Do you think they'd have ever axed Pippa?

[cymbaline]

As we all know, Pippa was a significant character for the first decade of Home and Away. It's hard to imagine what it would've been like without her for all sorts of reasons. But the consensus seems to be that by the time she left with Ian, she'd become jaded and the character a bit stale. If Debra Lawrance hadn't decided to leave of her own accord, does anybody think the powers that be might've axed her anyway? We know that TPTB were and are prepared to axe core cast members if their face doesn't fit. We don't know why Roger Oakley/Tom left but we know that Dennis Coard/Michael was axed. By the time they killed him off, they'd more or less run out of ideas for him. What was there left for him to do other than have an affair or scare a new batch of foster kids with his hotpants? Which brings us on to Pippa. Bumping Michael off gave the writers a good go at turning Pippa into a single mum and getting a job and all that stuff. But again, was she starting to run out of road? By her moving on, they were able to move younger people into Summer Bay House and give the place a more youthful shot.

[hapitoby]

Didn't they originally have plans to axe Irene in 2002? I imagine if Pippa was still around then, and with Ailsa having already left, they may have axed Irene as initially planned and Pippa may have gotten her storylines. It's possible she may have even been paired with Alf after Ailsa died or Ian may have been made a regular. 

I think they would have kept her around but she'd have been a background character for a number of years until they decide what new direction to take her.

[j.laur5]

12 hours ago, hapitoby said:

Didn't they originally have plans to axe Irene in 2002? I imagine if Pippa was still around then, and with Ailsa having already left, they may have axed Irene as initially planned and Pippa may have gotten her storylines. It's possible she may have even been paired with Alf after Ailsa died or Ian may have been made a regular. 

I think they would have kept her around but she'd have been a background character for a number of years until they decide what new direction to take her.

Given Lynne Mcgranger only found out  her self year ago I am not sure how seriously true it was as probably was something only  said in TPB office as thinking out loud and wouldn’t be surprised if someone mentioned axing Alf at some stage in past as I’m thinking out loud .

It seemed werid to axed Irene then as she had Hayley and Nick still living with her. 

As for Pippa no I don’t think she would be ever axed and going by her  exit on just going on hoilday I think Producers were hoping Debra was going change her mind and return even though Debra was pretty sure she wasn’t going too. 
 

I think had Pippa stayed her character would gotten married again possibly to widower single dad  with teenagers . 

Also after Pippa left we had Natalie/Shelley/Beth/Sally etc all playing mother of household . 
 

I personally don’t think Michael needed to be character that need storyline’s every minute as work well as supporting character. 

Show always normal had at least two or three mother type characters in show be it Pippa/Alisa /Irene and later Alisa/Irene/ Natalie etc  and this days we have Irene /Leah/Marilyn/Roo. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by j.laur5

[Dan F]

On 27/04/2023 at 18:27, j.laur5 said:

Given Lynne Mcgranger only found out  her self year ago I am not sure how seriously true it was as probably was something only  said in TPB office as thinking out loud

It was absolutely true - that snippet originally came from our interview with Coral Drouyn, which was then referenced on Wiki, from where it was eventually brought up with Lynne. Coral has also spoken about it again more recently.

[j.laur5]

2 hours ago, Dan F said:

It was absolutely true - that snippet originally came from our interview with Coral Drouyn, which was then referenced on Wiki, from where it was eventually brought up with Lynne. Coral has also spoken about it again more recently.

What more meant how far in motion was it planned as Lynne herself said she only just found out recently and what was going happen to Nick as was he going to be written out too or was going be sent to with Hayley and Noah?. 
 

Can you please show where I can see where Coral spoke about it more recently. 

 

[Dan F]

1 hour ago, j.laur5 said:

What more meant how far in motion was it planned as Lynne herself said she only just found out recently and what was going happen to Nick as was he going to be written out too or was going be sent to with Hayley and Noah?.

Can you please show where I can see where Coral spoke about it more recently.

At risk of veering too far off the original intention of the thread, you can see it here, should start at the right timestamp but if not it's 01:49:45.

[j.laur5]

30 minutes ago, Dan F said:

At risk of veering too far off the original intention of the thread, you can see it here, should start at the right timestamp but if not it's 01:49:45.

Thanks sorry to go off topic . 

[hapitoby]

8 hours ago, Dan F said:

It was absolutely true - that snippet originally came from our interview with Coral Drouyn, which was then referenced on Wiki, from where it was eventually brought up with Lynne. Coral has also spoken about it again more recently.

Yes I knew it wasn't something that was only brought up recently.

 

[cymbaline]

On 27/04/2023 at 15:05, hapitoby said:

Didn't they originally have plans to axe Irene in 2002? I imagine if Pippa was still around then, and with Ailsa having already left, they may have axed Irene as initially planned and Pippa may have gotten her storylines. It's possible she may have even been paired with Alf after Ailsa died or Ian may have been made a regular. 

I think they would have kept her around but she'd have been a background character for a number of years until they decide what new direction to take her.

I'd forgotten about Irene nearly getting the chop. Thank heavens that never happened because I think she has been a terrific character.

If H&A was to have gone in some of the directions mentioned above, I don't think they'd have been great for Pippa. I couldn't see her with Alf, though it's fun to speculate on how that would've gone! I couldn't help but notice Debra Lawrance's reaction to a question about Ray Meagher when she was on the Talking Prisoner podcast. From what she didn't say, I got the impression there was no love lost between her and Ray. If she was feeling at all shaky about staying on Home and Away, that would've pushed her out the door.

As for bringing in Ian permanently, they'd have had a big decision to make about casting. Patrick Dickson is mainly a theatre guy who had (has?) his own production company for years. Would he have jacked that in for the hectic filming schedule on Home and Away? Would they have recast Ian? Or sent him on his way and conjured up a new man. Would Pippa have become the new Leah in that regard?

In 2023 I can't see any role at all for Pippa. Admittedly she has been gone for a long time but I can't see what they'd do with her. There are no teenagers any more, there is no school. What would she do? Work in Salt? Manage that godawful band? Come out of retirement and work as a nurse in the hospital?

[adam436]

On 28/04/2023 at 03:27, j.laur5 said:

It seemed werid to axed Irene then as she had Hayley and Nick still living with her. 

Hayley moved out to "The Palace" with Noah, Dani and Josh around that time and Nick just would have been palmed off onto Sally and Flynn, Leah, Alf or whichever household needed topping up at the time.

Back to the original question, I don't think Pippa would have been axed and it's more likely Irene would have lasted so long. Irene has clearly lasted longer now, but at the time Pippa had a stronger history and ties in the show. Given Irene stepped up into both Pippa's job at the school and as the role as the primary foster mum, one of them would have eventually had to give. The Nash family came in to replace Pippa, so maybe it would have happened then, or maybe it would have happened in 2000 when the show had a bit of an overhaul. Sh