c120701 Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Jackie Woodburne was shortlisted for the role of Pippa when Vanessa Downing left. I can't imagine her as Pippa, but maybe she'd still be on the show now. The show might have been completely different today. Debra Lawrence might also have never met Dennis Coard. http://m.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/news/a596203/neighbours-star-jackie-woodburne-was-almost-cast-in-home-and-away.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sindikatas Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Vanessa Downing, who played Pippa originally, decided to quit the soap but was critical to a storyline, and the producers decided to recast her. Does this mean that they were actually considering to write Pippa out, but changed their minds because Vanessa was against it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beau_t Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 No it's badly worded. I think they mean "critical" as in "important". I think what it means is that Pippa was important to the show (especially with Tom having been axed) so there was no way they could lose Pippa too. When Vanessa decided to leave, the only option was to recast. Actually I can quite easily imagine Jackie playing Pippa. I always thought her and Debra's acting styles were very similar, this was before I even knew they were friends in real life. I know that Debra auditioned for the role of Pippa originally in 1987 and when Vanessa left they asked Debra to audition again. I wonder if that means Jackie also auditioned originally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ranger 1 Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 What a truly extraordinary mental image. I'm glad we got Debra Lawrence though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inactive User Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Whoa I didn't know that Jackie was nearly cast as Pippa! I never watched the old Pippa on my screens (expect only old video clips of her) I liked the second Pippa when she was on the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beau_t Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 It would be interesting to know what (if any) other well known actors auditioned for other parts. Alf, Tom, Ailsa, Fisher etc. I heard that Celia was written with Fiona Spence in mind so I don't know if others would have auditioned for that role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c120701 Posted September 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Actually I can quite easily imagine Jackie playing Pippa. I always thought her and Debra's acting styles were very similar, this was before I even knew they were friends in real life. Yeah, their acting style is similar, but physically I think Jackie would've been a bigger leap from Vanessa than Debra was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexx Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 That's interesting! I can so easily imagine Jackie playing Pippa too. I wonder whether she'd still be in the show as Pippa today considering her loyalty to Neighbours, perhaps she would have felt the same about H&A and Pippa would still be there. I'm surprised that piece of trivia hasn't been revealed before (to my knowledge). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.laur5 Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 I thought Roger quit?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Very interesting story and I can't imagine Jackie playing Pippa these days even though she would have been great in the role in my opinion. If Jackie was cast in the role of Pippa would she have ever been able to play Susan on Neighbours. I guess it may have been possible as the writers wrote out Tom in 1990 and maybe Pippa would have left at that time as well potentially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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