News and Spoilers > October 2004

Home and Away has recently been given a special Suicide Prevention Award. The award, which was for the episode in which Noah talked Hayley out of opting out of life, is for the episode's anti-suicide message. In the same episode, Kirsty dealt with writing an essay on Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

The Home and Away Cast and Crew are understandably delighted. Bevan Lee, the show's Script Producer, said "as we were all very proud of this episode and feel that anti-suicide messages are very important for our teenage viewers, given the statistics of teen suicide."

Congratulations Home and Away, you deserve it.

Yes, it's almost that time again. In just a month's time, Home and Away will be taking it's annual Summer Break in Australia, which means the 2004 Season Finale is almost upon us.

The episode, which airs on Friday November 26th, has been promised to be much less dramatic than in previous years. Script Producer Bevan Lee recently gave us a taster of what's to come:

The 2004 Cliffhanger is gentle, warm, uplifting and low key this year. I felt, like a lot of you, that we did not need another life and death style cliffhanger. Especially having had the Sarah Rampage Olympics cliffhanger just a few months before. I felt the show did risk going OTT if we cranked up to another one of those. The end of year this year is designed to say, despite the fact it's an increasingly grim world these days, isn't it great to be alive!

So what can you expect from the 2004 Finale? Head over to the Message Board and begin discussing now.

The latest Spoilers direct from Australia, thanks to TV WEEK. This week, a Summer Bay favourite is leaving, but who?

Calling It Quits!

Fans of favourite Home & Away couple, Dani and Scott, are in for a massive shock!

The pair, who are engaged to be married, will break up in not-to-be-missed episodes of the hit weeknight series.

What’s more, realising there is no turning back, Dani (Tammin Sursok) will decide to farewell Summer Bay forever, leaving Scott (Kip Gamblin) absolutely devastated.

As viewers will know, Dani has lately been preoccupied with writing the memoirs of Viv (played by Maggie Kirkpatrick), who was terminally ill when she approached Dani to write the book.

But Dani has also captured the attention of mysterious newcomer Stafford McRae (Rohan Nichol). Stafford, who has quickly moved into Dani’s life, has told her the company he works for is keen to publish the memoirs.

Scott, meanwhile, has not been happy about Stafford’s sudden interest in Dani.

Now TV WEEK can reveal that Dani and Scott’s relationship reaches breaking point in upcoming episodes, when Dani and Stafford attend Viv’s funeral together.

It’s clear that Stafford is intent on seducing Dani and, while he doesn’t succeed, he does convince her to stay in the city longer than she had intended.

“Dani’s not attracted to Stafford at all,” Tammin says. “She doesn’t flirt with him.

“Stafford is really not the reason why she decides to leave the Bay. He’s just a symbol of what could be.”

However, when Dani returns home two days later, Scott is very upset. While Dani assures him nothing happened between her and Stafford, Scott doesn’t believe it.

“Scott is very jealous,” Tammin says. “He takes everything in the wrong way.”

Adds Kip: “Dani and Scott have been drifting apart for a couple of weeks now and Scott gets very insecure and jealous.

“He knows that Stafford is opening up another world to Dani. Scott realises that he can’t give Dani what Stafford can.

“Scott has also been hurt by Dani before, when she kissed her university lecturer,” he recalls. “He tried to forget about that, but this has brought it all back. Everything comes to a huge head.”

Scott then discovers a text message from Stafford on Dani’s mobile phone that says, “You can do better.” He immediately thinks Stafford is referring to him, whereas he was actually talking about Dani’s last draft of the book.

Scott also overhears Dani telling her sister Kirsty (Christie Hayes) that she’s not sure if she is still in love with him. Scott is understandably devastated.

Later, Scott gives Dani an ultimatum. Either the book goes or he does!

For Dani, this is the last straw, while she still loves Scott, she knows in her heart that they were not destined to be together. The time has come for her to leave the Bay – alone.

