The Macklin Corporation - Peak 1989 or a wasted opportunity?

[cymbaline]

Perhaps nobody ever saw the Macklins as being a long-term thing. Sandie Lillingston was in nearly 140 episodes (1988-89) and was given plenty to do, yet she was never added to the opening credits. Rewatching years later, there's more to Brett than I had originally remembered. The scenes after Martha was born showed a different side to him. It's a pity they didn't keep him around because he had the ingredients to be more than just a bratty rich kid. I believe they brought him back briefly years later and in typical H&A fashion, trashed his character. 

[CaptainHulk]

On 24/03/2025 at 19:47, adam436 said:

Me too. Gordon could have worked long-term as a JR Ewing/Mr Burns/Paul Robinson type villain, with Stacey perhaps as his voice of reason/moral compass. But with the lack of creativity of the writers when it came to the Macklin Corporation, it may have been best to rest it when they did. I also quite liked Brett too - he was better eye candy (for me anyway!) than most of the regular males in the 80s

Brett Bit Wet though but in 2005, he was outright murderous!

[cymbaline]

That 2005 return is sooo Home and Away. They go to the trouble of bringing back an old character and then trash them or turn them into a psycho. Flawed and all as 1988 Brett was, I can't see him wanting to kill his own child. 

[adam436]

Gordon Macklin could have worked as a recurring villain that perhaps could have popped up every now and then over the years, but definitely not as a regular without softening him significantly. The only time we really saw his softer side was toward the end when he was trying to reconnect with Stacey. Wasn't he meant to be a family friend of the Bellinghams as well? Perhaps they could have used that connection and had more Gordon/Morag scenes. 

Ron Haddrick was even still working in the 2000s when Martha and Morag were on the show, so perhaps definitely a missed opportunity there by not having him trying to connect with his granddaughter. 

I'd love to know whether the Macklins we always going to be drip-fed into the show to set up the Sands Resort/Macklin Corporation or whether they were originally just going to be a two-dimensional wealthy family with their role limited to Roo's pregnancy. 

The corporate world and wealthy characters was very much an 80s thing on soap. Most of the American soaps had it, and in Australia we had Sons and Daughters and a number of short-lived soaps. Even Neighbours had the Lassisters corporation. Perhaps the producers were trying to follow that trend. I think it would have run its course eventually, but it definitely fizzled out earlier when all the characters linked to it like Frank, Roo, Tom and Stacey were gone. If the producers really wanted to keep it chugging along, they probably would have kept Stacey on and returned her to the business world or had Tom continue to work there after his stroke, or given some of the newcomers like Ben or Adam a job working there.

[CaptainHulk]

On 08/06/2025 at 00:08, adam436 said:

Gordon Macklin could have worked as a recurring villain that perhaps could have popped up every now and then over the years, but definitely not as a regular without softening him significantly. The only time we really saw his softer side was toward the end when he was trying to reconnect with Stacey. Wasn't he meant to be a family friend of the Bellinghams as well? Perhaps they could have used that connection and had more Gordon/Morag scenes. 

Ron Haddrick was even still working in the 2000s when Martha and Morag were on the show, so perhaps definitely a missed opportunity there by not having him trying to connect with his granddaughter. 

I'd love to know whether the Macklins we always going to be drip-fed into the show to set up the Sands Resort/Macklin Corporation or whether they were originally just going to be a two-dimensional wealthy family with their role limited to Roo's pregnancy. 

The corporate world and wealthy characters was very much an 80s thing on soap. Most of the American soaps had it, and in Australia we had Sons and Daughters and a number of short-lived soaps. Even Neighbours had the Lassisters corporation. Perhaps the producers were trying to follow that trend. I think it would have run its course eventually, but it definitely fizzled out earlier when all the characters linked to it like Frank, Roo, Tom and Stacey were gone. If the producers really wanted to keep it chugging along, they probably would have kept Stacey on and returned her to the business world or had Tom continue to work there after his stroke, or given some of the newcomers like Ben or Adam a job working there.

Ben maybe but Adam... I don’t see it unless he's doing grunt work.

[cymbaline]

Adam became a businessman in the Summer Bay afterlife, so it isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that he might've had a proper job with the Macklins. It would've been a better path for him, when you consider what they did with the character for the next couple of years. 

[Luigi Severus Fletcher]

It was one of the biggest bores in the show.

[CaptainHulk]

6 hours ago, Luigi Severus Fletcher said:

It was one of the biggest bores in the show.

It's a small town and you get tired of the same locations so it added something different for a while.

[adam436]

6 hours ago, Luigi Severus Fletcher said:

It was one of the biggest bores in the show.

I guess the problem was there was only so much that could be done in terms of corporate espionage, progress vs the environment etc, so it got exhauted pretty quickly. 

I wonder if it would have kept chugging along had Frank, Roo, Stacey, Tom etc. all stayed longer or whether it would have still fizzled out eventually.

[Homeandawayfan.]

H&A added the Diner in late 1988 and then the Surf Club in mid 1989 so expanded the premise a bit. That first year of 1988 was mainly about SBH, the Stewart House, the store and the school. The Macklin's started to be introduced in around April 1988 I think, and by the end of the year they were major supporting characters.