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Was it a mistake to kill Bobby off in 1993?


Guest Ryan

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I think Killing the character off was the right move. It just wouldn't have made sense for her to leave. She had only recently married, and settled down with Sam and Greg.

I think from a writing point of view, it was absolutely the right decision. It created some incredibly powerful episodes (that I still remember, even thouigh I was only 6 at the time), and it allowed Sam to stay on the show... and I really liked Sam as a character :)

But seriously... the big issue when people leave is always their motivation. If the character has no motivation to leave, well then death is the next best option.

I totally agree with you Karl, it was the only course of action the writers could take. There was obviously heaps of potential for Bobby's character if she had stayed, but she didn't stay, and once Nicole had made the decision to leave it was the only possible route open to them which made any sense. The fact that every one loved Bobby should not blind them to this, and I think the fact that we all remember Bobby's death means that it worked. Would we remember her leaving if she and Greg had gone off to live in Woop Woop? I think not, and we would probably have forgotten all about her in the same way we have forgotten about so many from that era unless we have our memories prodded. Death made her immortal on the show, just like Shane and Flynn. We won't forget them either.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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I think with Nicolle Dickson's decision to leave, it was a very hard task for the script writers at the time as I really don't think Bobby would have left the Bay. She had built too much up there to just up sticks and leave. Despite having a very hard and troubled upbringing, with being fostered by Tom and Pippa and then going into a successful business with Ailsa she got her life on track and got what she always wanted - a family of her own with Greg and Sam whilst surrounded with her friends and enjoying a successful partnership with Ailsa at the diner.

I was 13 when Bobby was killed off and for me its still one of the most memorable times of Home And Away. Indeed it was very harrowing when the life support machine was turned off and that was the end of Bobby - definitely an end of an era for Home and Away too. She was and always will be one of the best and well written characters that Home and Away has and will ever have!!

I do agree though that if Nicolle had of stayed with the show, the storyline potential for Bobby would be absolutely amazing - especially now as there seems to be more characters than ever with links to the shows past and origins.

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  • 2 months later...

As Bobby is my own all-time favourite, this is a thread to which I have found it quite difficult to reply but I'm going to be honest in my justification that not only was Bobby's death a good thing for the show but that also Bobby's departure was the best thing for the character in 1993.

Nicolle actually says in an Inside Soap interview in February 1994 (the time at which her death was screened on ITV) that she requested to be killed off and she felt that, as an actress, it would be beneficial as it is something that the audience and her fans would remember for a long time. Without a doubt, my own memory of Bobby has been reinforced by her tragic, dramatic and untimely death and also her return as a ghost. And even though she is my favourite character, I do feel that had she have just upped sticks and reunited with Frank or something in the city, her legacy as the show's original (and so far best) wildchild wouldn't have been so set in stone.

I do feel that her character had come full circle by the time she left and, had Nicolle not made the decision to quit, Bobby's character would quickly have become bland hadn't several drastic changes been made. She was sadly under-used in her final 18 months on the show and this was a progressive decline which had, in my opinion, been on the cards since Greg had come into her life and it was far too late and unrealistic to reverse the damage. She'd been on such an emotional journey prior to this - teenage marriage, discovery of adoption, one-night stands, miscarriage and fostering a child of her own - and then, once she chose to settle down with Greg and they married it just kind of stopped. Her dry-humoured lines and Nicolle's improvisation still made the character a real pleasure to watch after this but she did age dramatically and, with the rest of her own peer group with whom she'd grown up pretty much gone (and thus a large portion of her captured fan base who'd began to watch in 1988), she, to someone born in 1985 wouldn't have been so inspirational a character as she had been to those born earlier. I think what kept Bobby popular (5 years is a long-time in a teen soap) was the memory of what she WAS and HAD been through and also her relationship with the newer teens like Tug, as opposed to what she now was. The character had grown so much and had been through so many situations possible that she'd earned enough long-term popularity never to be axed but I think it would have been such a shame to see such a strong and feisty female become a mere housewife and, sadly, I think that this would have been on the cards.

Her death also bought plenty of long-term drama to the show, spinning off numerous storylines (Morag/Sam, Adam etc) and also reinforcing how tragic Donald, Pippa and Ailsa's lives had been. I do think that a lot of older viewers switched off after her death but it allowed the show to re-invent itself as a teen show with the Shane/Angel era (after all Bobby was an excpetion in that most young characters do not stick around in Summer Bay for long) and allowed us to remember Bobby as the ultimate tragic fighter as opposed to Bobby who just served milkshakes in the diner for ten years, after being a rebel for two. Thankfully, Bobby's great exit wasn't too long after her fade into the background and fitted completely with her wonderful story arch.

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I'm with you Nenhcherry2 even though i don't remember It well as I was only 1 year old at the time of Bobby's death being screend in Australia on Channel 7 in 1993 , her death was one of if not the best Home And Away moments to date it was very touching when they broke the news to Sam his reaction still tugs my heartstrings even 15 years on.

And yes it did give Adam a good storyline with his courtcase and having everybody except Sally turn on him.

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  • 2 months later...

I think the only way to have Bobby leave would have been to kill her off unfortunately!

If only Nicolle Dickson had of been a bit more like Kate Ritchie I reckon we could have had Bobby for a lot more years than we did.

I think it would be amazing if Bobby was still a permanent cast member!! She would be imensely popular!! :)

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It's been my opinion after watching a large number of episodes around the time that I think that the show made the wrong decision in killing Bobby off. As we all know it should have been the utterly pointless Luke. Joking aside, I think that if even if Nicolle was wanting to leave the show at the point there was so much more to be gained through keeping her character alive, rather than killing her off.

But Bobby had to been killed off she whould of never of Left Summer bay that was reason they killed Alisa off. and when it comes time when Alf leaves they have to kill him off as well and when Irene leaves show she been killed off as well.

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Well, they managed to get rid of Sally without killing her off, despite twenty years of her saying Summer Bay was where she belonged.I think they probably could have found another way of writing out Bobby but whether it would have been better than what we got is another matter.

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