cymbaline

They really don't want people to be able to watch old episodes, do they? Other people have mentioned that 1988-89 seem to be gone off Amazon Prime as well. It looks like these old episodes won't be rebroadcast on TV any time soon. What a shame they just get locked away rather than getting a second life on a streaming service.

I saw that! It's interesting to see that just about everybody who replied in the comments agreed. If they were to lift as much of those original scripts as possible and stitch them into modern-day Home and Away, it'd get a very different reaction. I'd love to know if the writers were sneaking some domestic abuse storyline into the show, or if it's just of its time. Ben wasn't the only male character whose views hadn't evolved since the 1950s. Pippa was one of the people urging Carly to get back with Ben. This was the same woman who dumped the man she loved (Michael) and tried to push him back into an unhappy relationship with his ex-wife. Then she urged Bobby to take Greg back, even though he had cheated on her. When PIppa and Michael were getting married, the other arc running through the episodes was the question of Carly and Ben getting back together again. In hindsight, it would've made for a great contrast if Carly had decided that she was better off staying single and sent Ben away. When you look at all those incidents in the one go it's hard to see how Carly and Ben could work well as a couple.

Was she a groovy adult chick or a teenage girl during the decade of free love? If she's 5 years younger than Tom, that gives her a birth date of 1952 or 1953. I wish the Summer of Love had happened when she was 12 because it'd make her indignation over Sal's pursuit of Peter Mansell soooo hypocritical. It's funny how prudish Pippa could be sometimes. Remember the time she thought Michael was watching porno videos and danced around the subject. Naked men and women...doing things. Haha

They got away with the Pippa thing - twice! Pippa is a character who seems older than her years. The dowdy clothes and having her as a full-time housewife/mum went a long way towards disguising how young both actresses were. In real life, both of them were only a decade or so older than their foster kids. That makes for some interesting mathematics when you start working backwards and think about how old Tom was and when they got married etc.

I wonder are there any AI programs that can separate the speech from the vocals?

I vaguely remember the episode where Martin brought his over-eager girlfriend to visit his folks. Did the get them amp up their general awfulness or were they like that all the time?

People who have a religious faith tend to be portrayed badly on H&A. Just as an FYI, I was raised as a catholic but don't have any religion nowadays. I still have family, friends and other people in my life who practice their religion to a greater or lesser extent. I have yet to meet anybody who behaves in the way that religious people on H&A do. I'm not saying that there aren't fanatics out there but they're not every religious person. Most people quietly go to church or say their prayers and are perfectly nice and normal. It's yawningly predictable that as soon as you see a bible or a crucifix onscreen, you know you're about to encounter a whackjob.

I wonder did they ever use false numberplates for the vehicles the various characters drove?

Belated congratulations and thanks for all the hard work y'all do.

I think poor Nick got such a bad case of the icks from Beth, it never would've worked. It was bad enough that he'd been burned by Lucinda. I wouldn't have minded seeing him ending up with Beth, despite her Tug baggage. Sarah in particular got a poor exit. Leaving the Stewart's on a sour note after being a generally good kid didn't feel right. At least she came back afterwards and all was well again. You can't really argue with Fin, Adam, Luke and Sarah being written out. Tug still had mileage in him if Tristan had been willing to stay on. It's easy to see why Bobby took him under her wing. He was quite like her in many ways, and beneath the moody exterior beat a heart of gold.

With Fin's exit, it was almost as if somebody from higher up did a stock-take and noticed that she was still there. She was emblematic of what happens when a teenage character finishes school and has nowhere to go. I think they should've had her leave with Haydn when he decided to skip town for the 2nd time. That would've added some spice to proceedings.

It was still a bit odd to disappear Rob in the way they did. We know that the boat shed wasn't doing well and that Rob moved into it to save money. It wouldn't have been that big a leap for him to say he was selling it and moving elsewhere. I don't believe Matthew Lilley ever came back as a guest, unlike Greg Benson who was the other sudden disappearer. Fin's leaving episode had an "out with the trash" feeling to it. She got a letter offering her a place on a course at the beginning of her final episode and by the end, she was gone. Waved off by some of her favourite people including Shane Parrish and Donald Fisher. No sign of Damien or Pippa, who you'd think would care that she was leaving.

Looks like you need to get writing too @CaptainHulk

They were a bit funny about alcohol in those days but it seems odd that none of the over 18's ever went anywhere for a drink. Well, apart from when they went on dates to Yabbie Creek offscreen. Alf only seemed to drink at home. I guess that because Home and Away was pitching to a younger audience at the time, they went for a diner rather than a bar or restaurant. If the Home and Away Early Years Instagram account (which I love) is anything to go by, Ailsa's heart wasn't really in it The Surf Club probably became the youth hang-out, complete with a kiosk selling even unhealthier fare than the diner. And yes, do write that rave fanfic!

They have Salt and the Pier Diner now. Maybe it was a step too far at the time but it would've made sense even in the early 90s. There were times when the older characters looked out of place in there, especially when they wanted to have a meal. A fast food joint with a jukebox and populated by teenagers wouldn't be most people's idea of a nice evening out. And if you were a teenager, would you really want to socialise in a place also frequented by your parents and your teachers? If you were to move Bobby forward in time, she'd be running Salt rather than the pier diner.