“Scott’s emotionally drained,” Kip says. “He can’t believe it.”

“Scott is never going to be the guy she thought she could be with,” concludes Tammin. “She has to move on and see the world. It’s heartbreaking, but she knows it’s the right thing for her to do.”

Desperate Measures

Kirsty discovers the truth about her husband’s medical condition, but tells Kane (Sam Atwell) she’s not angry with him for lying to her so that she would not be distracted from her HSC exams.

Now Kirsty’s keen to pass her exams to repay Kane and she’ll do anything to make it happen – including cheating!

Kirsty sends a text message to her identical twin, Laura (also played by Christie Hayes), outlining her plan to swap places with Laura if she finds herself struggling during her physics exam.

Laura, who arrives back in the Bay, is reluctant to do this, but gives in to the plan.

Soon after, Kirsty takes her place in the physics exam, but she excuses herself to go to the bathroom, where Laura is hiding. The examiners suspect nothing when Laura returns to the exam room in Kirsty’s place.

Yet Kirsty is in major trouble when school counsellor Dan (Tim Campbell) catches her trying to leave the school in a disguise!

Dani’s Admirer

This week, Stafford, who is Ian Osbourne’s right-hand man, makes a lucrative proposal to Dani. Explaining that Osbourne runs a publishing company along with many other businesses, he says they are keen to publish Viv’s memoirs, which Dani is writing. They’re also willing to pay big money to do so.

However, is Stafford motivated by his personal feelings for Dani?

Also This Week in Home & Away:

• Alf (Ray Meagher) is devastated when his former love, Viv, dies after revealing she'd given birth to his son many years before!
• Stafford tells Irene (Lynne McGranger) that the Beach House is now free of cameras.
• Sally (Kate Ritchie) and Flynn (Joel McIlroy) swap houses with Beth (Clarissa House).
• Josie (Laurie Foell) lashes out when Jesse (Ben Unwin) says he loves her.
• Stafford makes an incredible proposal to Dani.
• Beth is out to punish the Hunter kids.
• A double tragedy strikes Alf on a day of heartbreak.
• Is Kirsty about to break the law?
• Kirsty's decision may land her in hot water.
• Dani's callous behaviour throws Scott.
• Alf is devastated by his loss.
• Jesse's confession gets a shocking response.
• Sally fears Josie will ruin her plans.
• Kim (Chris Hemsworth) and Robbie (Jason Smith) launch an offensive against the adults.
• Jesse is devastated by Josie's decision.
• Could Scott be about to lose Dani to another man?

Thanks to Darren (scandal_01)

Australian Magazine "TV WEEK" reports that Ada Nicodemu is getting behind Pink Ribon Day, to help raise awareness of brest cancer. The star, who's lucky enough not to have had members of her family experience brest cancer, says that she hopes the campaign will make people sit up and take notice.

Pink Ribon Day is taking place on 25th October, and funds raised from the sale of pink ribbons will go directly to breast cancer research.

The magazine also reports that Kylie Watson (Shauna) will return to television in upcoming episodes of Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters. She guest stars as Tess’ mother in a flashback sequence, which reveals details about the relationship between Tess’ parents.

It’s a week in which relationships will be changed and people’s temptations tested next week in Home & Away. Will Kirsty finally find out the truth about Kane’s cancer battle? And will Alf’s life be changed when Viv (aka The Guv) reveals a devastating secret? TV WEEK dishes all the dirt on the latest news and spoilers about Australia’s number one soap opera.

It's not too likely you'd have any, but if you do have any bookmarks of pages in the Actor or Character Profiles sections of the website, they'll no longer work.

The reason for this is because we've just re-named all of the pages (as we did in news), so they now have fairly easy to understand filenames like "sutherland_dani.shtml" instead of "000214.shtml".

Anyway, carry on...

You may have noticed the lack of major Updates over the past 3 days, but one of the reasons for that is because I've been having another reshuffle backstage.

