Characters who left too soon and what the writers could have done with them

[adam436]

If we consider 2-3 years to be the average lifespan of a character, which characters, who stayed less than that, would you have liked to have stayed longer and where would you have taken them if they had stayed. I know there are many characters who were so bad you can understand why they had to be written out, but there are others who left, either by choice or not, who should have stayed longer.

• Most of the late 90s teen group - Stephanie, Liam, Casey, Aaron, Tiegan . There was nothing wrong with these characters individually, in fact I quite liked most of them. I think they just seemed underwhelming after replacing the iconic and popular the mid 90s teen group. They would have had the usual teen storylines, but I think the writers should have not given up on them so quickly. Joey and Justine were the only characters in this group to actually go some distance.  
• Stacey Macklin - I'm a bit biased here, since she's one of my favourite characters, but there was more they could have done with her. She could have rejoined the Macklin group after Tom's death. I also would have liked to have seen her take a teen under her wing, perhaps the son or daughter of a Macklin family friend who had a similar upbringing to her. 
• Edward and Peta - Edward is possibly the best teen character we've ever had (IMO anyway!) and I think a slowburn story of him succumbing to his Huntington's over a few years would have been an amazing story to run with. I think Peta is largely remembered because of her romance with Edward, but I'd imagine she'd have become more memorable as the girlfriend/partner of a dying Edward.
• The Nash family - I know Joel made it to nearly 3 years, but he should have been a stalwart of the show. As the local cop, he was firmly entrenched in the local community and could have easily become a mainstay. Joel and Natalie should have become the main couple at Summer Bay House and with their jobs as teacher and cop, would have opened up many avenues for them to take in waifs and strays. I've no idea if Antoinette Byron chose to leave or not (I suspect it wasn't!), but it she did, they could have either recast (again!) Paula Forest in the role or set up Shelley as the girls as a new Flatpack family for Joel. Joel also had a certain "reliability" and "realism" about him, for lack of a better word, which are definite characters of true veterans of the show. I imagine Tom wouldn't have stayed forever and Gypsy still would have left when she did, but Joel and Natalie could have become mainstays for the early, if not most of, the 2000s. 
• Lynn Davenport - it seemed a little odd to break up the Fletcher family after just a few months, especially since they didn't even replace her at all. Wasn't she the same age as Steven? It's a shame they didn't build their friendship/bond a bit more. She could have been "rested" for a few months and remained a supporting character, before taking centre stage again with the Steven/Viv/Emma/Craig group. In fact, I'd happily have forgone Viv to have Lynn instead... obviously not the romance Viv had with Steven, but everything else Viv did. They could have also done a "off the rails" storyline as she bonds with new foster brother Dodge and perhaps even had a romance with Bob Barnett's son, Craig. 
• Morag in 1989 - I think she could have stayed an extra 6 months or so. The Danny storyline could have been used to make Morage change her ways and as a slowburn redemption storyline for her, which sees her leave on a much happier note. Marilyn was back by late 1989, and I think she would have been good to facilitate the town forgiving Morag

[j.laur5]

47 minutes ago, adam436 said:

If we consider 2-3 years to be the average lifespan of a character, which characters, who stayed less than that, would you have liked to have stayed longer and where would you have taken them if they had stayed. I know there are many characters who were so bad you can understand why they had to be written out, but there are others who left, either by choice or not, who should have stayed longer.

• Most of the late 90s teen group - Stephanie, Liam, Casey, Aaron, Tiegan . There was nothing wrong with these characters individually, in fact I quite liked most of them. I think they just seemed underwhelming after replacing the iconic and popular the mid 90s teen group. They would have had the usual teen storylines, but I think the writers should have not given up on them so quickly. Joey and Justine were the only characters in this group to actually go some distance.  
• Stacey Macklin - I'm a bit biased here, since she's one of my favourite characters, but there was more they could have done with her. She could have rejoined the Macklin group after Tom's death. I also would have liked to have seen her take a teen under her wing, perhaps the son or daughter of a Macklin family friend who had a similar upbringing to her. 
• Edward and Peta - Edward is possibly the best teen character we've ever had (IMO anyway!) and I think a slowburn story of him succumbing to his Huntington's over a few years would have been an amazing story to run with. I think Peta is largely remembered because of her romance with Edward, but I'd imagine she'd have become more memorable as the girlfriend/partner of a dying Edward.
• The Nash family - I know Joel made it to nearly 3 years, but he should have been a stalwart of the show. As the local cop, he was firmly entrenched in the local community and could have easily become a mainstay. Joel and Natalie should have become the main couple at Summer Bay House and with their jobs as teacher and cop, would have opened up many avenues for them to take in waifs and strays. I've no idea if Antoinette Byron chose to leave or not (I suspect it wasn't!), but it she did, they could have either recast (again!) Paula Forest in the role or set up Shelley as the girls as a new Flatpack family for Joel. Joel also had a certain "reliability" and "realism" about him, for lack of a better word, which are definite characters of true veterans of the show. I imagine Tom wouldn't have stayed forever and Gypsy still would have left when she did, but Joel and Natalie could have become mainstays for the early, if not most of, the 2000s. 
• Lynn Davenport - it seemed a little odd to break up the Fletcher family after just a few months, especially since they didn't even replace her at all. Wasn't she the same age as Steven? It's a shame they didn't build their friendship/bond a bit more. She could have been "rested" for a few months and remained a supporting character, before taking centre stage again with the Steven/Viv/Emma/Craig group. In fact, I'd happily have forgone Viv to have Lynn instead... obviously not the romance Viv had with Steven, but everything else Viv did. They could have also done a "off the rails" storyline as she bonds with new foster brother Dodge and perhaps even had a romance with Bob Barnett's son, Craig. 
• Morag in 1989 - I think she could have stayed an extra 6 months or so. The Danny storyline could have been used to make Morage change her ways and as a slowburn redemption storyline for her, which sees her leave on a much happier note. Marilyn was back by late 1989, and I think she would have been good to facilitate the town forgiving Morag

