Hostage drama in huge new Home and Away promo

A brand new Home and Away promo sees newcomer Heather take a number of Summer Bay residents hostage as she continues to seek revenge on Marilyn.

Heather (Sofia Nolan) has only just made her first appearance on UK screens, but Australian viewers have seen her tormenting the residents of Summer Bay for a little over a month.

She was revealed to be Marilyn’s (Emily Symons) daughter, the result of an affair Maz once had with a married man when she was working as a housekeeper in the country. The man and his wife convinced Marilyn to hand over the baby, who they adopted for themselves, and Marilyn hasn’t seen her daughter for 27 years.

Now, Heather has tracked her birth mother down to Summer Bay, but forming a close mother-daughter bond hasn’t exactly been high on her list of priorities.

She spent weeks making Marilyn uncomfortable with odd glances and snide comments, much to her confusion.

However, it was when Heather left Marilyn a sinister photograph of a baby with the words “Guess who?” written on the back that made Maz realise just who Heather really was.

Marilyn quickly realised that Heather was her long-lost child, and gained the evidence she needed by breaking into Heather’s van, where she discovered the birth certificate that listed her as the mother.

Maz and Heather finally acknowledged each other as mother and daughter, and it seemed like a sweet reunion was on the cards. However, Heather was put out when Maz asked her to keep the revelation between them – she couldn’t face her closest friends learning that she had kept such a big secret from them for decades, but to Heather it seemed like her mother was still ashamed of her existence.

Unfortunately, in recent episodes, it has been Marilyn’s closest friends who have borne the brunt of Heather’s issues.

She slashed John’s (Shane Withington) tyres after John took issue with the way she was treating Marilyn, before trashing Leah’s (Ada Nicodemou) house when Leah warned her to stop playing games.

Firmly under Heather’s spell, Marilyn took the blame for slashing John’s tyres, blaming herself for Heather’s actions and not wanting her daughter to get into trouble.

On next week’s Home and Away, Heather pretends that she wants to make amends as she whisks Marilyn and her friends away to a luxurious country mansion.

However, all is not as it seems, and it’s another part of Heather’s plan to exact revenge on the woman who abandoned her.

The new promo begins with a voiceover from Marilyn: “When my daughter was taken away from me, I thought I’d never see her again. But finally I have her back.

She’s given me a second chance. And now, we can start over. I hope she can forgive me.”

Of course, things won’t be that easy.

“I’m very proud of you, darling,” Maz tells her daughter.

“You have no idea how much it means to hear that from you,” Heather replies. “I’m really excited to see what comes next for us.”

Interspersed throughout the promo are the shots of some of Heather’s previous actions – breaking into Summer Bay House while Marilyn slept; looking at the candid photo she took of Marilyn in the diner – before the real action begins.

A large manor house in the country is the location for the dramatic events which unfold next week.

It seems Heather invites Maz, along with Leah, Roo (Georgie Parker) and Alf (Ray Meagher), to the house for some kind of forgiveness dinner.

In the entrance hall we see Roo, Alf and Leah, with Leah’s face suggesting that she has her doubts about the event and its troubled host.

It’s only a matter of days since Heather broke into and trashed Leah and Justin’s (James Stewart) house, so it’s no surprise if she doesn’t yet believe that the Summer Bay newcomer has changed her ways.

“Welcome, everyone,” says Heather as she appears from the top of the grand staircase, before we see a shot of Heather throwing open the doors of the lavish dining room, with champagne on ice in the background.

Then, a toast – “to forgiveness!”

But Heather is far from forgiving.

“Your friends, they don’t know who you really are,” Heather tells her long-lost mother, sinisterly. “I’ll fix that.”

Then, we see Marilyn tied to a chair, arms bound, with a TV in front of her showing live feeds from various rooms of the sprawling mansion.

Cutting to a wider shot, we see Maz’s mouth is gagged – she can’t even cry out for help.

She can see her daughter on the CCTV, as Heather raises a glass and looks up at the camera with a smile.

Crying out for help wouldn’t prove much use, as it seems Maz isn’t the only Summer Bay favourite in danger – Heather has knocked out at least some of the other guests.

“She took everything away from me,” explains Heather. “Now I’m gonna do the same to her.”

We see Leah unconscious on the floor…

Irene is slumped in a chair, also unconscious, with cable ties around her wrists.

Next, we see Marilyn and Heather running through the coridoors, as Marilyn screams out.

“What do you want from me?” she asks her daughter.

“The truth!”

“What, that I’m a terrible mother and that I abandoned you? I didn’t have a choice,” pleads Marilyn, but Heather is in no mood to listen.

“Liar,” Heather screams.

Somehow, the alarm is raised, and we see Senior Constable Cash Newman (Nicholas Cartwright) at the house, racing through the coridoors and stairwells in search of the hostages.

Will he find them in time?

At the end of the promo, we see Maz staring through the panes of glass, before Heather comes up behind her and hits her hard across the head, knocking her to the ground.

“Some things just can’t be undone.”

With a spoiler for next Thursday’s episode telling us that “Rose and Cash pursue a suspected murderer,” will all of Heather’s victims make it out alive?

While they don’t feature in the promo, we’re also expecting Rose (Kirsty Marillier) and Xander (Luke Van Os) to play a part in the rescue, as they featured in the filming which took place earlier this year.

Back in May, a number of the Home and Away cast headed to Iandra Castle, a large homestead in the Central West region of New South Wales, to film the dramatic new scenes.

The Iandra Castle complex consists of the homestead itself, stables, surrounding gardens and parkland, and a chapel and cemetery, but it’ll be the homestead which is the main focus of the week’s tense hostage situation.

Ray Meagher, Ada Nicodemou, Georgie Parker, Emily Symons and Lynne McGranger were all on the shoot, wearing colourful outfits, for what we now know to be Heather’s forgiveness dinner.

Summer Bay’s three emergency service members – Constable Rose Delaney (Kirsty Marillier), Senior Constable Cash Newman (Nicholas Cartwright) and paramedic Xander Delaney (Luke Van Os) – were also filming, with photos on Kirsty and Ada’s Instagram accounts showing Rose and Xander in their respective uniforms.

The drama begins next Wednesday in Australia, continuing right through Thursday’s triple bill of episodes.

UK viewers will see these scenes in late November.

Here’s the full spoilers for next week’s Home and Away episodes in Australia:

Monday 3rd October (Episode 7897)

Felicity crumbles under engagement pressure. Eden bares her heart for Cash. Bree welcomes a surprise visitor.

Tuesday 4th October (Episode 7898)

Roo wants answers from Marilyn. Remi fears for Bree’s safety.

Wednesday 5th October (Episodes 7899)

Ziggy’s baby fears keep the doctor away. Are Marilyn’s friends walking into a trap?

Thursday 6th October (Episodes 7900–7902)

Ziggy and Dean announce their big news. Lyrik’s new song is a hit, but could it be bigger? Unhinged Heather holds Marilyn’s friends hostage.

Ziggy and Dean get their parenting act together. Rose and Cash pursue a suspected murderer.

Marilyn faces the real Heather. Dean has doubts about witnessing birth.