPip and to how Ailsa was in the first year or so but also more career driven, stubborn and hot headed with it. Don clearly had a "type" (pre-Mazza at least).

 Don implied that Barbara and Morag had "regular spats". It's a shame we never saw them on screen simultaneously. Particularly after the Don/Bobby reveal. I can personally imagine Barbara harbouring more distrust and anger towards Morag than to Don over that. She'd clearly moved on from Donald by 88 but to find out that her own sister had stooped so low (not just the infidelity itself but how she deceited Don, Barbara and Bobby, deprived Alan and Rebecca of a sibling etc) would have made for interesting viewing. As well as seeing Alf, Celia and (at the very point she was "changing") Roo all caught up in the torn loyalties. Plus, throwing Don and Bobby into the equation...

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[homeandawayroxsomuch.]

42 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

I agree. I really liked 88 Barbara. She had similarities to both VanPip and to how Ailsa was in the first year or so but also more career driven, stubborn and hot headed with it. Don clearly had a "type" (pre-Mazza at least).

 Don implied that Barbara and Morag had "regular spats". It's a shame we never saw them on screen simultaneously. Particularly after the Don/Bobby reveal. I can personally imagine Barbara harbouring more distrust and anger towards Morag than to Don over that. She'd clearly moved on from Donald by 88 but to find out that her own sister had stooped so low (not just the infidelity itself but how she deceited Don, Barbara and Bobby, deprived Alan and Rebecca of a sibling etc) would have made for interesting viewing. As well as seeing Alf, Celia and (at the very point she was "changing") Roo all caught up in the torn loyalties. 

 

I've missed your opinions.

[Homeandawayfan.]

16 hours ago, nenehcherry2 said:

My money's still on the Stewarts making interesting choices when it came to naming family pets...

Seriously, was there ever any scriptural evidence of Debra's humanness? 

Hark at you, Daran Little!

You impress me, you should have been employed by Seven as the show's archivist! 

And Eric Rosser, the once archivist of Corrie before Daran Little. he picked up on any continuity errors in scripts. I think the current H&A writers would hate me for that though lolol.

 

[nenehcherry2]

9 hours ago, homeandawayroxsomuch. said:

I've missed your opinions.

Hey there! Thankyou Miss Kat, hope you be keeping well

[j.laur5]

On 12/07/2023 at 07:57, cymbaline said:

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.

I guess Barbara being a teacher and a nursing type character she could become another foster mother like Irene did  once and become a regular. I guess we could have had another regular teacher on the show instead of having Donald acting as a teacher as well as principal. 

Also I noticed in 1988 Alf seemed to look down on Morag and Celia whereas with Barbara he didn't so much.  

But like you said, during the 90s era they seemed to want to keep a more teenage and young adult  focus and even though older characters certainly weren’t completely ignored in 90s. 
 

Alf said in 2016 he had four sisters and mentioned something about Colleen being the sister to drive him most crazy to Justin and so therefore I think it's safe to say Debra may very well just be close family friend child or cousin. 

[nenehcherry2]

8 hours ago, j.laur5 said:

I guess Barbara being a teacher and a nursing type character she could become another foster mother like Irene did  once and become a regular. I guess we could have had another regular teacher on the show instead of having Donald acting as a teacher as well as principal. 

Also I noticed in 1988 Alf seemed to look down on Morag and Celia whereas with Barbara he didn't so much.  

But like you said, during the 90s era they seemed to want to keep a more teenage and young adult  focus and even though older characters certainly weren’t completely ignored in 90s. 
 

Alf said in 2016 he had four sisters and mentioned something about Colleen being the sister to drive him most crazy to Justin and so therefore I think it's safe to say Debra may very well just be close family friend child or cousin. 

I've read an interview with Corny from 1990 where she's quite open about what happened behind the scenes in that late 89-early 90 period. Andrew Howie directly or indirectly (depending on the individual concerned) drove out a lot of the "older" actors (Cornelia, Roger, Fiona and Vanessa) by taking away some of the "spice" (as she put it) that some of the middle aged characters had in 88/9. Morag, Lance and Martin were certainly axed whilst it remains unclear on the Tom scenario (there were MANY unsubstantiated rumours at the time that Roger's unconfirmed homosexuality may have played a part). Similar with Celia (the article simply says that "Fiona, Vanessa and Roger left in the chaos my axing stimulated"). 

From what she said, he was also was determined to remove everything that made the show "stuck in the 80s" (I'd interpret that to mean binning Lance, Martin, Stacey, Macklin office, cheesier underscores). And "replace with celebrities" (likely Julian McMahon, Dannii and Craig MacLachlan). 

Of course, just Cornelia's words. But it would make total sense if true, in line with your opinion. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[CaptainHulk]

Kind of hypocritical over Homosexuality Bevan Lee as one of their lead writers was gay.

Alf probably thought Morag thought she was "too good for the likes of us" (Stewarts, the Bay). Celia was pious af, though I suspect she was likely more human before Les died.

22 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

And Eric Rosser, the once archivist of Corrie before Daran Little. he picked up on any continuity errors in scripts. I think the current H&A writers would hate me for that though lolol.

 

Mate, they'd issue me with an International gagging order.