j.laur5

Irene already feels well connected to the Bay!.

We saw Noleen today, she served Luke at the diner!

I am really enjoying having 7 middle age characters on the show(Irene/ Alf/Donald/Ailsa/Pippa/Michael and Morag.) It makes the cast feel complete. It's a shame that they did it not make Morag a regular in 1993. One thing l like about Neighbours better than Home & Away is that I always thought in the 90s had more middle age characters as regulars.

Its hard to believe 12 years ago Kip was playing an older brother to kids who are only a bit older then kids he is playing dad to on Neighbours!.

Hm, i don´t remember that, i guess i just didn´t think about it back then So she had a 4 year contract to the show? I remember she came in 2003 Do you mean she wanted to leave or did they simply not want her on the show anymore? I think it was three contact but she left in early 2007 because Clarissa House finished filming in late 2006.

They should not have brought Nathan in as soon as I think it would have been nice for Irene to have a break and settle into life in Summer Bay!.

So Irene is back forever this time? I can't believe the next original character to leave is Pippa, but that's not for another 4 years.

I never quite understood when Beth left the show in 2007 she went on holiday that was supposed to be for a month and ended up being away four months. We barely got any more then two mentions about Beth for the next four months and then one day randomly we heard Matilda say her Mum was returning tomorrow. Then we saw the car crash that had already happened. It was Beth and she was already dead. We just saw her hand sticking out from the ambulance bed. Beth was dropped off at the airport by Tony. Beth should have been coming home and being picked up by Tony or Taxi . I don't understand why they could not have just killed her off in the episode she left in a car crash on her way to the airport. I think it would have made a tragic end to her character as she finally got to go on holiday and have fun and now it was taken from her. So does anyone know why they gave Beth such a bad exit as it really was so cheesy and a badly written off scene death. You think they could have at least tried bringing back Clarissa House and give her a proper death scene and end to her character. The impact of her death was not the same because she already left months before hand and we were already used to her not being around. So were other characters used to not having her around. She was already forgotten about by her family until Matilda finally remember she had a mum on holidays and said,she was coming home tomorrow.

I wish they had paired Nick and Finn up. I see a spark between those two and at least it gives them something to do as they are the only two characters who had no storylines.

What episode number was it when Blake and Hayden had the x rated video?.

Tug hated school storyline getting old and boring!.

In the pilot episode going out of his way to stop Tom getting a job and trying to get Bobby sent to jail over grudge with her.

I don't feel that sorry for Donald. Don't forget the way he used to treat poor Bobby and the Fletcher's

But Irene's character has always been changing and she may be happy to become prim and proper.

Um Matt is nothing like Aden.

Why?. I like Irene being prim and proper!.

And Kyle has a heart of gold and I love the way he lets someone know if they mean the world to him.

I like so many others got so used to the Pippa we saw from 2000-2009. When she returned she was at her best without any worries, and did appear to be someone without any flaws, with her returning to watch Sally get married, or coming to support Sally after Flynn's loss, helping Sally recover from her stabbing and helping her say goodbye to the bay. And of course dropping everything to come back to town to look after a couple of her old friend's foster children who she barely knew.

It's a shame they didn't use a flashback at the funeral to when Vanessa Downing's Pippa said to Bobby, at her wedding to Frank, that nothing would make her prouder than if she was her real mum. Bobby had such great chemistry that Vanessa's Pippa, and it just did not show as much with Debra's Pippa!

So did we see where Sally found out about Bobby dying?.

Hey Beau_T, Did you say once that they were originally going to bring back Morag as a regular in 1993?. If so, where did you hear that?.

I do to a point.

But that is part of the character. I know that you don't mean Emily Symons looks old, but if you think Marilyn appears older than her age, fair enough - that's a major part of the character. She's always been perceived as 'older' by some of the audience (I don't personally perceive her as older, I perceive her as a bubbly 30-something, with a perhaps slightly dated/unique dress sense), I remember reading an interview with Emily Symons back in 1998 and she said that people in the street told her that she looked old and ugly in the show and asked her why she let the producers do that to her.... but Emily always seems very adamant that Marilyn should stay as she is. That really is what helps to make a character, a character, rather than an actor just being themselves with a different name (which seems to happen to almost all of the characters in H&A). As you say, Marilyn is pretty much the most stylised in the show and I think that's great attention to detail, if they started to tone it all down and make Marilyn look more like Emily, then she would start to become Emily instead of Marilyn. They used to put a lot more attention to detail when it came to defining a character, giving them a distinct personality and then dressing them according to that personality (like Irene for example. Irene would never dress in the clothes she wears these days and that's because they've changed the character so that she is more Lynne McGranger instead of Irene). They even did it with the sets and dressing the houses to suit the characters personality.... but not anymore. Now H&A concentrates on making all of the characters and the set's very glamorous and it's to the major detriment of the characters. Marilyn is just about the only character left who has a distinct personalty which also shows in the way she dresses. Even then they've completely watered her personalty down since 2010. I think Irene is just becoming more prim and proper.

I think it's a shame they did not make Morag a softer character on her return instead of making her into even more of a villain!.

Ewww Marilyn is old enough to be Chris and Spencer's mother!.