Dannii Minogue in Home and Away

[Stewarts Point]

Forgetable misfire?  What's your thoughts on her time in Summer Bay?

I feel the 89/90 transition of characters prooved tricky and she suffered accordingly.

[adam436]

I suspect the producers wanted Dannii/Emma to stay longer than she did. They might have got a couple of extra months out of her, but I think she would have suffered post-high school like so many teenage characters tended to, that perhaps it's best she left on a high. With Viv gone, Steven on his way out and the next generation (Blake, Karen, Sophie) having arrived, it felt like the right time for her to go. 

Her exit did feel rushed though. 

[cymbaline]

None of those big name hires went too well, did they? Craig McLachlan didn't hang around for too long either. Even at that, his tenure was broken up by him trying to launch a music career. Richard Norton, also poached from Neighbours, turned out to be a damp squib as well. 

Neither Viv nor Emma are particularly memorable characters. It's hard to know if they'd have done better if they'd been introduced at a different time. 

[adam436]

That era had a higher turnover of cast with the likes of Emma, Viv, Grant, Ben, Karen, Simon, Haydn and others lasting less than 18 months.  

They definitely wanted more from Craig and Dannii, so the producers must have been disappointed they had relatively short stints.

Craig had already done 3 years on a soap, so he'd have been unlikely to do another 3 when his career was just taking off.

As for Richard Norton, he didn't exactly set the world on fire on Neighbours so I don't know what they were expecting from him on H&A.