Pippa Fletcher/Ross - Vanessa Downing & Debra Lawrance

[Bobby Forever Missed]

Okay so here are my 5 reasons for prefering this Pippa over #2

#1 She is mumsy but also a tad fiesty

#2 She's a good mate as well as a mum

#3 She relates to young people

#4 her cool dress sense

#5 she always leaps at the idea of taking in "strays"

I think Vanessa should have stayed on. Who agrees?

Edited July 4, 2015 by QUIET ACHIEVER

[j.laur5]

Okay so here are my 5 reasons for prefering this Pippa over #2

#1 She is mumsy but also a tad fiesty

#2 She's a good mate as well as a mum

#3 She relates to young people

#4 her cool dress sense

#5 she always leaps at the idea of taking in "strays"

I think Vanessa should have stayed on. Who agrees?

I agree and Vanessa Downing will always been my favourite. I think she had charisma.

From what I've heard around the net I think that Vanessa regrets leaving.

I think what would be better is if they brought in Debra Lawrence as a new character and it would work with the right storyline.

Yes, I wish Vanessa had stayed longer. Who knows, she might return as a new character one day. How about as Debra Stewart, Alf's unseen sister?

[Bobby Forever Missed]

That's a good idea! or maybe as another foster mum called "Molly" or something

[Snapp]

I liked her very much though the 2 Pippa's are equal in my mind. I loved how the show acknowledged that there was 2 Pippa's & didn't try ot hide it in the later years, Sally hanging up pictures of the original Pippa in the Summer Bay House & the flashbacks of the original Pippa talking to little Sally.

[granger99]

I never saw the original Pippa until I looked at old videos on You Tube . And she was quite amazing at her role . Very young and trendy looking compared to a much older looking Debra Lawrence .

I also have read somewhere that Vanessa later regretted leaving the role of Pippa !

I think it would be stupid to have her return as a different character , I mean what would be the point !

I agree with an above poster that it's nice that they have kept both faces of Pippa in the shows history !

[Bobby Forever Missed]

Well it'd be a bit weird for the teens of the 90s who saw Debra if Vanessa came back as Pippa!

[beau_t]

I liked her very much though the 2 Pippa's are equal in my mind. I loved how the show acknowledged that there was 2 Pippa's & didn't try ot hide it in the later years, Sally hanging up pictures of the original Pippa in the Summer Bay House & the flashbacks of the original Pippa talking to little Sally.

I think originally they did try to hide it because when Debra took over the role I always looked hard to see if I could spot Vanessa Downing in any of the family photos and I think they removed her from them all!

But as time went on it became a part of the show's history and when enough water was under the bridge I think they realised they could acknowledge it and the fans wouldn't mind. That's my opinion.

To be honest Pippa as a character wasn't that great. She didn't really do much over her 10 years. Her only strong storylines that I can think of were:

Her brother Danny

The deaths of Tom, Michael and Dale

Her coma and recovery

She has now been far surpassed by Irene both in terms of years on the show and in terms of strong storylines. Leah I think is currently on a par year wise but also surpassed in terms of storylines and definately in terms of character development. Pippa was a mum, and she was great, but they couldn't really develop or grow her character.

That's not to say I didn't like her, in fact I think the show benefitted a lot from having that strong earth mother "heart of the Bay" type character who was friends with everyone and always had a pot of tea on for you. Since she left it has never quite been replaced.

I'm not going to get into VD/DL comparisons because it was the same character!

Although I will say that I felt in Pippa's (original) final episode when she left with Ian, they took the character back to her "Vanessa Downing" roots. She played basketball with Sam in the caravan park and described the house to Rebecca as being full of "horrible rotten messy adorable kids". Both very "early Pippa" things to do and say, and not something you were used to DL doing/saying.

Edited June 21, 2010 by beau_t

[codyw1]

Vanessa will always be Pippa to me.

[Ryan]

Pippa's original stint was 2344 episodes long.

Inclusinf today, Leah has been around 2308 episodes, so I guess mid-August she'll overtake Pippa.

[j.laur5]

Pippa's original stint was 2344 episodes long.

Inclusinf today, Leah has been around 2308 episodes, so I guess mid-August she'll overtake Pippa.

Does that include both Vanessa Downing and Debra Lawrence episodes?

But I thought Leah would have overtaken her by now because didn't Pippa leave at the start of 1998?

Also why did Pippa decide to leave Summer Bay after ten years?

Thanks a lot in advance.