Homeandawayfan.

With the format the show has today, if Pippa does return, she will be a gun wielding psycho who is now called Pippa Braxton, and a huge revelation that she secretly wed Danny Braxton in 2010. Lol.

Well I went to my local library again and looked at local newspapers for December 1995, the TV schedules and I think the last UK airing episode shown in 1995 was 22nd December. It returned the following 2nd January. Over Xmas 1995 they showed H&A mockumentaries charting the Sophie Simpson era. The papers did give viewing figures for early 1994, and H&A was rating about 14 million but by Dec 1995 the figures were not given. I would like to know the viewing figures for UK screens in late 1995.

Shirley Carter in EastEnders is the mirror image of what Irene Roberts was when Lynne took over the role all those years ago.

You could say Even Stevens. H&A in Oz seems to be like Corrie and EE are over here in the UK. Iconic and popular.

Yes it does seem that Channel 5 see H&A as the underdog. It plods on in the shadow of Neighbours. I think 20-25 years ago when it was on ITV it never reached the heights of Neighbours. In the early 1990s Neighbours got about 17-18 million and H&A about 14 million. Neighbours was so big at one time that cast even performed in front of the Queen. H&A never reached those heights.

continued... SUMMER BAY CARAVAN PARK, THE FOLLOWING DAY. Leah is in the caravan park chatting to Kat and Phoebe. A man comes up to her (played by Simon Kay) and a lady comes up to her (played by Kate Gorman, Sue Parker from Neighbours). SHARON Hi I am Sharon Ramsay. This is Nick Bateman, my brother. I have come to see my father Jimmy Bateman who is a friend of Alf, I have come from Yabbie Creek and he told me to meet him and Alf in Summer Bay House at 11am. LEAH Yes, sure. Let me lead you to Summer Bay House. NICK (To Kat) I love women in uniforms. PHOEBE He seems nice. KAT He is about 10 or more years older than me. PHOEBE Palmer is about that much older than Maz. Her previous husband I heard was 23 years older. INT, SUMMER BAY HOUSE. Jimmy and Alf are talking when Leah comes in with Nick and Sharon. JIMMY Sharon, Nick. Great you made it. NICK Hi dad. My car broke down at the Yabbie Creek hotel so we got a bus. ALF Did it drop you off along the beach? SHARON Yeah. ALF Welcome to Summer Bay. Best have your life insured. (Laughs). There has been a few storms, a bushfire and earthquake. LEAH Alf, I am sure they do not want a eulogy on the history of this town. ALF Well can I get you two a drink? To be continued..............

That's the trouble when writing a fanfic set in the future as Kat has recently resigned from the police force. I like the fanfic to feel like a proper H&A episode. Oh well, use a bit of poetic licence. continued..... JIMMY I did not mean to go that far. ALF He was apprehending a robber who was trashing the Diner. KAT (To Brett) What is your name sir? BRETT Brett Hubbard. KAT Brett Hubbard I am arresting you for criminal damage. You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so but whatever you do say may be given in evidence, something you later rely on in court. She handcuffs him. JIMMY Will you arrest me? KAT No, I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt but do not ever hit anyone when making a citizens arrest. Just hold them but never violence. But thanks for apprehending him. You will be asked for a statement but you can do that in the morning. Kate takes a handcuffed Brett away. JIMMY Sorry I never meant to hit him, just my PTSD gets to me a lot. ALF Good on yer though. Some of these flamin galahs need a slap. You cannot reason with some people. Lets go to Summer Bay House for a beer. JIMMY Thanks. INT, YABBIE CREEK POLICE STATION. NIGHT TIME. Brett is being interviewed by Kat. KAT So why did you smash up the Diner? BRETT Well we were having a laugh the other day and were told off. By the old auburn haired crow behind the counter and a crazy pensioner ex squaddie. KAT Diners are for relaxing meals and drinks, not playgrounds. Customers have a right to eat and drink in peace and quiet. You have a bit of a reputation round her don't you Mr Hubbard? Even links to the Braxtons and Andy Barrett, a man who is on the run and wanted. BRETT Yeah but I am not as bad as them, they have been into drug wars and all such. To be continued......

