What's been the darkest storyline?

[cymbaline]

The Steve and Dodge story is pretty dark when you think about it. First, he firebombs Celia's old store and kills Steven's uncle Philip. Then he's fostered by the Fletchers and lives there for a while before they realise what an evil creep he is. Then some years later he murders Irene's husband and comes back to Summer Bay to stalk Steven. Even though the pair of them went off a cliff after their "end of level baddie" fight, nobody has ever found his body. So...is he still out there somewhere waiting for his moment to get back at Steven again?

[nenehcherry2]

Dylan's leukaemia scared me a lot back in 95. Purely because of his young age (quite a few years younger than myself), I'd never seen a child that young with a serious illness before (except on Children's Hospital, a documentary which aired in the UK at the time). 

4 hours ago, cymbaline said:

The Steve and Dodge story is pretty dark when you think about it. First, he firebombs Celia's old store and kills Steven's uncle Philip. Then he's fostered by the Fletchers and lives there for a while before they realise what an evil creep he is. Then some years later he murders Irene's husband and comes back to Summer Bay to stalk Steven. Even though the pair of them went off a cliff after their "end of level baddie" fight, nobody has ever found his body. So...is he still out there somewhere waiting for his moment to get back at Steven again?

2023 Home and Away writers: please take note of said possiblity! If it helps, tune into a current EastEnders episode for inspiration! 

Edited September 2, 2023 by nenehcherry2

[Homeandawayfan.]

Dodge can return and say "I am not Ross, I am Dodge". Cindy Beale style.

In 1996 I think Dodge and Harold Bishop met up and had a chat about pretending to be dead.

H&A did have a guest character called Cindy in 2007, Cindy Thomas.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Homeandawayfan.

[CaptainHulk]

Felix/Sarah/ZoEve

 

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[James Martin]

Sarah Lewis is the big one, also the Believers thing although that was just a bit bats**t.

Dale's cot death wasn't dark but by God it hit you like a train at the time.  It's just one of those storylines you really can't have any build-up to, it just happens and throws everything out of the window.  I think that's why it was such a good piece of drama, because that's how that stuff happens for real.  And our paper (The Times) never did synposes of episodes so I didn't even know it was coming.  I do recall ITV doing one of those helpline slides off the back of the credits, which started to be done fairly often for the British soaps by the 90's (and still is) but rarely done on an import.  Channel 5 ran some in the 2000's for stuff, notably Kane's Cancer storyline ISTR.

[adam436]

For me, it's Chloe's rape. I started watching in mid 1996 when I was 7 years old, so that was quite confronting to me at the time.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Hence why I always feel the mid 1990s was the start of the turning of H&A from a light hearted modern soap to a darker and more ominous drama, where such storylines took place more frequently. Saul's cult, Angel's car crash, the bushfire and Nelson's breakdown, the earthquake and Michael's death etc, the list goes on.

[adam436]

8 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Hence why I always feel the mid 1990s was the start of the turning of H&A from a light hearted modern soap to a darker and more ominous drama, where such storylines took place more frequently. Saul's cult, Angel's car crash, the bushfire and Nelson's breakdown, the earthquake and Michael's death etc, the list goes on.

Agreed. Adding a few more from the later nineties the Robert Perez story, Ailsa's car accident and it's aftermath in which she thought Alf was trying to kill her, Pippa's brain injury, Justine on trial for killing a baby, Chloe's rape, Byron Fisher's death, Kylie Burton's death, Jesse's downward spiral and exit, Dodge's return. 

It's still remembered with nostalgia though, probably moreso than 2001 onwards when the drama felt more melodramatic and heightened rather than just dramatic and more grounded, with a few exceptions (if that makes sense!).

[James Martin]

Although Sarah Lewis was A LOT by the standards of 20 years ago, Dan Bennett was the real turning point, and of course 2004 into 2005 wasn't a cliffhanger, Bevan Lee ended 2004 everything resolved and tied up (Ric was on the run still but that was it) so 2005 was literally Day One.  But it came back a very different show, and you had Zoe the Stalker from the get go plus Robbie's AIDS scare etc.

By 2006 it was full-on Cop Drama.  Jack Holden has to be the most bent cop in Soapland.

[Luigi Severus Fletcher]

The post-caravan park explosion storyline from 2016 felt wildly realistic. I can't fully describe it, but the atmosphere felt quite real. Never been in a position like that, but it just felt quite dark.

Someone mentioned Bobby's death feeling realistic, which reminded me of Hazel Kent's terrible end in Prisoner (Hazel had a brain tumor and Judy Bryant had assisted her suicide).