Coming up in 2010…

As Australians prepare for the 2010 season premiere for Home and Away tonight, we thought we’sd bring you up to date with the news of what’ss to come.

The opening of 2010 will bring us the full reveal of the year long mystery, with the answers to all those questions finally being answered. We will find out who has been behind the people smuggling racket, who really killed Lou De Bono, and just how Hugo obtained those nasty wounds by way of flashbacks.

Friday 29th January will also see the show’ss 5000th episode. As we previously reported back in July, the episode will not focus on nostalgia, what with the recent 21st year celebrations, and will instead be a good strong episode of the show.

The repercussions of the mystery will have devastating effects for the bay in the 2nd week of 2010. A violent race riot, a little like the real-life Cronulla riots of 2005 in NSW, causes damage and distress in Summer Bay and makes a lot of the residents examine their lives – with Alf and Leah both finding themselves withdrawing from the community.

The beginning of 2010 is pretty low for Miles also, which we began to see hints of in the closing weeks of 2009. Still trying to come to terms with the loss of Kirsty and Ollie from his life, Miles will face serious mental health issues. In recognition of his character’ss underlying tendency to emotional instability, his breakdown will bring him perilously close to the homeless Miles who first arrived in the bay.

Once the community rallies together, we are promised a new feel for the show as we continue through the year. The show will return to its roots with promises of much lighter, character driven storylines – though there will still be an element of high drama storytelling for those fans who enjoy it.

Without a doubt the main arrival this year in the bay is the return of the much loved Marilyn Chambers, which will air around March. We exclusively revealed a while back that Maz would be back for at least a year, and that she would return in a way will see her firmly back at the centre of the action. Her comeback will bring a lot of fun to the story canvas, with her soon becoming comically at odds with Colleen Smart, mother of her ex-fiancé Lance. Whilst we won’st reveal the reason behind her return, we can say a lot of mystery surrounds it….  

Also on the horizon are Reverend Elijah Johnson played by Jay Laga’saia; Romeo’ss mother along with his sister Mink Carpenter played by Matylda Buckzco; the mysterious Rabbit played by Mitzi Ruhlmann;  fashion designer Britt Hobart played by Diana Glenn and finally Michael Patton played by Jack Campbell.

The opening week of the show will see Hugo Austin’ss entry into witness protection, with his death being faked. Whilst his character will leave our screens for a while, Hugo will be back for another stint later in the year.

2010 will also see the much publicised departures of both Lincoln Lewis and Todd Lasance, who finished filming in the latter part of 2009. Both the characters of Geoff and Aden are written out in a way which leaves the door open for any future possibilities. Aden’ss departure from screen is still a few months away, before which a face from his past will return, in the shape of one of his brothers.

The year will also continue to be an eventful one for Leah Patterson-Baker. As we teased at a few months back, Leah will find a new long-term boyfriend in the shape of Reverend Elijah – and it is hoped that the couple will become a popular pairing with fans.  However Leah will also have to face her past, as we this year learn the truth about what happened to her first husband Vinnie, last heard to be in witness protection in 2004…

Together with the lighter storylines, 2010 will also see somewhat of a https://www.backtothebay.net/news/jay.jpg revamp for the show as far as production goes. Some viewers will already have noticed the changes in the final months of 2009, with both the Beach House and Summer Bay House receiving overnight makeovers. These set changes will continue into 2010 with amongst others, a renovation of the Pier Diner set following an onscreen fire, and redecoration of Leah’ss House. Lighting on the show has also seen an overhaul in the past few months, bringing with it a far more natural airy feel, which many viewers have welcomed. Plenty more changes for the show are also on the way, including brand new aerial stock shots which will show off the beautiful Northern Beaches locations like never before.

Construction is also expected to begin soon on a new exterior location for Summer Bay House. The real life location of the house, at Jackeroo Ranch in Kenthurst, burnt down during bushfires in 2002. Since then a few locations have been used for the Caravan Park, but only archive footage of the house has been used for stock shots. Producer Cameron Welsh has stated that various problems in securing a long term location have held plans back for a number of years, however a location is now finalised and construction should hopefully begin in the next month.

Big changes have also occurred off-screen over the Christmas break, with Seven having now moved their production across Sydney  from the 50 year old studios in Epping, to a brand new, purpose built, HD production facility in Redfern. The complex in the new Australian Technology Park provides offices and four state-of-the-art studios for the Seven Network, Pacific Magazines and Global Television.

We at Back to the Bay are very excited about this new era of the show, and as the show moves forward we now offer you the opportunity to revisit the past in the form of our Episode Summaries – which now cover the whole history of the show. Don’st forget that we will also be updating these with the latest Australian episodes, and bringing you further news as the season progresses!