I have a vision of Bruce's role in H&A as Jimmy Bateman as both Bob Landers and Gavin McKinley, his first Neighbours role. Gavin was tall and sinister looking, same as Jimmy but Jimmy is not villainous like Gavin, as Gav tried to kidnap his real son Bradley Townsend, who was staying with Des Clarke.

CONTINUED... EXT, SUMMER BAY BEACH, NIGHT TIME. It is dusk and the moonlight is out. The diner has just shut but the security lights of the diner, pier and surf club light up the beach a bit. Alf and Jimmy are chatting and walking along. JIMMY I may invite my son to Summer Bay tomorrow, show him around. As my PTSD flares up from time to time, he helps look after me. ALF Has he not ever been into a relationship? JIMMY He has had a few but is happy being single. Since Elizabeth left me he has helped. I even have ended up in a psychiatric ward. The events of 50 years ago will never go away completely. I am on medication. ALF Meds help but never get rid of the thoughts completely. Our whole body is controlled by the brain. Although Summer Bay itself can be enough to drive people to the brink, the Braxton, Barrett and Ashford lot were a river gang. They still have connections to Summer Bay. Suddenly there is an almighty smash of a window coming from the diner. A silhouette of 2 lads can be seen running off into the night. Alf and Jimmy give chase. Jimmy is fitter than Alf and manages to run quicker. At 70 he still is quite a sprinter. The lads run towards the surf club. Jimmy manages to catch up with one of them. He pulls the balaclava off and it is Brett Hubbard, the lad who was annoying Irene earlier. JIMMY You are in big trouble matey. Brett's friend runs off into the darkness. Jimmy pins Brett down to the floor on his back, Brett tries to fight him off by then Brett's mate is long gone. BRETT Get off me you stupid, demented old man. Jimmy punches Brett a few times. Alf comes along and pulls Jimmy off Brett. Brett is writhing in pain, he has blood coming from his nose. Conveniently Katrina Chapman is nearby and had heard the smash. KAT What is going on here? ALF I just caught this drongo and his mate smashing up the diner. KAT Why is his nose bleeding? JIMMY I hit him. KAT You can pin them down but you cannot hit him. That is assault sir. To be continued........

Nice to see a recent pic of Norman. This will be how Donald will also look now.

continued... ALF Did you ever know 2 soldiers called Tom Fletcher and Danny King? JIMMY Cannot say I do. ALF Tom used to live here years ago and was in Nam as was his brother in law Danny. Danny was paralysed from the waist down. JIMMY Yeah, saw many soldiers injured in Nam in my time. ALF Come on, let me show you some sights of Summer Bay. INT, DINER, SUMMER BAY. BRODY Irene, how many more times? Stop chatting up the customers and do what I pay you for. IRENE Sorry. Brody exits to the kitchen. MARILYN Much better when Kyle Braxton ran this place. IRENE Brody would make Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler look soft. MARILYN Lucky we just see him from time to time as he works behind the scenes a lot. IRENE Bosses think they can treat their staff however they like. Hunter comes in. HUNTER Service please, once you two old women stop gossiping. IRENE Oi watch it boyo. Just because your love life is in tatters again. HUNTER Sorry, just stressed a bit. Latte please? Brett Hubbard and his mate are now throwing a bread roll to one another. IRENE Oi you two cut that out. BRETT Yes Mummy. IRENE I will have to ask you to leave. BRETT'S MATE Come on Brett, lets go. BRETT No, free country. Gonna chuck me out woman? Jimmy Bateman is stood behind Brett. Alf stands back a bit. JIMMY I will if you keep it up mate. I may be old but I was an ex Vietnam soldier. BRETT Come on Jayden, lets get out of here. They leave. IRENE So you two are old friends? JIMMY Army pals, yes. To be continued......

Someone did mention that "Suddenly" by Angry Anderson was played once. I will recognise that song from Scharlene's (as they would be dubbed if around today) wedding in Neighbours in 1987.

