If Ailsa had not been dead?.

[j.laur5]

Here some of my thoughts if Ailsa had stayed years to come.

Duncan probably would have stayed  for longer

Since actor Brendon McKensy quit they would have recast Duncan and not brought in Seb and maybe recast Duncan with the actor who played Seb .

Would Ailsa have agreed to become partners in the Diner with Leah?.

I think at first she would have had her doubts but she would have come around to the idea knowing Leah to be trustworthy partner.

Would Ailsa have taken longer to realise Morag had truly changed?.

I think it would have been  interesting to see if Ailsa still maintained a bit more distance towards Morag for a while.

How do you think Ailsa would have dealt with Angie Russell

I think it would be interesting to see how Angie would cross paths with Ailsa.

 

You thoughts?.

 

[sindikatas]

My thoughts are that Morag would have never turned up again. I see Ailsa as an obstacle in Morag's reconciliation with Alf.

[Trudy Heine]

Sally might have stayed longer, Ailsa would've got along w Flynn and lil Pippa. Maybe no Sutherlands/Hunters/Gina? A closer friendship w Leah?

[beau_t]

I don't think Duncan would have been recast with Mitch Firth (Seb), because Mitch was clearly cast for his strong resemblance to Simon Kay (Alan Fisher). If they did recast Duncan, there's no saying who would have played him.

 

If Duncan had stayed around, I like to think we'd still have got the Seb story in some form (even only as a guest character), because Donald needed something to do at that point, it was a nice reference to the past and good to see Alan's character remembered for a while. It's a shame he was never really talked about again after Seb's initial introduction.

As for Morag, who knows how that would have played out with Ailsa still around. During the brain tumour story lline the writers clearly still remembered that Ailsa didn't like her. So if she was alive she'd probably still be distrustful for a while but eventually come to accept her. They'd probably have a long running love/hate relationship with some touching moments and some heated moments but 90% of the time just tolerate each other.

I have no idea how Angie and Ailsa could have interacted. Sometimes Ailsa could be extremely distrustful and judgemental, other times she liked to give people a fair go. She wasn't very consistently written in that respect, it just depended on the story line and the current writer. I could see Ailsa feeling sorry for Angie at first and then discovering something about her past, or maybe being a witness to Angie starting the fire in Donald's office or something. Ailsa had fragile mental health over the years and I could see Angie using that to her advantage once she became aware of it. Maybe trying to make it look like Ailsa was having another breakdown to cast doubt on what she was saying about Angie. Or maybe simply Ailsa recognising the signs of Angie having a breakdown (her 6 month stint was, essentially, the story line of a woman having a breakdown), and Angie refusing her help. instead making it look like Ailsa was the mad one.

 

[adam436]

On 4/12/2015 at 8:15 AM, beau_t said:

As for Morag, who knows how that would have played out with Ailsa still around. During the brain tumour story lline the writers clearly still remembered that Ailsa didn't like her. So if she was alive she'd probably still be distrustful for a while but eventually come to accept her. They'd probably have a long running love/hate relationship with some touching moments and some heated moments but 90% of the time just tolerate each other.

 

I agree about your comments about Ailisa and Morag - given that Morag has considerably softened over the years, I could see their relationship being quite similar to what Morag had with Celia in 1980s.

I think if Ailsa was still around today, she would have become the Home and Away equivalent of Neighbours' Helen Daniels. I could see being a mother figure to the new Roo, Leah, Marilyn, Beth, Rachel, Sally and Flynn and Beth, and and even offering words of wisdom to the younger characters like Hannah, Ricky and Nate. She would have also been a step-grandmother to Rick and Martha, and I imagine her and Alf would have continued to take in stray teens.

It's also possible Duncan would have been recast with a flat-pack family (though they've never done it with Irene's children!) to give Alf and Ailsa a family and continue the Stewart name.

I think Leah and Ailsa would have developed a similar friendship to what she had with Bobby, and yes, I believe she would have eventually become a partner in the diner.

[j.laur5]

Also I have feeling they might not have kept Colleen in the show as long because Colleen sort of  took over Ailsa's  role of being the women always  in diner. The PTB might not have  felt much point  in keeping Colleen if they had Ailsa to be the woman  in Diner.

[Luigi Severus Fletcher]

Well, it is possible that Ailsa can come back... Didn't Peter Baker "die" and then come back? The same with Hugo? They could always have Ailsa go into witness protection due to the family of her husband (that she killed) seeking revenge and her 2003 stint can be explained as she wanted to check up on Alf and play on the fact he had a brain tumor (and saw hallucinations). Because we never actually saw Ailsa's body in the coffin, she could have requested that they threw in an unclaimed body and cremated it.

On to the topic, I don't know how she would have coped with all the Braxtons and drama in the bay, maybe she would have tolerated it like Alf and Irene do or maybe she wouldn't have. Irene doesn't really have any female close to her age to talk to, the only people she talks to are Leah, Roo and Alf and Alf seriously lacks a female companion, I am pretty sure he doesn't want to die alone.

[CaptainHulk]

I reckon Angie would have driven Ailsa to shooting her instead of Alf but I don't think she'd miss this time!

[Homeandawayfan.]

Some say Ailsa would be the Helen Daniels of Summer Bay. She had the same facial expressions and lip movements as Helen as well as being the local matriarch.

[j.laur5]

9 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Some say Ailsa would be the Helen Daniels of Summer Bay. She had the same facial expressions and lip movements as Helen as well as being the local matriarch.

I agree.  I look at Helen and Ailsa as the head matriarch on their shows as they are both well mannered and prim and proper. Whereas I call Madge and Pippa secondary matriarch as Madge and Pippa are a bit more rough around the edges and don't come across as prim and proper like Helen and Ailsa.