Morag Bellingham to Return to Summer Bay!
A number of fans have been hoping for this day for the past two years, and it seems it might have finally arrived. Long-time Home and Away recurring actress Cornelia Frances has recently been photographed with a fan on location, dressed in the attire of her much-loved character, Morag Bellingham.
The photo, which was uploaded to popular photo-sharing app Instagram but has since been made private, was taken whilst the show was filming in a historic town to the north-west of Sydney, a location often used in the series.
Whilst the nature of the storyline is unknown, rumour has it that scenes have also been recently shot at the town’s nearby courthouse—used previously in the show—which may indicate that Morag could be returning in a professional capacity.
Cornelia’s first episode appearance in Home and Away aired on 7 June 1988, as the oft-mentioned sister of established characters Alf and Celia Stewart, arriving for the wedding of her niece, Roo to her high-school love interest, Frank. The wedding, however didn’t go ahead as planned and Morag left Summer Bay soon after. Morag returned, now as a member of the main cast, to the series in 1989 for the wedding of Frank and her newly-discovered daughter (and arch nemesis), Bobby Simpson. She stayed on for 9 months, before leaving the series once again.
Morag’s next return to the series was after the death of her daughter, Bobby in 1993. She was then exiled from Summer Bay after it was learnt by Ailsa that she was trying to manipulate Summer Bay to gain custody of her grandson, Sam. She made a surprise comeback in 2001 as the judge presiding over the infamous Dani Sutherland vs. Kane Phillips trial, then made subsequent appearances on a regular basis over the next decade.
Her most recent appearance in Summer Bay was in 2012, when she returned for the wedding of Roo to Harvey. This stint lasted 4 episodes, and her final episode aired on 24 January 2013. The last several weeks have been filled with mentions of Morag, as Alf has asked her to dig into the background of Roo’s new beau, James Edmunds.
It is currently unknown when exactly Morag will make her return to Summer Bay, or for how long, but we are sure long-time fans will be happy to see her make a reappearance.
Update! Cornelia Frances’ son, Lawrence has confirmed on his Instagram account that his mother will be reprising her role of Morag. In the comments, he revealed that she will return in early 2016, in a guest capacity. He also admitted that she wishes to return to the show permanently.