Most of the songs played on the Diner Jukebox that I remember were not very well known outside Australia. I never heard many UK chart songs played in the Diner. Same for The Waterhole in that cul de sac soap in Melbourne.Just the famous Edwyn Collins song.

continued... Some of the other surnames not heard of in the show come from childhood friends and neighbours. I heard that Bevan Lee named Ailsa after Ailsa Piper so that inspired me to name characters after people I knew and the late H&A creator Alan Bateman. NOTE: More characters to be featured including a surprise return for an old face. Brody, Tori and Dr Nate also feature as well as Maddie. EXT, SUMMER BAY CARAVAN PARK. Jimmy Bateman walks along and sees Maddie chatting with Hunter and Olivia. MADDIE Get a room you two. HUNTER Mind your own business Maddie. MADDIE (to Jimmy) Hey. JIMMY Sorry to interrupt but is Alf Stewart about? I am an old friend of his. MADDIE Yes sir, he should be inside. He had a heart attack a few months ago so he may be a bit grumpy. HUNTER Since when does Alf need an excuse to blow his stack? JIMMY (Laughing) Sounds like the flaming galah I know, as he would say. INT, SUMMER BAY HOUSE. Alf is putting his fishing gear away and Jimmy knocks at the door. JIMMY Alfred Stewart? My old pal? ALF Who are you, err, hang on you do look familiar, is it Jimmy? Jimmy Bateman? JIMMY Yes. They shake hands then hug. ALF How are you my old mate? JIMMY Fine. Must be 47 or 48 years since we last saw each other? ALF Yeah we left around the same time. When I got home I married Martha and Roo was born the following year. JIMMY Was she your wife? ALF Yeah, she died years ago. I remarried but she died as well. JIMMY Sorry to hear that. I am staying in a hotel in Yabbie Creek. My PTSD is affecting me so my son stays with me to keep an eye on me. ALF I know what you mean, I get flashbacks a lot. I was ill with PTSD for a while some time ago after Anzac Day. JIMMY Yeah, only Vietnam vets know what it is like to have been there, obviously. Today's lot don't know the half of it. ALF Well today's soldiers fight for our freedom don't forget. To be continued..............

Yes.

continued....... STOCK SHOT OF DINER WITH THE JETTY AT SUMMER BAY BEACH. Irene and Maz are serving customers. IRENE You know I still cannot work them 2 out. Hunter and Olivia. MAZ Young love hey? Me and John are stable at least. IRENE Hey buster's (to 2 customers playing catch with a bottle of beer) this is not a play house. The customers laugh. A man walks into the diner. He is late 60's, tall, with short brown hair. He glances menacingly at the customers to behave. IRENE Yes sir what can I get you? MAN Latte please? I am looking for Summer Bay House? MARILYN Do you know anyone there then? MAN Yes, I am Jimmy Bateman, an old friend of Alf Stewart. IRENE Oh Alf Stewart? JIMMY Yeah, we were together in Vietnam. I am staying at a hotel in Yabbie Creek. MARILYN Yes, sure, as you come out the way you come in, there is a road which has a sign saying "Summer Bay High School and Summer Bay Caravan Park". Follow that road for about 300 yards then turn left and you will come to Summer Bay House. It is surrounded by woodland. About a 15 minute walk from here. JIMMY Thanks. Irene gives Jimmy his latte. He sits down. MARILYN Dashing man, he must be about Alf's age if he was in Nam with him. Oh yes, I know one of the young lads playing catch with the bottle a minute ago. IRENE Oh yeah. MARILYN Brett Hubbard. He is the son of Richard Hubbard, who was at Summer Bay High with me. Richard once dated a girl called Alison Patterson, who left a few months after I arrived in Summer Bay. I heard about this through Roo and my ex Don Fisher. IRENE Oh Flathead? MARILYN Richard died in a car crash a few years ago. Brett Hubbard seems to be a bit of a hoon. He is rumoured to have links with Darryl Braxton. IRENE Oh no. Not more friends of that lot? To be continued.................

