Were the older characters underused in the early days?

[adam436]

I think the above question is essentially fair to ask in any era of the show, but in the 1988-1990 era of the show we had Floss, Neville and Celia? I felt like the other supporting elders (Alf, Ailsa, Fisher and Morag when she joined in 1989) were sufficiently used during that era, and ironically they became some of the longest-serving characters. 

 

Floss and Neville had one major storyline in their time on the show involving their son/grandson. The rest of time they were basically just background characters. I liked Neville and Floss, but I can see why the producers thought it was a good idea to axe them in favour of younger characters. I also thought they were rather underdeveloped and two-dimensional at times too, that I'm not sure what else the writers could have even done with them. It's a shame they weren't kept on as recurring guests though - I feel they would have worked well in that capacity. 

 

Celia also had very little in terms of storylines other than a tragic past and her relationship with Morag's blind assistant (his name escapes me right now!). Other than that, all she seemed to do was interfere in everyone else's affairs. Burning down her store seemed make her even more redundant (I never bought her setting up the grocery store at Alf's shop!). I also felt like Roo leaving didn't help matters either, as she seemed to be "link" the three Stewart siblings in that they all had a close (for the most part!) relationship with her and not with each other. Could they not have had Celia take in a waif or stray (like Fisher did with Viv!) to give her more of a purpose? She was a very lonely character and I imagine she would have viewed taking in a teenager in trouble as the "Christian thing to do". Like Neville and Floss though, I felt like Celia was far too underused in 1989 for her to bounce back from that.  I'm not sure if Fiona Spence was axed or not, but she was essentially a glorified extra by that point that it made sense for her to leave. Fiona Spence is a talented actress, as she proved during her stint on Prisoner and in some of her H&A scenes (particularly when she portrayed how lonely she was!), but she was underused and wasted for the most part of her regular stint. 

[j.laur5]

2 hours ago, adam436 said:

I think the above question is essentially fair to ask in any era of the show, but in the 1988-1990 era of the show we had Floss, Neville and Celia? I felt like the other supporting elders (Alf, Ailsa, Fisher and Morag when she joined in 1989) were sufficiently used during that era, and ironically they became some of the longest-serving characters. 

 

Floss and Neville had one major storyline in their time on the show involving their son/grandson. The rest of time they were basically just background characters. I liked Neville and Floss, but I can see why the producers thought it was a good idea to axe them in favour of younger characters. I also thought they were rather underdeveloped and two-dimensional at times too, that I'm not sure what else the writers could have even done with them. It's a shame they weren't kept on as recurring guests though - I feel they would have worked well in that capacity. 

 

Celia also had very little in terms of storylines other than a tragic past and her relationship with Morag's blind assistant (his name escapes me right now!). Other than that, all she seemed to do was interfere in everyone else's affairs. Burning down her store seemed make her even more redundant (I never bought her setting up the grocery store at Alf's shop!). I also felt like Roo leaving didn't help matters either, as she seemed to be "link" the three Stewart siblings in that they all had a close (for the most part!) relationship with her and not with each other. Could they not have had Celia take in a waif or stray (like Fisher did with Viv!) to give her more of a purpose? She was a very lonely character and I imagine she would have viewed taking in a teenager in trouble as the "Christian thing to do". Like Neville and Floss though, I felt like Celia was far too underused in 1989 for her to bounce back from that.  I'm not sure if Fiona Spence was axed or not, but she was essentially a glorified extra by that point that it made sense for her to leave. Fiona Spence is a talented actress, as she proved during her stint on Prisoner and in some of her H&A scenes (particularly when she portrayed how lonely she was!), but she was underused and wasted for the most part of her regular stint. 

Fiona Spence decided to leave herself.

[KKB]

I felt it depended on the year