Is it the ultimate sin to say you dislike Alf in the early days?

[Stewarts Point]

He was a pompous blow hard who once he got his beloved Range Rover in 1989, killed off 'edgy' Ailsa of 1988. He was judgmental and often quite nasty. How he treated Blake after he found out about his real father in 1992 and Sarah as a babysitter in 1994 was hard to justify.

Yes he had the 'bants' with Marilyn and 'flaming  galahs' and water bed issues of humour' but do we too over look his pompous pride and know it all arrogance?

 

Early 1988 was very good precisely because Alf was a minor character. Alf was the 'measured know your place' police', and it was tiresome.

[adam436]

I am in two minds here. Alf was often written as hot-headed and an authoritarian father figure when it came to Roo and his family, plus we had the story with Roo's boyfriend where he came across as racist. But on the other hand, he was always Mr Reliable, on hand to help out the Fletchers where there was a crisis or they needed an extra pair of hands, and we saw his softer side with Ailsa in the early days of their romance. 

Weirdly, I actually 80s/90s Alf more likeable than the current character. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because he had Ailsa to compliment him. He currently feels like a watered-down version of early years Alf. Once Ailsa died, Alf kind of transitioned into more of a grandfatherly role, especially once he moved into Summer Bay House and we had all the young waifs and strays come through under the care of Sally, Miles, Roo and Leah and Zac. It was a natural progression for the character, but he's certainly lost that "edge" that he had in the early years. 

I can't really comment on anything between mid 1990 and late 1994, as I've not watched most of that, but I think by 1995 when it became obvious he was going to be one of the long-term characters they had started to iron out the kinks in his character without him losing his "edge". 

[nenehcherry2]

I also feel that Alf lost his sense of humour in the 1995 revamp and smiled a lot less for circa 6 years. They overplayed his long-standing hot temper and disciplinarian stances from then on until Duncan first left, meaning that the poor likes of Aaron, (especially) Curtis, Mitch and Duncan copped it a lot. They also ruined his friendship with Michael too and had him thumping Don one, two of his best mates (no doubt, Tom would have copped it if he'd still been alive!).

Pre-95 Alf had the hot temper for sure but that was balanced with liking a dirty joke and a good laugh over the store counter with the right character (well, as far as Home and Away could go with that) and making "Dad jokes" (like when he started singing Christmas carols in 94 just before the tree burned down). And loyalty to mates was one of his most obvious values.

Alf becoming moodier from 95 also coincided with Ailsa becoming more judgemental and unbalanced herself (which took the previous warmth away from their rapport as a couple). These changes, in turn, made them more isolated within the community. They seemed like detached, much older, embittered, cold, conservative Grandparent figures towards the late 90s teens, as opposed to the Uncle / Aunt figures they were to the earlier kids. And their marriage seemed less happy.

He also lost his store in 96 (and it barely appeared in late 95). This didn't do him any favours either as we stopped seeing Alf as the centre of the community store server and employer (the bait shop was too specific in its purpose to compensate) and he seemed to spend a lot of time hanging around the Diner counter with Ailsa without actually working there!

All these changes meant that, by the time Pippa left, much of her role was given over to the conveniently much softer by then Irene (I am sure one of the Ross kids even mentions that they wouldn't want to live with the Stewarts in a million years). Whereas I think pre-95 A&A would have been natural successors as the central foster family.

Alf definitely softened once Duncan went to live with Morag and, to the earlier point, he morphed into the Grandfather of the community figure (losing much of his hot temper but never really getting back his earlier qualities either). Now he's just a brand to represent the show.

Edited March 15 by nenehcherry2

[Old H&A Fan]

Alf hated Ryan for no reason. Was it because he double-crossed his beloved surrogate daughter Marilyn by dating her to make it look like he was no longer going out with Lucinda? I don't buy that the whole town hated Ryan just cos he broke Nick and Loo up.

Alf does have a habit (like his sister, who he chastises for doing the same thing) of not minding his own business.

Alf was a lite version of the notorious Butler-Craven he was in Prisoner, where he blew up his mate's family, and had Loreli raped and threatened her kid Zoe.

Edited March 15 by Old H&A Fan
Loo not Roo

[CaptainHulk]

  On 15/03/2025 at 10:58, Old H&A Fan said:

Alf hated Ryan for no reason. Was it because he double-crossed his beloved surrogate daughter Marilyn by dating her to make it look like he was no longer going out with Roo? I don't buy that the whole town hated Ryan just cos he broke Nick and Loo up.

Alf does have a habit (like his sister, who he chastises for doing the same thing) of not minding his own business.

Alf was a lite version of the notorious Butler-Craven he was in Prisoner, where he blew up his mate's family, and had Loreli raped and threatened her kid Zoe.

