News and Spoilers > May 2007

Home and Away's main rival, Neighbours, is to move to Five from 2008. The show has aired on the BBC since 1986, but when the rights to air the show went up for negotiation recently, a bidding war broke out between the BBC, ITV and Five. The BBC pulled out after refusing to pay extortionate prices for the show, accusing Neighbours' production company Fremantlemedia of making an "unrealistic price demand".

Five have been looking to acquire Neighbours for many years, and it's widely expected that they'll create an "Aussie Hour", airing Neighbours and Home and Away back to back, presumably from 5:30 until 6:30pm. This could have a positive effect on Home and Away's ratings, which are consistently lower than Neighbours' in the UK.

It has been announced that Home and Away actor Ray Meagher (Alf Stewart) is to have a 2 week stint appearing on stage in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.'

The play, centering around two drag queens and a transexual crossing the Australian outback in a large bus, has been playing at Sydney's Star City Lyric Theatre since the beginning of October.

Ray will be playing the part of Bob the Mechanic, whose role includes singing solo and having a boogie in a Kangaroo costume, something that Ray has said he is looking forward to.

Ray debuts on the 19th June with his last performance being on the 1st July.

For more information, and details on purchasing tickets, check out the official website at http://www.priscillathemusical.com/

Ada Nicodemou (Leah) celebrated her 30th birthday in style on Sunday, at a star-studded event at Kings Cross nightclub's Sapphire Suite. The event was attended by many of Ada's Home and Away co-stars, as well as her new husband Chrys Xipolitas. However, as the Daily Telegraph reports, it seems that Ada may be showing signs of maturity, opting "not to have her cake and eat it too".

You wait months for news on Rhett Giles, and suddenly two stories come along at once.

Australia's Daily Telegraph reports that Rhett Giles (Paris) came close to being shot while filming for a new Hollywood action movie on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Giles was involved in a scene in which two actors 'hijacked' a car and drove it down a street, as Giles fired blanks at them. However, police mistook this fictional act of violence for the real thing, and ordered the two actors out of the car as they aimed their weapons at them.

Rhett is reported to have run down the street shouting "no, no, stop - it's just a movie", prompting the police to point their weapons at him. "It was only later I realised just how dangerous the situation was," he said.

Fortunately, the film's local advisors quickly intervened, and the whole situation was resolved without harm.

Home and Away may have won its fair share of awards at this year's Logies, but not all the stars were winners. While Mark Furze, Jessica Tovey et al. lost out at this year's awards, Sharni Vinson experienced a different kind of loss - her dress.

The Herald Sun reports that Vinson, who plays Cassie on the show, managed to leave her dark blue Amy Taylor gown in a taxi while heading back to Sydney after the star-studded event.

"My heart just sank when I saw the car drive away," she is reported as saying. She has so far been unsuccessful in tracking down the one-of-a-kind dress, and is hoping for the help of the general public to help her find it.

The dress was in a black dress bag with her name and Channel 7's contact details attached to it. If you stumble upon the dress, you're asked to call Seven on (03) 9697 7777.

UK fans have sadly missed their chance, but Australian fans should watch out for Rhett Giles (Paris) in an upcoming episode of 'Lost'. Giles features in an episode airing on Thursday May 17th, playing a policeman in a flashback set in Sydney.

Giles had lived in Los Angeles since 2004, and has starred in episodes of Alias and Nip/Tuck.

As we reported a few days ago, neither Five nor Five Life will be airing a new episode of the show on Monday 28th May. However, to get you through your withdrawal symptoms, Five Life is to air 6 special wedding episodes of the show instead, starting at 3:30pm. The 6 weddings airing are:

Sally and Kieran
Leah and Vinnie
Gypsy and Will
Sally and Flynn
Rhys and Beth
Noah and Hayley

The 'Early Days' episodes from the 2000 season are still airing in their usual morning slot, meaning Five Life are airing a total of 8 episodes on the channel that day. Get your VCRs ready!

Thanks to tonywilson from our forum for bringing this to our attention.

After airing episodes every weekday without fail since 2001, Five didn't air an episode of Home and Away on last week's Bank Holiday Monday. Fans speculated whether it was a one-off move to bring the Five Life episodes in line with the Australian episodes, or whether it would become a regular occurence to prevent us from catching up with the Australian episodes.

Well, it seems we have our explanation. There is no episode of Home and Away on Five (so presumably no episode on Five Life either) on Monday 28th May.

It certainly seems like fans will have to get used to these short breaks from their favourite soap, as Five ensure they don't get too close to the Australian broadcasts. When Home and Away aired on ITV, the channel once stopped airing the show on Fridays to prevent themselves from catching up with Australia.

As you may know, Bobby Morley is taking part in this year's It Takes Two, the Australian talent show in which celebrities are paired up with professional singers in an attempt to impress a panel of judges and the voting public.

This week, he and partner Jade Macrae sang the ARIA winning hit, Wish You Well. His performance was described as '"deep and unique" by hna_fanatic from our Forum, and the judges were fans too, commenting on the couple's quirky direction and engaging performance. However, the pair were told to work on their technique.

They took home 26 points in total, with a score of 7 from judge Marina, 6 from James, 7 from Amanda and 6 from Ross. This puts them joint in fifth place, out of a total of 10 contestants.

How will Bobby perform next week? Don't miss it, Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on Seven.

The results of FHM Australia's Sexiest Women in the World 2007 are in, and Home and Away's hottest stars have faired well, making up 6 of the 100 women featured.

