cymbaline

I can't remember where I heard Judy talking about her departure but it sounded like both parties knew which way the wind was blowing before anybody stepped into the room. Even though she was the one who said the "I'm leaving" bit out loud, the producers weren't very far behind. I think everybody understood that Judy would pull the plug on Ailsa herself and that's exactly what happened. You could argue that the producers indulged her for a very long time. She was able to write all those books on company time because they weren't giving her much to do.

How do you know for certain that Judy is the one who decided to leave? The decision may not have been in her hands. Besides, everybody has to leave sometime. She was there for 12 years and I'm sure she did very well financially from it. Debra Lawrance is pretty open about how Pippa paid for the real estate.

Steven and Marilyn are exceptions to the general rule and neither had been trashed to death during their first run. The break definitely gave them the chance to reboot and come back as different people. Steven as a young man who had lost his way a bit, and Marilyn as a divorced woman who had had to grow up. I wasn't watching H&A by the time the 10's came around so I can't comment on Sally's return, nor Heath and Bianca. I thought Haydn Ross was a good returning guest character but he had the luxury of still having some familiar faces around. He exploited his dad's guilt over his shortcomings as a father, and created some long-lasting drama for the Rosses. Then when he came back after Michael's death, somebody remembered his past connection to Marilyn. Some of the returns were pretty bad. They brought Chloe back just so they could kill her off. Donald Fisher's ex-wife turning into a psycho was definitely a WTF moment too.

Bringing a character back seems to be a tricky business at the best of times. Usually, a character has been put through so many things during their time on the show, there isn't much more left for them to do. Or they give long-running characters such as Pippa and Donald a nice exit storyline. Everything is nicely tied up in a bundle until it isn't. The writers seem to want to do something bigger and badder to give the return some impact. Maybe it's part of why a departed actor might like to come back. There's also the issue of who the returnee can hang around with. If their friends have moved on, all they're left with is Alf and his buddies.

You'd probably have to recast many of these old characters, because the original actors have either left acting, live abroad or are retired. That's a solution that'd make nobody happy.

I'd love to know who is watching Home and Away regularly these days, and how long they have been doing so. Would they even remember or care about these past characters? The actors are now in their forties and fifties, which would probably work against them. Home and Away is a soap which has evolved far more than the other main ones I can think of. It morphed from a teenage-heavy soap into the River Boys which is pretty crazy if you think about it. Would anybody following the Summer Bay Bunyip story arc have ever imagined we'd have gang members and people dropping like flies. Personally I don't care for the current format - Martin hit the nail on the head with the description of what it is - but it is a format that seems to suit everybody. The older actors are happy to have a steady job and the newbies think they could be the next Chris Hemsworth or Margot Robbie. The show is a behemoth now (I've heard Lynne McGranger say there's huge money tied into it) and as long as the current format works, I can't see them bothering to do anything radical. I find it to be shallow and rootless but maybe that's all most people want.

This might be the interview you're thinking of

They hadn't decided to put the focus on the teenagers yet, so they might also have decided she was one kid too many. Which is ironic when you look at how many youngsters were living in Pippa's house just a few years later. The return of almost anybody from that era would make no sense now. They're all middle-aged now though ironically that's closer in age to many of the cast now lol. Certainly, there were many occasions in the past when Lynn could've come to visit. One that springs to mind is the family reunion from 2000 when Sally was marrying Kieran. Pippa, Frank, Steven, Carly, Floss, Lance, Martin and Jack all came back for that one and it was lovely to see. It would make you think that she wasn't on good terms with the producers, but I doubt we'll ever learn the truth. It is great that she found another career and is doing something fulfilling. Even if she had stayed for longer, she'd probably have ended up in much the same place anyway. Many of the young actors from that original cast left the industry a long time ago and now have normal jobs.

Adam was a victim of his own reputation when it came to that accident. Apart from Marilyn and Matt, he never really had any friends in the Bay. Plenty of people liked him to a certain extent but they also knew that he was self-centred and untrustworthy. That was why his rare bouts of integrity stuck out like a sore thumb - they rarely happened. I don't think Luke or Nick would've got such a hard time if they had been the one behind the wheel. They really trashed Greg in the last couple of months of his time, didn't they? First, he cheated on Bobby and was probably only taken back by her because of Sam. Then when he tried to parent Sam on his own, he was pretty horrible to him. And then as a final coup de gras, he dumped the kid with Uncle Donald and took a job that would take him far away from home.

Adam had a rough time after Bobby died too. Did he deserve it?

Anything after that?

Did they have anywhere for gatherings before the Surf Club was introduced? The school had a hall but I can't remember for sure if we ever saw that. The school had to use the Surf Club for its Romeo + Juliet reworking and the No Justice gig.