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The sinking car stunt by Shane was hilarious tbf.  

[pembie]

I liked him back then he was funny with his catchphrases he isn’t the character that he was nowadays he has been ruined really his outbursts to John are very cruel and nasty really 

[Sb boy]

Disagree with all this Alf is my fave. Ever character. And although. He rarely loses it now a days. His temper. Is. Still  amusing. When he is flaming. Angry. He’s really angry my only concern is. That. Ray. Is getting on nowadays. He may leave. Shortly.  

[adam436]

  On 15/03/2025 at 10:25, nenehcherry2 said:

Alf becoming moodier from 95 also coincided with Ailsa becoming more judgemental and unbalanced herself (which took the previous warmth away from their rapport as a couple). These changes, in turn, made them more isolated within the community. They seemed like detached, much older, embittered, cold, conservative Grandparent figures towards the late 90s teens, as opposed to the Uncle / Aunt figures they were to the earlier kids. And their marriage seemed less happy.

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To be honest, I think Alf and Ailsa's personality shift that you described was a result of actually giving them storylines. Alf and Ailsa had a big 1988 and 1989 (the reveal of Ailsa's past, the early years of their relationship and Roo's interference, Ailsa's pregnancy and post-natal depression), then they slipped into the background for most of the early 1990s. With the 1995 revamp, they were pushed to the forefront again for the next few years - we learned they both had a secret child, Ailsa had a few mental health issues, Alf had a few health issues (his heart mostly, I think?), Ailsa was terrorised by her estranged brother, the car accident which lead to Ailsa's paranoia that Alf was trying to kill her, Duncan was SORASed into a terror teenage, and I feel like Curtis was more of a wild child than most of their previous intakes (Emma, Blake, Simon, Sarah) so he didn't give them much to smile about either. I also remember they had a marriage separation/breakdown at one stage too - I can't remember what caused them to separate, but I remember Alf was staying in a caravan and met a blind lady played by Belinda Giblin. 

 

  On 15/03/2025 at 10:25, nenehcherry2 said:

Alf definitely softened once Duncan went to live with Morag and, to the earlier point, he morphed into the Grandfather of the community figure (losing much of his hot temper but never really getting back his earlier qualities either). Now he's just a brand to represent the show.

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Other than the brain tumour story, Alf didn't do a great deal in those years though. All his family were gone and he lived in a flat above the diner on his own for the most part - Seb and Martha lived with him briefly, but he felt very much a supporting character again. It wasn't until they moved him into Summer Bay House with Sally and her family hat he really embraced the grandfatherly role, and he's pretty much stayed there since. 

[CaptainHulk]

  On 15/03/2025 at 14:35, pembie said:

I liked him back then he was funny with his catchphrases he isn’t the character that he was nowadays he has been ruined really his outbursts to John are very cruel and nasty really 

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Tbf Palmer *does* talk twaddle sometimes! But yeah Alf can go overboard. Mind you Maz is still on his Jock at times also, Poor JP can't get a break. He will bite back now and then though 

[nenehcherry2]

  On 15/03/2025 at 20:20, adam436 said:

To be honest, I think Alf and Ailsa's personality shift that you described was a result of actually giving them storylines. Alf and Ailsa had a big 1988 and 1989 (the reveal of Ailsa's past, the early years of their relationship and Roo's interference, Ailsa's pregnancy and post-natal depression), then they slipped into the background for most of the early 1990s. With the 1995 revamp, they were pushed to the forefront again for the next few years - we learned they both had a secret child, Ailsa had a few mental health issues, Alf had a few health issues (his heart mostly, I think?), Ailsa was terrorised by her estranged brother, the car accident which lead to Ailsa's paranoia that Alf was trying to kill her, Duncan was SORASed into a terror teenage, and I feel like Curtis was more of a wild child than most of their previous intakes (Emma, Blake, Simon, Sarah) so he didn't give them much to smile about either. I also remember they had a marriage separation/breakdown at one stage too - I can't remember what caused them to separate, but I remember Alf was staying in a caravan and met a blind lady played by Belinda Giblin. 

 

Other than the brain tumour story, Alf didn't do a great deal in those years though. All his family were gone and he lived in a flat above the diner on his own for the most part - Seb and Martha lived with him briefly, but he felt very much a supporting character again. It wasn't until they moved him into Summer Bay House with Sally and her family hat he really embraced the grandfatherly role, and he's pretty much stayed there since. 

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I agree with all of this (although, I think in Ailsa's case, it was also to do with how her lines were written and how Judy delivered her performance). 

Even though they have less storylines in the non-dramatic 1990-94 period, they still have that "every couple" feel as supporting characters and their marriage seems very warm and happy for the most part. 

Edited March 16 by nenehcherry2