If Neighbours hadn't got in there first with Charlene becoming a mechanic, Bobby could've gone down that road. It would've been interesting to watch her become a tradie of some sort and overcome the obstacles that a fiery, short woman would encounter. But of course, from a dramatic point of view, having her in the diner was a good choice. It put her at the heart of everything for a few years.

Was abandoning Sam twice and having that affair really out of character? Greg was a shallow sort of person and when he was married to Bobby, she was the one doing the heavy lifting. Even though he was quick to look for custody of Sam, he was found wanting when he finally got sole custody. I think him leaving to drive trucks again was very in character. Even when he came back and gave Sam the option of moving in with him and his fiancée, it was still a half-baked offer. There were some really sweet scenes when Donald and Sam finally admitted how much they cared about each other. Now that would've been an interesting turn of events. When they originally had Jackie give Sam up, the story was very much weighted in favour of Bobby. It was all about how heartbroken she was, and how she and Sam had bonded and should be together. They glossed over Jackie and simply painted her as an immature party girl who didn't have the self-discipline to look after Sam properly. Even though she wasn't the best mother in the world, she wasn't a bad person. Would she have been a better mum a few years later? Who knows? It would've been fun to find out. Ryan Clark seems to be a nice chap but as an actor, he was never in Kate Ritchie's league. Was he really that indispensable?

It wasn’t the first time they ran into problems finding a responsible adult to hold the fort. Years later they brought Pippa back to look after things when Irene and Alf were away. She didn't know any of the kids in the Beach House by then but hey, needs must. I wasn't watching by then so here's a new quick question. Was Greg mentioned at all during this time and did he have any input into what might happen to Sam? He isn't a character I particularly like but if he was happy to stand by and let his kid be fostered by strangers, he's an even worse father than I thought he was. At least Sam was looked after by people he knew after Greg left. This was a step into a different world.

I don't remember any diagnosis being mentioned either. I think it's one of those storylines that resonates differently with people, depending on their stage in life. I daresay most teenagers won't bat an eyelid. If you're a bit older and have personal experience of a parent or another close relative with dementia, it puts a different complexion on it. To be fair, they dealt with the issue in a light and breezy way - it wasn't like the Ashley Thomas storyline in Emmerdale. They just had Bert becoming a bit doddery and being sent off to live in a retirement village which happened to be home to some of his old buddies. Glad to hear it made him better - they should find out what's in the water there.

That's true, though an ex-husband resurfacing would shake things up a bit. They dredged up Martha and Heather from the mythical pasts of Alf and Marilyn so why not an ex-husband? Though the Morgan thing is probably an equally big dealbreaker now. Haha, now that's disturbing! (but true)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who never warmed to Frank. He was easy on the eye but I never bought him as a boy next door or Prince Charming. That observation about his 1992 return is spot on. He showed us how shallow a person he was and also, that he didn't know what he wanted. He was definitely a man who needed to spend some time being single after being with Bobby and Roo. Ironically, I wished Bobby had taken him up on his offer rather than go through with her wedding to Greg. She and Frank would've fizzled out again once the novelty wore off but he was still better than Greg. She wouldn't have looked at him twice if it wasn't for Sam. Even though Bobby became a foster mother while she was still young, I think she and Sam were a good pairing. I would have rather seen her raise him as a single mother rather than get into a relationship with yet another unsuitable man. Both her husbands were awful in a low-key way. I wonder have they ever asked Alex Papps to come back as a guest? Even though it's a different Roo now, it'd be fun to have them rake over some old coals.

Even as a young teenager, I didn't take to Bobby and Frank as a couple. There seemed to be something tepid about them and it didn't surprise me when they split up. Watching again years later, I still see no chemistry. It has the feel of the producers deciding to have a go at creating a Summer Bay Scott & Charlene. Frank and Roo was too messy by then so they went for the next best thing. It's very much a rebound relationship and if they hadn't rushed Bobby and Frank up the aisle, it'd definitely have fizzled out. If Alex Papps had stayed for longer, they'd still have split him and Bobby up. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any female characters he might've dated but I'm sure they'd have brought some in. He and Roo had a spark but they were a bit dysfunctional. I thought that Bobby and Grant had better chemistry later on and pairing them up would've worked. They managed to marry her off to two men whom she had zero chemistry with, and both made her less interesting.

Maybe they thought the viewers wouldn't notice amidst all the turmoil of the time. I've just taken a quick look at some episode synopses and there was an awful lot going on in 1996. An old codger's miraculous recovery from dementia was always going to come second to deaths, departures and the general amped-up nature of life in Summer Bay at that time.

Looks like somebody on the show was suffering from memory loss and it wasn't Bert...

When they brought Pippa's dad Bert back in 1995, he was becoming forgetful and having accidents because of it. He eventually moved into a retirement village which was an arrangement that seemed to suit everybody. When he was brought back in 1996 and 1997, was he still like this? Or had they forgotten what he was like in 1995?