Maybe she was the type who fell for men more easily than you'd think. By the time the first anniversary of Tom's death rolled around, she was getting ready to tie the knot with Michael. At least the months between Michael's death and hooking up with Ian could be measured in double figures. Using Ian as a way to write Pippa out was perfectly fine, because they needed a way to move her on. She had more ties than most people, what with the foster kids and owning property etc. The other two guys are a bit creepy. Simon gives me the ick for all sorts of reasons and his English accent is straight out of stereotype hell. Phil was a more straightforward smarmy middle-aged bloke who couldn't believe he'd pulled... Angel and Marilyn didn't need these blokes as reasons to leave the Bay. Young people tend to be more transient and if either had simply decided that it was time to move on, nobody would've batted an eyelid.

After being widowed twice and having to go through the turmoil (and the paperwork) Pippa probably thought she'd best not get ahead of herself the third time around... Debra Lawrance probably preferred to be Pippa Ross anyway, for obvious reasons.

I've read online that Sally went to the wedding but who knows how reliable that info is? One piece of bad information can be replicated indefinitely. On the other hand, sending Sally away to attend the wedding would have been a very straightforward way of writing Kate Ritchie out when she wanted to take some leave.

Did Pippa and Ian ever marry? Last night I watched a 2008 episode on Channel 7's rolling "live" channel. It was an episode from just after Sally was stabbed and saw Tom. Pippa is in it and in the end titles, she's credited as Pippa Ross.

If you look at the interview she did with Tristan Bancks in G'Day Summer Bay (1996) you can see that she's already far more invested in her writing career than in playing Ailsa. Playing Ailsa was the day job and she could do that without breaking into a sweat. While I am not questioning her professionalism, having somebody on a set who is openly using their downtime to work on their other job isn't a good look. If Tristan's opening comments are to be taken at face value, she spent a lot of her time holed up in her dressing room rather than hanging in the green room with the rest of the cast. If you have to keep knocking on her door and interrupting her every time you need to see her about something, that can become an issue. She doesn't even have to be rude for it to become irritating. It is one of those times when I genuinely believe an actor when they say they left by mutual consent.

Ironically, she might've enjoyed Ailsa having an arrangement like the one Alf and Martha had. The option to retreat to a remote 2nd home

I think Donald and Patricia had chemistry, believe it or not. It's all subjective, innit?

I get the impression it didn't bother Judy Nunn if they didn't give Ailsa much to do. She was spending her downtime on set writing her books and I'd say she was only there for the steady income. It's a pity she retired from acting because she would have continued to get acting work afterwards.

I don't remember Norman getting any of the attention or acclaim at the time. But when you look back, it's hard to argue with that. As I've said consistently, I don't care for early 1988 Donald because I think the part was badly written and very one-note. Norman was fine but he wasn't being given good material to work with. It was a different matter once everybody hit their stride and got a better handle on the character. From then on, Norman consistently knocked it out of the park. He was equally good as a school headmaster, and as the complex but soft-centred man away from the school. He was very funny whenever they got Donald drunk - I'd say more scenes of that ilk were written once they saw how entertaining he was.

I'm glad they evolved Donald into a far more humane human being. That original cold, corrupt persona he had wouldn't have lasted the distance. It is jarring to see him being so malicious towards Bobby, Tom and Nico when we know how he changed. As a youngster, I didn't really watch Home and Away in its early months, so I missed Alan. I only knew of him from the way Donald spoke of him later on. To see how he and Alan related to each other in 1988 was a bit of a surprise. They were pretty horrible to each other and had barely begun to make up when he died

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that. She was a better match for Donald than Marilyn or June, and was a potentially interesting character. Wouldn't it have been great if they'd brought her back years later, even if it was only as Norman's exit storyline. I once stumbled across an old British TV show on YouTube where they went behind the scenes on H&A. I only remember Craig messing around on the beach between takes, and the narrator saying that the crew looked fed up with his "hilarity". That was also the era where he was trying to be a pop star, so he was never going to stick around. They gave Andrew/Charlton Hill two substantial storylines when he returned as a guest later on. That's usually a sign that the actor left on good terms and that they're still willing to give them something to do. Even though I've read about Belinda Jarrett's attitude being a problem, they still brought her back for Les Dean's exit and kept her for more than 5 minutes.

I thought Pippa and Michael's separation was well done too. It was dealt with in a surprisingly mature way. As well as their failure to communicate, you could pinpoint events which had added to the pressure cooker throughout the year. Haydn's return some months earlier had done a lot of emotional and financial damage. Then Michael had to try and sell his Boat Shed and ended up being bailed out by Alf. On top of that, Jack arrived in less than ideal circumstances and he was never far from trouble. Later in the year, they took in Shannon when they probably shouldn't have. With 6 kids under their roof by then, they needed to be on the same page. I also like the episodes from the following year when they go for counselling and slowly repair things. Again, that isn't something you usually see in a soap.

Thanks for the correction. Part of me thought the Donna one might be from '95 because I have a vague memory of her ex being around when Shane and Angel got married. Maybe you might give 1994 a go sometime and see how you found it? Even though I've obviously got my years arseways, I found it perfectly watchable. Then again I don't care for catastrophe after catastrophe. Even if I hadn't stopped watching H&A in 1996, it'd have lost me once the River Boys came along. Selina and Jack first appeared in April 1994, so they were well established by the end of the year. Curtis and Shannon came along in September. I don't know what you mean by "how much did they do?".