Sally Keating Posted January 2, 2019 Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 On 30/12/2018 at 12:45, j.laur5 said: Also honestly i really dont think PTB at time were just not interested in having too many older characters at that point. I agree. 22 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said: It would be so wrong to recast Morag. I highly doubt anybody would even consider it.... then again, with the current people in charge, who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.laur5 Posted January 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 On 30/12/2018 at 22:25, Sally Keating said: Mistakes were made during Morag's one and only stint as a regular in 1989 which (in my opinion) is what put the writers off ever making her a regular again. But it's a common writer/producer tendency to "blame the character" rather than blame their own mistakes. Really there was no need to write Morag out in 1989 just because the writers had messed up and isolated her too far. It was fixable, she still had many aspects of her character to be explored. As for Celia, Fiona Spence is one of the best things about those early years - the attention to detail she puts into Celia's character (and the writers do too) just isn't seen in modern day H&A, with generic, interchangeable adults like Gina, Beth etc. Even though she isn't my absolute favourite character, I am just mesmerised by Fiona's acting every time Celia is on screen - she completely steals every scene. She could certainly have went on and on, but I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Celia's exit was the actress' choice. Also I think Gina and Beth were very different characters to each other. Beth was more home loving and motherly and Gina was more businesslike and more hard on her kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally Keating Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Well there are always differences to find between any two characters, it doesn't mean they didn't just fulfill the same purpose with no interesting character focus and unique personality like Celia or Morag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Severus Fletcher Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Morag should have been a more prominent character during the mid 90s, I actually wonder why she wasn't in the Early Years during the mid 90s? But, if I remember correctly, I don't think there would have been any stories for her, maybe she could have helped during Shannon or Selina's search for their mother, or Shannon's plane crash investigation or Selina's storyline of being stalked by Saul. A good era she could have been in was when Shane and Angel fought for custody of Dylan (Jesus, Alison Page, I mean Mrs Harris was annoying and deserved a verbal beat down from Morag). I hope Celia returns, I loved her character and we need another gossip other than Irene and Leah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam436 Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 Celia had well and truly run her course by 1990. I liked Celia and Fiona Spence is a good actress, but she did next to nothing for 500+ episodes. She had a short-lived romance with Morag's butler and went on one date with Bob Barnett. Other than that, her only other storyline was really her backstory. Morag, on the other hand, could have stayed for years IMO, as the show did not really have an antagonist/villain character. I wouldn't want her to become an evil Machiavellian-style villain, but more someone who meddles and manipulates people for the wrong reason (I guess a bit like Neighbours' Paul Robinson at present). She was a tough nut, but we also saw her softer, almost maternal side with characters like Roo and Marilyn. I think she would have softened a bit, gradually transitioning to the "later day Morag" by the mid 1990s (I'd say Bobby's death would have been a turning point for her). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.laur5 Posted January 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 4 hours ago, adam436 said: Celia had well and truly run her course by 1990. I liked Celia and Fiona Spence is a good actress, but she did next to nothing for 500+ episodes. She had a short-lived romance with Morag's butler and went on one date with Bob Barnett. Other than that, her only other storyline was really her backstory. Morag, on the other hand, could have stayed for years IMO, as the show did not really have an antagonist/villain character. I wouldn't want her to become an evil Machiavellian-style villain, but more someone who meddles and manipulates people for the wrong reason (I guess a bit like Neighbours' Paul Robinson at present). She was a tough nut, but we also saw her softer, almost maternal side with characters like Roo and Marilyn. I think she would have softened a bit, gradually transitioning to the "later day Morag" by the mid 1990s (I'd say Bobby's death would have been a turning point for her). But was good to have a busybody on the show . But I agree Celia hardly ever had storylines other than Nigel and finance worries and neither storyline lasted long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.laur5 Posted February 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2019 I think Morag was stuck in a rut and was closed off from storylines as they didn't want to develop her character by softening her character up and getting her more involved with characters in a more positive light. They didn't seem to want develop Morag and Bobby relationship and seemed to want keep characters hating each other. They could not really turn Morag into too much of villain like Pat the Rat on Sons and Daughters without becoming too much of a criminal and Morag was never criminal even at her worst . Also I think Morag was a bit too over the top in her rudeness. She was even rude to people like Sally when simply asked if she could have a drink after she was working in her garden. I guess in the end Morag did do the adult thing and gave Sally a drink of cordial with ice and I noticed she did seem to be nice to Sally after that episode. I mean I do realize they need to make characters interesting but I do think it was unrealistic for a high court judge to be so rude to children even if Morag did have emotional problems. Even Sally knew not to take Morag's rudeness seriously. The only person who took Morag's words seriously was Celia as everyone else knew that Morag was just a mad, sad, bitter, emotional, mentally ill woman and knew to just take no notice of want she said. Another over the top moment was when Morag told Bobby she should have drowned her at birth. I mean that's not something someone would say if they were supposedly a smart woman who is a high court judge Anyone in real life would think that person was not the full quid and so I do think PTB should have written Morag a bit more realistically in her cruel words to Bobby. I think something like "I didn"t miss anything giving you up as you are everything I hate in a girl" would be a more intelligent thing and more realistic coming from someone who suppose to be an intelligent person . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Martin Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 The death of Cornelia Frances means Morag will probably also die at some point. But yeah, she could have been used more in the 90s, Cornelia seemed to like to be able to come and go through the 2000s and 2010s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam436 Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 It is a shame both characters weren't used more frequently as guest characters during the 1990s. We never saw Celia and the only time we saw Morag was when she was a guest stint where she tried to take Sam away. Celia could have popped in and out for family occasions, in the same with Pippa did in the 2000s, and Morag could have appeared whenever a lawyer/judge etc was required. Part of me would have loved to have seen Morag's reaction to Don and Mariyln's wedding/engagement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymbaline Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 On 24/02/2019 at 20:58, adam436 said: ..Part of me would have loved to have seen Morag's reaction to Don and Marilyn's wedding/engagement Me too! I'm sure the screenwriters and actors would have had great fun with this. I can see Morag's facial expressions in my mind's eye as I type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.