Revealed

I thought the same particularly as the actress who played Cassie was much older in real life and only 4 years or so younger than Sally. However a few years later my then 30 year old friend and his 25 year old wife were fostering a 15 year old. Don't get me wrong it was it bit weird seeing my friend parent a 15 year old, but it does happen.

I've been going through the 1992 episodes again to see where Adam mentions Matt. Up to April and the nearest he's come is telling Nick and Lucinda there's a spare room at his place. What I've discovered from skimming through these episodes is that these great ideas he has that go wrong is literally all he does. Once they end in disaster he'll disappear for a few episodes and as soon as he's back he's onto the next one. On a side note the first episode in 1992 where we see one of the regulars in a bikini is 985 where we see Fin in one.

I was watching throughout and don't remember a great deal about them other than how dull they were. I remember Jack being shot dead by Angelo who was a lot more memorable but can't remember how Lucas or Tony exited. I also thought Zac and Brody were dull characters. I did dread that Zac may be sticking around for years to come being married to Leah which is what has happened with Justin. Don't know who I find worse, the guy who plays Justin still can't act but if he ever does leave it's likely I'll remember him better than I remember Zac.

I actually liked his exit though it was for personal reasons as I was about to move town myself and couldn't wait. As I recall his lease at the Surf Club was due to expire and he was told there was no point in him hanging around for any longer. I remember him driving out of town looking relieved to be getting out of there and I thought to myself that will be me in a few weeks time. Unfortunately his replacement character was Tony Holden who was on it for a long time and is possible the most boring character there's ever been on the show.

Doesn't like the article is online, just in the actual newspaper. I don't think he sounded ungrateful, he was just asked how he got into acting and it sounds like he just fell into it by accident by being convinced to join Home & Away. Similarly I recall reading an interview with Craig McLachlan years ago. He said he signed a contract with some agency who were supposed to help him crack Hollywood but if that all went wrong there would be a part on Home & Away for him.

The way I see it is that when Martin and Lance left Adam and Matt were supposed to fill that void. Whilst Adam made a convincing Martin, Matt was nothing like Lance so they just made him the guy who works at the diner instead.

You wouldn't cast hot women and put them in bikinis if you didn't want to make it a main attraction of your show.

There was an interview with Julian McMahon in the newspaper recently. He said he was a model with no acting experience and was offered the part of Home & Away out of nowhere and he reluctantly accepted.

When did he say that? I've just watched the first episode of 1992 and no mention of Matt. I think the mention a few months later was Adam saying paying the rent had become more difficult since Matt moved out or something like that. That episode reminded me how Matt lasted longer than most of the other cast there in the beginning not to mention the characters who came and went during his stay. Yet he's best remembered for not being very memorable.

Could be they were given a break and a new contract was on the table if they wanted it. When they decided against it they were killed off. With Matts exit it came in the penultimate episode of 1991. In the final episode of that year as I recall he was mentioned but not seen "Matt's waiting in the car" was said at one point I believe. Then that was it. Adam did acknowledge somewhere down the line that Matt had moved out but I don't think he mentioned whether he'd left town or just found a new property to live in. He did move out at some point though because he came back for a guest stint years later.

I get that a real life type relocation won't make for good telly but the quickness of how quickly Tori had to move to London for example was ridiculous. Characters used to vanish mid-series on Byker Grove. One example that springs to mind was Gary. Him and Angel broke up and then Angel moved away and Gary was never seen again after that. He was one of the biggest characters at the time. The thing is Summer Bay is supposed to be a close knit rural community but Big Alf is the only one who's lived there all his life. The fact it's set in a town rather than a specific street means characters can easily come and go without having to move to or move out of Summer Bay. They did used to introduce characters who were already living in Summer Bay but I think John Palmer was the last one who was already living there before he appeared on our screens.

The type of exits that annoy me are those where someone gets the opportunity to move elsewhere whether it's a job offer or something else but they have to move straight away. Then they leave with all their belongings packed into 2 bags. I really wish it was that simple in real life. Another type is where they go somewhere temporarily and then decide later down the line they're not coming back. Just seems pointless and there's no reason why they can't just make it a permanent move in the first place, I don't mind the Matt/Rob type exits. There used to be a TV show in the UK called Byker Grove and in the early 90s at least there were quite a few characters who just suddenly weren't on the show anymore with no explanation of what happened to them.

I think the 2000 season had it's parallels with life in general. It was a new century and a time when you want to be out with the old and in with the new. Then later you realise just how good you had it in the 20th century. I initially liked how the new credits were so different, but when they bought back the normal credits in 2004 where we got Hailey in a bikini it showed that in hindsight having the head shots only was a terrible idea. I also recall the female characters dressing a lot more conservatively at the time. When that started repeating it on Channel 5 I recorded the episodes to watch later and kept the ones with bikini scenes in them. There weren't many episodes I kept.

I believe she'd already left the show by the time she appeared on UK screens so we knew she wouldn't be around long. She'd also started her singing career when she was still on UK screens but I think more was being made about her being Kylie's sister than her being on Home & Away. There are 2 highlights from her time on the show that stand out in my mind. There's the episode where her and Vicki were fighting in their bikinis during a windsurfing lesson. Another was the episode where her, Viv and Sophie were in bikinis in the same scene. Think that was the first time we'd had 3 main characters in bikinis in the same scene. Even now it's a rarity to have 3 together.

I think Big Alf is a legend myself. Every village has a grumpy old man who demands respect because they've lived there all their life. They also tend to be judgmental about anyone who's not from the village. That's exactly who Big Alf is.

I watched what was supposed to be the last ever episode of Neighbours having not watched it for over 20 years and bringing back the old characters was a factor in me deciding to watch it. I had no problem identifying Guy Pearce or Kylie and Jason because they've remained in the public eye since, but I had real trouble identifying many of the other characters. Jane for example looked nothing like her younger self. I could see this being a problem if Home and Away was to bring back older characters. That said I do think that a character has to be gone for a certain length of time for their comeback to mean anything.