No 44. Holly Brisley
No 42. Melissa George
No 30. Tammin Sursok
No 28. Sharni Vinson
No 27. Jodi Gordon
No 4. Isabel Lucas

The magazine, on sale now, features a brief interview with Isabel Lucas (Tasha), who made #4 on the list:

So Isabel, how does it feel to be the fourth sexiest woman on the planet? To be quiet serious, I don't take the polls too seriously. I guess it's flattering but it's bizarre. To be judged in a poll of who is the most beautiful, I think that whole concept is bizarre. How do you know, you haven't met anyone?

A, good point. Do you see yourself as a sex symbol?
I don't think about that too much. I like to think of myself as an actor.

You are! So what do you think maked a woman sexy?
i think it's each to their own, because everybody has their own reason why they find someone beautiful.

Who would get your vote as the sexiest woman in the world?
Lauren Hill, she has stunning eyes. And I like her music. She's an artist.

Thanks to perryadams from our forum, where discussion of the results is taking place.

It appears that Five Life are to begin airing old episodes of Home and Away from the middle of the 2000 season, the point where five took over from ITV.

When five life first launched, it was announced that early episodes of Home and Away would air on the channel. However, the announcement was quickly withdrawn and claimed to be a misprint. Now, it appears that the early episodes are set to actually appear. Five Life's schedule reports that the channel will air two episodes a day, from 10am til 11am, as of Monday 21st May.

Our forum members are discussing the announcement here.

There is no episode of Home and Away on either five or five Life tomorrow, Monday 7th May 2007. It returns in its usual slots on Tuesday evening.

It's the first time since 2001 that Home and Away will not be airing on a weekday on five, and the decision has confused and annoyed many fans. Up until now, Home and Away on five has been in line with the Australian episodes, so an episode that airs on a Friday in Australia will also air on a Friday in the UK on five. However, the decision to drop tomorrow's episode means that the UK episodes will be a day behind - an episode that would normally air on a Friday will now air on the following Monday.

The reasoning behind the decision is currently unknown. Some fans think it is to line the five Life episodes up with the Australian showings. five Life show episodes of Home and Away a day ahead of five, so up until now have been out of synch with the Australian episodes. However, as many fans don't have access to five Life, this decision disadvantages them.

Another possible reason is that the UK is slowly beginning to catch up with the Australian episodes. As Home and Away doesn't air during the summer in Australia, the UK would eventually catch the Australian episodes and be left with no episodes to show. The BBC have the same problem with Neighbours, and deal with it by dropping episodes on Bank Holidays and certain other holidays, such as over Christmas. It's possible that five are beginning to do the same thing, and that dropping tomorrow's episode is a sign of things to come.

Kate Ritchie has achieved a fantastic double by not only winning a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress but she has also taken out Australian television's highest accolade - the Gold Logie - in this years TV Week Logie Awards.

Upon hearing the announcement, a shocked Kate put her hands over her eyes before recieving a friendly kiss on the cheek from an ecstatic Ray Meagher (Alf) who could be seen punching the air with excitement. Kate was then given a well deserved standing ovation by the industry gathered for the Logie presentations, and she spoke eloquently about growing up on our TV screens, and learning to live her own life off screen. In her earlier Silver Logie win, Kate thanked "Home and Away - the show" for being her constant during challenging times, saying she will be forever in its' debt.

Home and Away was also voted the Most Popular Austrailan Drama Series for the second year in a row, and for the 14th time in its 20 year history. Ray Meagher accepted the award on behalf of the cast, who stood behind him on the stage. Ray commended the work of the cast and crew, and "all the people who are connected with Home and Away who can't be here tonight" for making the show the "most financially sucessful product the Seven Network has ever had".

Earlier in the night, Amy Mathews, who plays Rachel Armstrong, was voted Most Popular New Talent, beating fellow co-star Jessica Tovey (Belle) who was also nominated in the same category.

Congratulations to all of the winners, especially the Home And Away winners, and most of all to Kate. It is great to know that the public recognizes class when they see it.

I'm very pleased to announce that we have managed to secure an interview with the one and only Debra Lawrance, who played Pippa Fletcher/Ross on the show from 1990 onwards. We're very honoured to have been given this fantastic opportunity and are very grateful for Debra to agreeing to the interview!

So this is your chance to ask Debra any questions you may have about her experiences of playing the original matriarch of the show on and off for the past 17 years.

If you have any questions that you would like to ask Debra, then please post them here or email them to me at dan@backtothebay.net - all questions need to be received before next Saturday (12th May)

Is it really May already? 1/3 of the year has already passed us by in what feels like no time at all.

April brought with it a number of changes to the site, such as a revamped Multimedia section and Features index page. The Multimedia section has been completely cleaned out and sorted through, and now contains a number of older video clips which disappeared from the site over the years. We also fixed many broken links, so if you were having trouble downloading some of the clips from the site, chances are they'll now work as they should.

We also added a number of new features, including Yearly Highlights, listing the various major events and storylines from years gone by. The 2000 season is currently up, with more seasons to be added soon. We also added Also Starring In..., allowing you to quickly find out where else you can see your favourite current Home and Away stars. It will be regularly updated as new cast projects are announced.

So, what can you expect from Back to the Bay in May? Well, as promised, we've started to reveal the results of our Most Popular Villain poll, and the results will continue to be revealed throughout May. Just who will be announced as Home and Away's most evil characters ever? As for what else we'll be bringing you, well, it's a closely guarded secret! The sceptics among you may suspect that we simply haven't planned the rest of our content for May yet... but we're simply trying to entice you back to the site on a daily basis by not revealing our plans ;)

Anyway, those of you in the right place in the world, enjoy the bank holiday. Those of you elsewhere, enjoy business as usual. Keep checking back daily for the latest Home and Away news, gossip and features, and I'll be back with another editorial next month.

Chris,
Back to the Bay