What's your least favourite relationship with a guest character

[cymbaline]

Mods: feel free to merge this with the 'Favourite Relationship' thread if tumbleweed starts drifting through here. Again, I'll give credit where credit is due - this thread in General Discussion

Here are some main cast/guestie relationships I didn't care for

• Marilyn and Phil Over the space of 3 weeks in 1992, Marilyn met, fell for and got engaged to widower Phil Bryant. He was smarmy, old enough to be her father and had a teenage daughter who wasn't enamoured with the thoughts of a youthful stepmother. To the surprise of nobody, the marriage didn't make it to the 3-year mark. To the surprise of anybody still watching in 2022...Heather..WTH???
• Sophie and David Arguably, this controversial storyline looks even worse in modern times. To quote the late, great Smash Hits magazine, "Bleeeurrgh. See also Steven and Jennifer and Tug and Beth
• Angel and Simon I never cared for "Shangel" so I have no dog in this fight. Having said that, it was hard to watch Angel pretend to warm to the charisma-free Simon. So Angel, what attracted you to the very wealthy Simon?
• Bobby and Geoff Bobby had terrible taste in men, didn't she? She briefly got engaged to the drippy Geoff after discovering she was pregnant with a married man's child. 
• Grant and Jane They went from 0-60 and back again in no time at all. Was anybody sorry to see her go?
• Nick, Lucinda and Ryan I never liked Nick and Lucinda as a couple, so I'm adding Ryan to the mix as a technicality. All three actors were badly served by this lurve triangle nonsense. 

[adam436]

I'd agree with Marilyn and Phil. It's a shame the producers didn't lure Peter Vroom back for her 1992 exit and have her live happily ever after (until 1995 anyway!) with Lance.

[cymbaline]

Stacey and Nicholas During a separation from Philip, Stacey found the time to get engaged to city slicker Nicholas. As we all know, Stacey and Philip were never meant to be but Nicholas was yet another bump in the road.

[adam436]

Stacey had 3 engagements in the space of a year and didn't marry any of them - Nicholas, Philip and Andrew

I love Stacey, but that was ridiculous even by H&A standards. 

[Old H&A Fan]

David Croft. The lowest of life's SCUM! Sophie's morbid obsession with him, dragging on for the rest of her time on the show (from mid-1991 to early 1993)

Yeah yeah, I know. You are sick of hearing me say this. But the thread question is relevant in this case: worst relationship with a guest character.

This piece of human detrius is comparable to Sharon Gilmore on Prisoner. Judy Bryant's lesbian lover, young enough to be her daughter. Her death resulted in a long-running obsession, spanning a similar length of time in that show's history, up until after Jock Stewart was killedput in a wheelchair after he coincidentally fell down the stairs from Bryant's upstairs unit (he fixed Gilmore by pushing her down the stairs).

SORRY AGAIN!!! But it has to be said. The audience had a love-affair with this David creature, and I fail to understand why, to this day, a stupid number of years later.

Edited June 16 by Old H&A Fan

[CaptainHulk]

On 16/06/2025 at 11:10, Old H&A Fan said:

David Croft. The lowest of life's SCUM! Sophie's morbid obsession with him, dragging on for the rest of her time on the show (from mid-1991 to early 1993)

Yeah yeah, I know. You are sick of hearing me say this. But the thread question is relevant in this case: worst relationship with a guest character.

This piece of human detrius is comparable to Sharon Gilmore on Prisoner. Judy Bryant's lesbian lover, young enough to be her daughter. Her death resulted in a long-running obsession, spanning a similar length of time in that show's history, up until after Jock Stewart was killedput in a wheelchair after he coincidentally fell down the stairs from Bryant's upstairs unit (he fixed Gilmore by pushing her down the stairs).

SORRY AGAIN!!! But it has to be said. The audience had a love-affair with this David creature, and I fail to understand why, to this day, a stupid number of years later.

Just tread carefully before "The Big Stick" comes out, as you put in the 1995 discussion. 

I bet your 1991 tapes have taken a battering rewinding a certain scene in a certain ep.

Have you ever talked your...fixation over with a professional or were there any similar experiences like this when you were at school?

On 13/06/2025 at 23:47, cymbaline said:

Mods: feel free to merge this with the 'Favourite Relationship' thread if tumbleweed starts drifting through here. Again, I'll give credit where credit is due - this thread in General Discussion

Here are some main cast/guestie relationships I didn't care for

• Marilyn and Phil Over the space of 3 weeks in 1992, Marilyn met, fell for and got engaged to widower Phil Bryant. He was smarmy, old enough to be her father and had a teenage daughter who wasn't enamoured with the thoughts of a youthful stepmother. To the surprise of nobody, the marriage didn't make it to the 3-year mark. To the surprise of anybody still watching in 2022...Heather..WTH???
• Sophie and David Arguably, this controversial storyline looks even worse in modern times. To quote the late, great Smash Hits magazine, "Bleeeurrgh. 

Nice Timmy Mallett impression!

I  still say with Phil and Mazza there had to have been fault on both sides based on everything but we'll never truly know who did who dirty first...

[cymbaline]

Without going into the morality of Sophie and David, it's a relationship which probably held her back in the years after she left Summer Bay. David remained frozen in time and grew a halo and wings in her mind. How could any man measure up to that? She was single in 2002 when she reconnected with Blake. I've only seen snippets of those episodes so I don't know if she had had any relationships after moving to Perth. Anyway, when she and Blake had baby boy, she called him David (note I didn't say "they").

[Red Ranger 1]

I mean, she's hardly unique in that regard. Blake came back single too. Roo was apparently single for the best part of 20 years after breaking up with Frank. So was he, for that matter. If they didn't leave with someone and stay with them, and there isn't a particular reason for them to have a partner when they come back, departed characters' love lives tend to be non-existent. In Sophie's case, I think it was at least partly down to needing to focus on being a mother to Tamara and not having time for dating.

[cymbaline]

That's true, but she was still talking about David when she reconnected with Blake. She also called their son after him. I don't think that's healthy TBH

Another relationship that came to mind: 

Karen and Revhead: Karen's journey from ordinary schoolgirl to jailbird was entertaining for viewers. The collateral damage stemming from her relationship with Revhead and the actions she took...now that was another matter entirely. I like that they laid the groundwork for this toxic relationship early on and that you could see why she ended up with Revhead. As an aside, I'd love to see Les Hill and Belinda Jarrett come back to see Alf, should they decide to give him a happier ending than Irene. 

[christine king]

Bridget and Alf - the fact Alf got sucked in by this scammer didn’t make sense at the time