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Last week, five made a number of edits to Episodes of Home and Away. The scenes edited featured Duncan and Jade taking 'Bulbs' or 'Laughing Gas'. As these drugs are illegal in the UK (but legal in Australia), and the scenes appeared to be promoting use of the drugs, five rather appropriately dropped the scenes.
However, the cuts haven't stopped there. At least six cuts were made to yesterday's episode (30th November), many of which were only vaguely related to Jade and Duncan's drug use. Si-Co from our Forum compared the UK and Australian airings of the show, and has listed many of the cuts:
(Cuts highlighted in Bold!)
Early in the episode, after Jesse and Rhys are discussing how the party has got out of hand, Jesse says there is no point in involving the police and tells Rhys "Don't make trouble where there isn't any." He turns back to watch the crowd. A drunken teenager staggers past Kirsty and Kane and bumps into Kirsty, possibly spilling her drink. "Are you alright?" she asks him, obviously annoyed. "Chill out, it was an accident" the lad replies. "Yeah, well just watch it all right" Kirsty warns him. Kane intervenes, saying to the bloke "Hey, are you alright, mate". "Yeah, sorry mate" he replies and moves away. Kirsty tells Kane "I'll be back in a minute". He asks if she's OK and she says she needs air, walking off. (The bloke who bumped into Kirsty can be seen briefly in the foreground on Five).
A scene or so later, Kirsty and Kane are talking outside after that bloke (Jamie?) has tried cracking onto her. They start to head back inside. Inside, Henry and Max are seen in a 'long shot', sitting on a bench or speaker. Max is holding the bowl of spiked punch. "Stop hogging it, M" says Henry. "Conservation, H" he replies, his speech a little slurred. "You can't drink the whole lot - gotta save some". "Yeah right, and you'd go swimming in it!" says Henry sarcastically. Emma approaches and calls "Hey!". Max and Henry both say hello and Henry jumps down asking "What's your star sign?"...
After Colleen has given Hayley her present, Hayley is teasing Noah about the wedding saying he can share the day with her as long as he's good! They begin kissing. Seb is seen walking through the crowd towards Jade who appears to be very drunk. When he approaches her she complains "Seb, this is getting really boring", presumably referring to either his 'attitude' or the party. "You're drunk, I'm taking you home" he tells her. "No way!" she protests. "You need to take it easy" he continues. " I know you're cut up about your family and everything..." Jade just grins at him. "You know I love you, you're a great guy" she says, flirting with him and trying to put her arms around him and kiss him. "Why don't we blow this party off and go down to the beach and.. you know.." she says suggestively. Seb is having none of it. "Two reasons", he replies. "One - I don't want to disappoint Robbie". "He'll be cool" Jade says, kissing Seb repeatedly on the face. "And two" he continues, "I don't want to do anything with my girlfriend she won't even remember in the morning." Jade protests "Oh come on, don't be like that. Life's too short not to have some fun"...
Later in the episode, after Morag has turned off the music and attempted to get rid of the gatecrashers, Seb goes up to Kim and asks if he's seen Jade anywhere. Kim says she went outside a little while ago. "Was she with anyone?" Seb asks. " Your cousin, I think" Kim tells him. As Seb walks off, Robbie approaches Kim shouting "Hey, I think I've lost my car keys. You haven't seen them?" Kim jokes "You should ask the Dragon Lady to make an announcement", pointing towards Morag (who is out of shot). "Yeah, she's not gonna be happy until she ruins the whole night" Robbie comments. They laugh, and Morag is shown talking to Alf. The action cuts to Duncan and Jade outside approaching Robbie's car (as seen on Five). After the two cars race off, there was an ad-break in Australia.
Returning from the break, we are shown Robbie looking for his car keys. Kirsty and Kane have been helping him. "Rob, we've looked everywhere - no luck" Kirsty tells him. "Well, they've gotta be somewhere!" he cries. "Maybe someone's nicked them?" suggests Kane, but Robbie doesn't think so saying "As if anyone's gonna do that". Kim then hurries over calling "Rob, Rob! Hey, you're not going to like this - Jade and Duncan have taken your car". Robbie is shocked and Kim says he heard someone mention the "Bluff". Kane says "Come on, we'll take my car" and Rhys calls out "Go, go, go". A further inexplicable cut follows: "Move" Kane shouts at someone. "I'm coming too" Kirsty says to Kane. "No, babes, you'll have to wait here" he tells her. The action moves outside. "I'm not staying, no!" Kirsty continues to protest, "Kane..." Rhys interrupts her saying "You're staying here and looking after Max." They hurry off towards Kane's car as the police arrive at the Surf Club...
Stephen from our Forum emailed Five, asking them why they felt the need to make so many cuts to one single storyline. Their response was:
Dear Stephen
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding Home And Away.
Unfortunately, due to the Watershed it was necessary for us to delete drug taking scenes in recent episodes. We are required to do this, in order not to influence minors.
Nevertheless, your comments have been logged for the attention of all Five personnel.
Thank you for your interest in Five.
Many of the cuts, especially ones featuring Jade and Duncan inhaling the Laughing Gas, seemed fairly reasonable. However, many of the scenes had absolutely no need to be cut and didn't refer at all to underage drinking or drug use. The scenes in which Duncan stole Robbie's car keys had no reason to be cut - as the scenes which were shown made it perfectly clear that Duncan had used Robbie's car without his permission. Also, it's certainly not the first time a car has been stolen in Home and Away in recent months, so five would be hard pushed to use minor influence as an excuse.
The scene in which Jade implied she wanted to sleep with Seb also had little reason to be cut - as scenes with similar dialogue have been shown un-edited in the past. The main intent of the scene - Jade wanting to sleep with Seb - was also made perfectly clear.
There seems to be little justification for any of the edits made to last night's episode - and five seemed very vague in their explanation. Many of our Forum Members have already emailed the channel to try and gain further information and to attempt to convince them not to make any further edits. With 6 edits made to just one episode and a number made last week, some members are worried the show is beginning to head in the same direction as it did on ITV. By 1999, the show was frequently edited for no apparent reason, which angered many fans.
With so many people having praised five for their treatment of Home and Away since 2000, it'd be a real shame for things to change. We'll be sure to keep you up to date with the latest developments here at Back to the Bay, and hope to have videos of the uncut scenes available for download very soon.
If you would like more information on the edits, or want to find out how to contact them, see the 'Car Crash Episode' thread on our Forum.
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