hapitoby

Very interesting to speculate. She may just work in the diner. If she stayed in the Bay, I'd imagine she'd be paired with Rhys Sutherland. I think a lot of what happened until the Sutherlands arrival would be more or less the same - the Nash's moving in, Sally moving out etc. Pippa may be a bit lost or just in and out of the bay or got a new house. I imagine they may have not created Shelley Sutherland or she and Rhys may split up early/ be already split up before the Sutherlands arrive. I guess it'll be similar to when Rhys gets with Beth with Pippa becoming a surrogate. It would be interesting to see how things go. I imagine they'd still have Shelley leave when she does but may not introduce Beth Hunter. Rhys was written out so it's likely if he stayed with Pippa, he would have been kept around until.the actor decided to leave. I remember an interview where they originally planned to have Beth fall pregnant. Maybe they would with Pippa (not sure her age at this point) I wonder if they would have kept Leah or Irene around as they may feel Pippa would take on both those roles in 2010 era.

Yes I knew it wasn't something that was only brought up recently.

Didn't they originally have plans to axe Irene in 2002? I imagine if Pippa was still around then, and with Ailsa having already left, they may have axed Irene as initially planned and Pippa may have gotten her storylines. It's possible she may have even been paired with Alf after Ailsa died or Ian may have been made a regular. I think they would have kept her around but she'd have been a background character for a number of years until they decide what new direction to take her.

I 100% agree. I got very close to switching off. I didn't watch consistently this year and would go weeks without watching it. I was looking forward to the final as the show was ending for the year so ended up watching up till then. I'll give it a go next year and as long as its not as bad as this year, I'll stick with a bit longer. Rewatching the eps on 7+ is very nostalgia but also reminds of when the show was much better written. The current producers need to go big time. And good question about the viewers. I don't think many would have been on teh edge of their seats. I think the main people that would enjoy it are new fans or just passive fans. While it annoyed me I did somewhat enjoy it -mainly due to how ridiculous and OTT it was- not because it was good writing lol

100% agreed. Marilyn was one of the last characters this should have been done to given her desire to have a baby has always been a massive part of her character. Even in her 2010 return. It's so integral to her character. It's just beyond bad that she had a kid 27 years ago she just abandoned. I don't think "is this good writing" crossed their minds...ever. I think the logic is "what will make exciting drama"...and a long lost offspring is a typical soap device. They know it doesn't make sense and don't care to, same with the Martha retcon, so dance around the details. Again, I don't think it being well written crossed their minds bit if it's exciting and will bring viewers in. It can be exciting and make sense, and I've discussed previously how the Heather storyline could still happen and make sense without being Marilyn's child but want revenge on her for another reason.

I think it can be salvaged. Get rid of deadweight characters and have better writers. Unless that happens, then it'll just continue the way it is. This year has been easily one of the worst written for the show imo.

I got a fright there and thought she won ha I am surprised she made it into the top 5 though...then again maybe she won't appear:p I'm expecting Ziggy Irene Dean Marilyn/Alf (not sure which one will win)

Agreed. I do like Tane but top 10. Anyway it'll be interesting to see how those 3 do in the next poll.

Agree with a lot of this. I'm still salty about how Jasmine left. It was terrible.

Same. Just rewatched it earlier. So beautiful and sad. Meg saying to her mum " thanks for letting me go" was so heartbreaking

11 years. Wow! Almost a third of its lifespan...wow

Same. He was such a great character. I thought it was the actor that left for so long as I don't know why they'd axe such a good character.

I think so. They just didn't know what to do after his arc so through him into the Jack and Martha drama which seemed never ending.

That's pretty much as far as he was developed. I loved him them. He had a Rambo type storyline during the Olympic cliffhanger return, then for the rest of the year was involved between Charlie, looking after Nicole as well as the tired Jack and Martha drama. Then he breaks up with Charlie cos he's still on love with Martha (even though it never seemed that deep), which goes nowhere. He spends 2009 in a very brief relationship with Leah (which I really enjoyed), then had his blind storyline (which was also great), then he went to jail in some weird contrived storyline that at least was brought back to the Olympic cliffhanger. I always thought he'd left as it felt weirdly sudden but found out over a decade later he was written out.

Yeah Roman arrived the second last week of 2007 I think. And stayed till about June 2009 so he last quite a bit more than some of the other ones.

Ric worked in the garage which was mostly off-screen after the Don stuff. It did come up every so often but was mostly off-screen. Amanda upon her return and moved into the mansion was off-screen. Before Ben set up his board shop I recall him working off-screen. I could be wrong but I do remember it. He was even meant to start a new job (can't remember if he did in the end) during Maggie's cancer storyline. He may have always been doing the boardshop but it was off-screen until he moved it to the bait shop and then the surf club.

I was thinking 48 and 52. I was pretty close ha.

Yes this. I can't remember his age but I think it was early 50s (52 I think) and he was pretending to be late 40s.

I just looked up and the only thing I could find was an article about an instagram post where he made a jokingly tweet saying "I love steriods" and then apologised for his attempt of humour when receiving backlash. I don't see that as a big deal - though some probably would. I doubt 7 would care that much (I hope anyway). It would be ridiculous thing for them to to a big deal about it as is hardly scandalous or offensive.

Angelo (if he counts as he didn't leave till 2011) returned in 2020 for a few months. Morag had brief stints in 2016 and 2017. Duncan (recast) returned for a few months in 2016. Sally and Celia both for a month or two in 2013.

Yeah I wish we knew more. Maybe she was just going to become generic. I did prefer her over Olivia but they probably had a long term plan with Olivia and Hunter. We can only speculate

Yeah it's weird but I'm guess he didn't have the need or storylines for the character the network wanted. It would be nice if he went more in depth. It seems like she was going to be another Olivia and he probably had something totally different in mind. I did like her and Tank and thought they could have explored that a lot more. Tank was great and he could have had a big redemption arc. It felt like we were going to get that and then both were just gone.

And April. He also hooked up with Henri at least once and they dated off-screen. She dated Jonah, hooked up with Kim I think and had that think with Jack but that was dropped. Kit also dated that guy James (I think) when she's was pregnant. Did she and Noah ever get together? I wasn't watching at the time.

That's interesting. I never heard any rumours but wonder do most of the cast follow each other instagram or just who they're close with? Its possible a few those he worked with didn't have instagram.

Yeah when Olivia returned in 2015, she and VJ became fast friends and there seem to be chemistry between them. VJ was clearly interested but she quickly ditched him when she met Hunter. Also, VJ is an early 2000s character but I guess its been retconned to him being aged up and Olivia aged down that he's now older than her.