Endless Summer Bay

[Andy]

Endless Summer Bay

The West Australian

4 July 2005

It was a jolt to discover that Home and Away will this week air its 4000th episode. A jolt because the memories of episode one remain very clear. Has it really been that long?

In fact, Home and Away first went to air in 1988. The fact that it is still there makes it a gem of rare quality in the Australian television landscape. These days a drama which lasts more than a couple of episodes is doing well. Remember The Cooks?

That means it was in 1988 when we first met Pippa and Tom, and the four troubled young people living with them in a fostering arrangement. Looking back, it was a brave storyline for the times.

It must also have been then that we met good old Alf, played forever by Ray Meagher. It is Alf's 60th birthday (lord, he's lived several lifetimes just in Summer Bay) which precipitates the mini-reunion in Friday's episode, when former cast members turn up to help him celebrate.

It goes without saying that Alf will, at some stage of the episode, proclaim "flamin' heck".

He's had a time of it, has Alf. He's suffered death and disease, bankruptcy, familial fractures and a lot of pain brought about by "the young bloke", the son he and Ailsa (WA-born Judy Nunn) produced. Ailsa, of course, is no longer of this world.

Young Duncan, for that was his name, started a long tradition in Home and Away of invisible babies. We never saw him, just as we never see the daughter (and don't let's get started on how she was conceived) of Sally, another original cast member.

The baby was named Pippa, in honour of the original housemother, but we only ever see the back of her pram or hear her referred to as being somewhere in the background. Clearly babies on set are a difficulty.

Perhaps that's why Irene wasn't allowed to keep hers at all. Remember when Irene got accidentally pregnant, had the baby but, w~ouldn't you know, it got kidnapped, never to be seen or spoken of again. That storyline remains one of my favourites.

Another favourite memory of the series is the school principal, Donald Fisher, played by Norman Coburn. Goodness, didn't he give school teachers a bad name? He was a grumbling, grouching, mean-spirited misanthrope, not nearly so gentle and dedicated as his Neighbours counterpart, Susan Kennedy.

He had family problems, too. There seemed to be a succession of long-lost children coming back into his life, but maybe I've got confused about that. One of the original foster children, Bobby, played by Nicolle Dickson turned out to be his, didn't she? Before she drowned in a dreadful accident?

There have been bushfires, terrible accidents, some truly bad storylines and performances by bit-part actors who really should have considered other options before embarking on a life before the camera. One who springs to mind in that context is the man who played Rhys Sutherland. His name was Michael Breckley.

The cast list of actors who have been in Home and Away over the years covers many pages. Many of them, certainly the majority, have never been heard of again. But some have gone on to bigger and better things. Rebecca Cartwright, for instance, a pleasant girl of average acting ability, who has gone on to be the future Mrs Lleyton Hewitt, and Belinda Emmett, who battled ill-health to be the wife of Rove McManus.

There's been a lot of angst, one way and another, in Home and Away. A lot of moaning teenagers and beleaguered adults trying to keep them on the straight and narrow. A lot of star-crossed lovers and evil-doing.

But has the tone changed a little in recent years? Summer Bay is in danger of taking over from Mt Thomas the title of Australia's most violent and crime-ridden community. Petty crime and cheating lovers have been taken over by seriously bad stuff, like stalkers and murderers.

Is this what we need at 7 o'clock? Does keeping a show bright and relevant mean the storylines have to become vio~lent and plain nasty? Surely not.

Even poor old Alf's birthday party ends in tears on Friday. All his mates come back to the Bay to raise a glass in his honour and, wouldn't you know it, there's "a deadly event" awaiting them.

But there's no getting away from the fact that Home and Away, sold to most of the civilised world and some countries which don't even qualify on that basis, has survived for 4000 episodes with no real hiccup.

There's many in the industry who can only watch on in envy.

[teenage-monkey]

Perhaps that's why Irene wasn't allowed to keep hers at all. Remember when Irene got accidentally pregnant, had the baby but, w~ouldn't you know, it got kidnapped, never to be seen or spoken of again. That storyline remains one of my favourites.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Really? I don't remember this! How long ago?

[stra gilr]

Perhaps that's why Irene wasn't allowed to keep hers at all. Remember when Irene got accidentally pregnant, had the baby but, w~ouldn't you know, it got kidnapped, never to be seen or spoken of again. That storyline remains one of my favourites.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Really? I don't remember this! How long ago?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They got it wrong...again...Irene had a surrogate baby for her daughter Finlay...and when the baby was hours old it was kidnapped from the hospital by Joey Rainbow's psycho cult leader Dad...Saul...the baby...Paul.... was eventually returned months later and handed over to Fin...who had by this time miraculously produced another baby...having been told she couldnt have any...so Paul and Mark are Irene's grand kids...but Irene gave birth to Paul...but is not his genetic Mum as it was Fins egg and Barry's sperm...Fins husband is called Barry btw....which must be bloody confusing now that Irene is with Barry Hyde.

[purplesarah]

LOL I forgot that Fins hubby is named Barry. How funny!

Thanks for the article Valkyrie.

[hazza123]

Even poor old Alf's birthday party ends in tears on Friday. All his mates come back to the Bay to raise a glass in his honour and, wouldn't you know it, there's "a deadly event" awaiting them.

Hee

That article actually does a pretty good job of summarising Home and Aways 17 year life.