Title- The Bateman's Arrive In Summer Bay Type of story- Medium Main Characters- Alf Stewart, Roo Stewart, Leah Patterson Baker, Zac MacGuire, Evie MacGuire, Hunter King, Olivia Fraser, John Palmer, Marilyn, Irene Roberts (and new characters as follows) Jimmy Bateman, Nick Bateman and Sharon Ramsay (formerly Bateman). Genre- Family, PTSD and some violence Rating- (Err, stuck on this, Violence is included in the fic) Warnings - Violence Summary- Bruce Kilpatrick is cast as Jimmy Bateman, an old army friend of Alf. Kate Gorman plays Sharon, a divorced daughter of Jimmy and Simon Kay plays Nick Bateman the son. Jimmy comes to Summer Bay to see Alf Stewart. No spoilers. Right this is my new fanfic. The Bateman's arrive in Summer Bay. I would love to see veteran Aussie actor Bruce Kilpatrick in H&A and have worked on a character he can play, Jimmy Bateman, an old Nam vet friend of Alf, and this fanfic charts the new Bateman family, who arrived in Summer Bay in December 2016. This is my only on going fanfic at the moment and I shall try to keep it going frequently with updates. EXT, DECEMBER 2016, SUMMER BAY HOUSE. Alf is getting his fishing gear ready. He is interrupted by Hunter shouting down the phone to Olivia. He hangs up on her. ALF Strewth, you two having another barmy are you? HUNTER Women hey? ALF Yeah. Nothing but trouble hey? ROO Excuse me dad. ALF Present company excepted. ROO (Jokes) Oh yeah sugar coat it hey. ALF Roo, I wanted to say I have an old Nam friend coming to stay in the Bay at the caravan park for a while. Jimmy Bateman. He has 2 grown up children, his son Nick has never married and looks after his father due to his PTSD from Vietnam and a daughter Sharon, who is divorced and her kids live in the city. HUNTER Not another Nam vet. ALF Cut that out boy, you kids don't know the half of it. HUNTER I am off, see you later. ALF Don't be late back for dinner. Hunter leaves. ROO Dont be too hard on him dad. ALF Why not, he gets a bit big for his boots at times. ROO So how old is your friend Jimmy? ALF He will be 70 sometime next year. 2 years younger than me. May be a long shot but I wonder if he knew Danny King and Tom Fletcher? ROO Tom and Pippa, those were the days. I remember when him and Pippa had all those hoons living with them, especially that Carly. Although she matured into a nice woman I heard. I came back long after she left. ALF I shall ask him if he knew them, we both signed up at the same time. He was in a village in Nam which was shelled. I helped some of the villagers. 50 years on and it sends chill down my spine. Danny King was Tom's brother in law, remember? He died about 10 years ago. He was wounded in Nam and was in that wheelchair, remember? ROO Oh yes, he was going to throw himself off the cliff. To be continued.........

Perhaps Grant Mitchell is more remembered for beating people up in the East End. Lol. The oldest soap joke in the book I think. He was a good character but was just Henry Ramsay in Summer Bay. Grant had a sister Kim I think. Imagine if Grant's mother was bought into H&A and was called Peggy lol. He could be a relative of Casey Mitchell.

I went to Sydney in 2007 but that was during my non viewing phase of H&A. I regret it and wish I had spent a day doing Home And Away locations, Palm Beach. But meeting Nicola Quilter, aka Donna in H&A in 2014 is a great alternative, like meeting Jase Donovan from Neighbours in the same year. Never been to Melbourne but meeting Jason was a great alternative. I know H&A filmed numerous times in the Sydney central area, esp 1993 and 1994.

Nice to rewatch the Donna episodes again. Shame she only was around for about 7 or 8 months. Nicola Quilter is based in London now as a fashion designer.

I would not say 2000 was the end of the old H&A, it was just H&A moving forward and evolving. As for the Bayside Diner, well the Diner did not appear during most of the first season so was not even an original building. I think the show probably was a bit stale by 2000 so it went through a much needed revamp. 1995-1997 was the Golden Era whereas 1998-1999 was quite stale in comparison so 2000 was when the show revved itself up again.

Here in Norfolk, rubbish, grey and dull. Maybe I should move to Summer Bay. Id have to to a Kate Adie impression, keep dodging bombs though lol.

Yes Roo is sidelined because her surname is not Braxton/Ashford or Barrett.

I am doing a Sketchup simulation of Summer Bay in Feb 1988, a month into the shows run, I may do a 2016 version but the 1988 is the one I am concentrating on, when the town has the Fletchers, Fishers, Pattersons (Alison, Tim, Helen) and Stewarts etc, and am having to go on the balance of probabilities as to the exact layout of Summer Bay. I enjoy reading up on the locations listed as it will help me with the simulation which features the original shop, Summer Bay High, caravan park and Summer Bay House, etc. I may even do interiors.