Why do you reckon they never brought in a new wife for Alf?.

[j.laur5]

I thought in 2001 they were going to bring in a new wife for Alf.

When watching Leah and Vinnie's wedding we had signs that Stella and Alf fancy each other.  I thought Stella Patterson was going to become a regular character and become the new Mrs Stewart.

[Skylover]

I'm not surprised they didn't bring in a new wife for him. The household he was in didn't thrive from a family vibe like the Fletcher/Ross family did so in that sense creating a new wife for him wasn't as important. Adding to that, there were already a number of older women on the show like Irene and Colleen so perhaps that's another reason why they didn't bring one in. I'm also not sure if people would accept Alf marrying again, as his true love seemed to be Ailsa - in the same way that people wouldn't have wanted Harold from Neighbours to move on after Madge.

[beau_t]

I disagree. Alf did thrive from being a family man. After Ailsa died and Duncan left, he just hung around the Diner and didn't have a "group" of characters to call his own anymore.

[Skylover]

6 minutes ago, beau_t said:

I disagree. Alf did thrive from being a family man. After Ailsa died and Duncan left, he just hung around the Diner and didn't have a "group" of characters to call his own anymore.

I don't think giving him a new wife was the answer though, I really don't think it would have worked.

IMO it was the right time to re-cast Roo back in 2000 when Ailsa died, or they should have just re-cast Duncan when Brendan McKensey left. I think it's remarkable that Roo took 21 years to return, when Alf was such an important character and the original only lasted 1 year anyway. It's also a shame that we never got to see Roo and Martha interact.

[beau_t]

5 minutes ago, Edward Skylover said:

I don't think giving him a new wife was the answer though, I really don't think it would have worked.

IMO it was the right time to re-cast Roo back in 2000 when Ailsa died, or they should have just re-cast Duncan when Brendan McKensey left. I think it's remarkable that Roo took 21 years to return, when Alf was such an important character and the original only lasted 1 year anyway. It's also a shame that we never got to see Roo and Martha interact.

You are right. I have said before instead of having Duncan leave to live with Morag, they should have brought Morag in permanently to live with Alf and Duncan - and bringing Roo back too would have been even better. I just feel that Alf was completely wasted after Judy Nunn left, the writers shamefully just shoved him to the side. Sure he still went fishing and said "flamin" a lot, but he really lacked something from not having other close characters to bounce-off on a daily basis.

I agree it's weird they didn't bring Roo back before, especially when Martha was in the show. I guess whoever was in charge then really didn't want to recast the part incase Justine changed her mind about coming back one day. But by 2010 it became obvious that was never going to happen.

[Skylover]

9 minutes ago, beau_t said:

You are right. I have said before instead of having Duncan leave to live with Morag, they should have brought Morag in permanently to live with Alf and Duncan - and bringing Roo back too would have been even better. I just feel that Alf was completely wasted after Judy Nunn left, the writers shamefully just shoved him to the side. Sure he still went fishing and said "flamin" a lot, but he really lacked something from not having other close characters to bounce-off on a daily basis.

To be honest I can't make a fair judgement on what that time period was like as I wasn't watching it but the impression I get is that he was definitely sidelined. I don't really understand why they were willing to let this happen. I like the idea of Morag going to live with Alf permanently, they could have really played on the fact that Alf was struggling without Ailsa facilitating a more permanent return for Morag. It's odd how on some occasions the writers/producers seem completely willing to re-cast a character then on other occasions they really shy away from it - I get the impression that they might have asked Justine Clarke to reprise the role of Roo on several occasions and when she turned them down they weren't brave enough to re-cast. The original Roo was not that remarkable IMO and certainly not irreplaceable. Plus, on the other hand, we got 3 versions of Rebecca Fisher.

I actually think in order to boost the modern show, and Alf's character, it would be wise to now re-cast Martha again. Jodi will never return in all probability, and especially not for the foreseeable future, so they may as well take the plunge, obviously it would do wonders for Alf's character but even mores it would give Roo a decent storyline which the very capable actress has been crying out for, for 6 years now.

[beau_t]

5 minutes ago, Edward Skylover said:

 it would give Roo a decent storyline which the very capable actress has been crying out for, for 6 years now.

The original Roo certainly made more of an impact in her short year on the show than New Roo has in 6 years.

[Dan F]

12 minutes ago, beau_t said:

I guess whoever was in charge then really didn't want to recast the part incase Justine changed her mind about coming back one day. But by 2010 it became obvious that was never going to happen.

That was pretty much it, I know Bevan had wanted to get Roo back for years - even back in 2004 when we asked who he would like to bring back if anyone, his answer was Roo.

In the end, with Justine still not interested, they just decided it was silly to deny themselves the character.

[beau_t]

1 minute ago, Dan F said:

they just decided it was silly to deny themselves the character.

And then promptly did nothing with her.

[Skylover]

Roo is one of the weaker aspects of 1988 and 1989 IMO, the character wasn't badly written but to be perfectly honest I didn't like how the actress played the character. It's a shame that they thought Justine was so intrinsic with that role that they couldn't re-cast, because she really wasn't, and as a result we've probably missed the years where Roo would have actually had something to do, like support Alf after the loss of Ailsa, or reunite with Martha or just generally be there when Martha was. Now they're stuck in the same predicament where Martha is needed to advance Roo's character.

Maybe if Roo ever leaves we can expect to see Martha again