The News section has had a well deserved tidy-up and is now much easier to navigate. Instead of only being able to view entries Individually, you can now view them by Month and even by Day, as well as by Category. This gives you access to the full list of News Articles since July 2004, as opposed to just the last 20.

The Homepage has also had a mini-reshuffle, but as there have been so many of those recently, it's hardly worth noting.

Rest assured, more new content will be making it's way onto the site soon, including the latest Australian Spoilers and more Gallery Pictures.

Tammin Sursok's (Dani Sutherland) debut single was released to the radio on Friday. Entitled Pointless Relationship, it'll be fully released in Australia on November 15th and is the first single from her debut albim, which is being released next year.

The Herald Sun, reports that Paulini Curuenavuli, the popular contestant from Series 1 of Australian Idol, will make a cameo appearence in Home and Away.

The star, who has had both a #1 Single and Album since appearing on Idol, will appear in one episode of the soap in a few months time. She apparantly jumped at the chance to appear after growing up watching the show. "I don't think I'd want to play a major role but I wouldn't turn down future opportunities to play some small parts," Caruenavuli told the Sun.

Back to the Bay.com gets a mini-makeover.

Read previews of this week's Australian storylines from TV WEEK over on our Message Board.

This week:

• Will Tasha’s interfering father put an end to her relationship with Robbie?
• Tash has a difficult decision ahead of her. Will she want her father in her life, once she knows the truth about him?
• Who Is Ian Osbourne?
• Kane and Kirsty are toughing it out without each other’s support.
• He’s wasted no time making enemies since arriving in Summer Bay, but who has viciously beaten school bully Dalby
• And more...

Thanks to Darren.

The Pan MacMillan Australia website reveals details on two brand new Home and Away Novels. The first, "Home & Away 4: A Place in the Bay", was released last Friday (1st October) and follows the story of Tasha Andrews as she tries to discover the truth about her real mother - Angela Russell. Here's the description from Pan MacMillan Site:

Tasha is desperate to find out about her real mother - the infamous Angela Russell. The more people criticise Angie, the more Tasha is compelled to discover just what kind of person Angie was. Convinced that a clue lies hidden in the survivalist camp where she grew up, Tasha persuades Irene into taking her deep into the bush. What they find is a metal chest full of guns and money and, more importantly to Tasha, two letters from Angie - one of which contains the name of Tasha's father.

Troubled by the guns and the money, Irene seeks help from Alf. They agree to stash the guns right back where they found them - but not before Tasha secretly hides an automatic gun. But Alf has problems of his own. He's trying to integrate his son Duncan into Summer Bay, but Duncan just doesn’t want to fit. To leave the Bay, however, Duncan needs money -and Tasha has it.

Blackmail, intrigue and the identity of Tasha's father propel the people of Summer Bay into a drama none of them ever expected. Just what is Tasha planning to do with that gun?

The second book, released exactly a month later on the 1st November 2004, is entitled "Home and Away 5: The Long Goodbye". It follows on from Noah's death and the trauma Hayley goes through while mourning, including her visions of Noah and the mysterious paintings of him which appear around the Beach House.

Here's what Pan MacMillan had to say:

Noah is dead. Shot by Sarah in a blur of terrible noise and drama that Hayley can barely remember.

Noah has left her behind to live in a world without colour. The blank canvas on her easel taunts her attempts to cover it with something that has meaning. Nothing has meaning anymore.

But then, amazing, incomprehensible things begin to happen. Noah comes back to lead her, with his love, through the darkest days she has ever known. And how can she explain the mysterious sketches of Noah that appear in the house during the night?

What is happening to Hayley? Is she going mad?

Or is something truly extraordinary happening in Summer Bay?

Both of these books are written by award-winning Sydney novelist and Home and Away scriptwriter, Jane Anderson. They should both be avaliable for $14.95 and from all good bookstores.

Images & Design © Copyright Pan MacMillan Australia, 2004