I think Morag should be least kept to 1990 season and then Morag returns yearly as guest form 1991 onwards.

I think Colleen should be made regular in 1989 as I think 90s would be better time for her character to fit in. 

I would kept Neville and Floss as I love there characters and they would be good help to Pippa after Tom death and later Michael death. 

I would like Celia to had stayed longer as show was lacking older characters in 90s and busybody. 

[Lunar]

Scarlett - I loved her and really wish she could've been a regular. Her exit also felt quite rushed and I feel she could've contributed a lot to the Bay if she'd stayed, especially as they made her quite close to Alf.

Rosie - I thought it would've been nice for her to stay and have the baby, with people in the Bay helping her out and rallying around her for support, although I get babies don't tend to stay on the show for very long.

[j.laur5]

9 hours ago, Lunar said:

Scarlett - I loved her and really wish she could've been a regular. Her exit also felt quite rushed and I feel she could've contributed a lot to the Bay if she'd stayed, especially as they made her quite close to Alf.

Rosie - I thought it would've been nice for her to stay and have the baby, with people in the Bay helping her out and rallying around her for support, although I get babies don't tend to stay on the show for very long.

I thought Kyle and Rosie would made a good couple. 

[cymbaline]

A minor character but one that I think had potential was Laura Brennan a.k.a. "Loony Laura". She was a former elite runner who Damien "discovered" living out in the bush and who trained him for a short while. She had a somewhat mysterious past that the writers only ever scratched the surface of. How exactly she went from being on the cusp of going to the Olympics to living as a people-hating recluse. Instead of exploring that, her mentoring of Damian and reconnecting with people, they wrote her out. It was as if she woke up one morning and said "Right, I'm off to find my family today. Bye bye". And off she went.

[j.laur5]

35 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

A minor character but one that I think had potential was Laura Brennan a.k.a. "Loony Laura". She was a former elite runner who Damien "discovered" living out in the bush and who trained him for a short while. She had a somewhat mysterious past that the writers only ever scratched the surface of. How exactly she went from being on the cusp of going to the Olympics to living as a people-hating recluse. Instead of exploring that, her mentoring of Damian and reconnecting with people, they wrote her out. It was as if she woke up one morning and said "Right, I'm off to find my family today. Bye bye". And off she went.

It’s shame her and Irene missed out on having screen time as I think Irene and her would battle each other. 

But not as if she had much potential as regular. 

[cymbaline]

It's hard to know if she would've become a regular but the potential was there for a longer story arc. The storyline wrapped so quickly, it came across as if the writers didn't know what to do with her next and sent her away.

[j.laur5]

1 hour ago, cymbaline said:

It's hard to know if she would've become a regular but the potential was there for a longer story arc. The storyline wrapped so quickly, it came across as if the writers didn't know what to do with her next and sent her away.

Back  then lot of characters were at a loose end. You've just got to look at characters like Nick and Matt who were at loose end. 

Storytelling back then was short telling. 

I must admit storytelling of arcs are better written now. 

[adam436]

On 09/06/2019 at 09:33, j.laur5 said:

I would kept Neville and Floss as I love there characters and they would be good help to Pippa after Tom death and later Michael death. 

I would like Celia to had stayed longer as show was lacking older characters in 90s and busybody. 

Really? I think the opposite.. all 3 characters had run their course by the time they left.

I liked Neville and Floss, but they had little to no purpose as regulars and only had one big storyline (the one with their grandson). They would have been better off remaining recurring characters like Bob Barnett, Celia's friend Betty etc. 

Celia didn't do much in her last year or so after the store burnt down and Nigel left. Again, I liked the character, but she didn't really bring much to the table towards the end. 

 

 

[j.laur5]

10 hours ago, adam436 said:

Really? I think the opposite.. all 3 characters had run their course by the time they left.

I liked Neville and Floss, but they had little to no purpose as regulars and only had one big storyline (the one with their grandson). They would have been better off remaining recurring characters like Bob Barnett, Celia's friend Betty etc. 

Celia didn't do much in her last year or so after the store burnt down and Nigel left. Again, I liked the character, but she didn't really bring much to the table towards the end. 

 

 

But characters like that don’t need storylines  that regularly as Celia was fine as the town busybody as she could Alf and Ailsa with Duncan and other Forster kids they had and Neville and Floss were great to have around to be like grandparents to foster kids and to help Pippa out with kids expressing when Tom and Michael dead. 

Show really was lacking busybody type character and that’s what Celia was bringing to table. 

I think we were really lacking in older characters in 90s.