Early Years Reach 1993
This coming Monday (9th June) will see the debut of Home and Away‘s 1993 season on 7TWO.
Since the channel’s inception in November 2009, Australian viewers have been treated to Home and Away being repeated on weekday mornings, starting from the very beginning with the Pilot episode from 1988. This run has been largely uninterrupted over the past 4½ years, with the exception of a couple of transmission breaks for Christmas and Anzac Day. The showings have proved extremely popular with fans on our forum, and there’s no doubt that 7TWO has to be praised for committing to the repeats for so long (considerably more than any other channel has managed with their own repeats).
The 1993 season marks some big changes for Home and Away, with arguably some of the most memorable and emotional episodes of the show’s history. All dates here presume that 7TWO don’t take a Christmas break this year.
The season opens on Monday with Finlay Roberts fighting for her life following a diving accident. The week also marks the first appearance of Lynne McGranger as a newly sober Irene Roberts, as well as John Adam as new character Luke Cunningham. With a pregnant Pippa heading off to stay with her mother, Irene sticks around for 12 weeks to help out Michael and attempt to rebuild her relationship with her children, who are understandably a little wary at first.
Later in June we’ll also see the arrival of Sarah Thompson (played by Laura Vazquez), whose arrival was foreshadowed alongside Luke in the opening titles a few weeks previously. The next day will see the departure of Sophie Simpson (Rebekah Elmaloglou) as she moves to Perth with baby Tamara to live with David’s mother, Mary Croft.
July will see the return of Karen Dean (Belinda Jarrett), who was jailed in 1991 for causing the death of David Croft in a car accident. While Blake (Les Hill) is thrilled to see his sister, with Roxy also pleased to meet her half-sister for the first time, Alf is less than thrilled at the prospect of welcoming Karen back into his home. Indeed whilst Karen claims to want to make a fresh start and regain everyone’s trust, it soon becomes apparent that prison has not changed her. After a couple of weeks of causing havoc, Karen takes off back to the city, with Blake deciding to leave the bay to keep an eye on her. The same week will see Pippa Ross give birth to her and Michael’s first baby, Dale.
Towards the end of August, in Episode 1202, viewers will see the arrival of one of Home and Away’s most iconic characters of the 90’s, Angel Brooks (Melissa George) – who quickly makes an enemy of Shane Parrish when she flogs him some fake concert tickets to see Frente! Will they ever make friends? Only time will tell….
Late September will see one of the show’s most hard-hitting and moving storylines of all time, when Pippa & Michael’s baby Dale Ross tragically succumbs to cot death at only 9 weeks old. Dale’s funeral will air on 3rd October.
November brings us the famous Summer Bay musical, with Shane’s rivalry with Tug O’Neale once again hitting a high. Already uneasy about the time Shane and Sarah are spending together on the play, Tug is shocked when Shane tells him he isn’t being paranoid – he fully intends to steal Sarah off him by impressing her during their on-stage kiss. True to his word, Shane (dressed as Superman) goes over the top with the kiss, and Tug brings a swift finale to the performance by heading up to the stage and punching him (spilling Alf’s coffee in the process!).
Elsewhere in the bay, things don’t look so good for one of the bay’s favourite couples, as Greg Marshall (Ross Newton) grows close to newcomer Fiona Harris (Olivia Pigeot). It’s not long before they start an affair. In December, on their first wedding anniversary no less, Greg comes clean to wife Bobby (Nicolle Dickson), who informs him that their marriage is over.
As we move into January 2015, we come to another of the show’s most memorable and emotional storylines. Only days after reuniting with Greg, Bobby goes for a speedboat ride with Adam and Luke, only for the boat to hit a piece of driftwood knocking Bobby into the water. After a week in a coma, Greg and Donald come to the heartbreaking decision to switch off her life support. As the bay mourns Bobby’s death, her mother Morag Bellingham (Cornelia Frances) returns for the funeral, and is forced to come to terms with the fact her only child died hating her.
A devastated Greg decided he can’t stay in Summer Bay, and when a job opportunity comes up, Morag encourages him to take it. He does so and leaves son Sam in the hands of his step-grandfather Donald. In the meantime Morag is trying to convince everyone that she is a changed person, but Ailsa suspects she has ulterior motives. Indeed Morag has the intention of taking custody of step-grandson Sam, and when Ailsa eventually uncovers Morag’s plans in March, she sulks off back to the city and isn’st seen again for 8 years.
Around the same time, Irene returns to Summer Bay to settle down permanently. Soon after her arrival, we meet her other son Nathan (David Dixon) who has recently been released from jail. Nathan soon has his eyes set on Sarah, and pulls the wool over his mother’s eyes by presenting himself as a changed person – and is prepared to do anything to keep up the charade, including deviously tricking Tug out of a job at the school for his own benefit.
As we reach April 2015, the 1993 season will draw to a close. In the final couple of weeks we are introduced to new teacher James Hudson (played by one Simon Baker), and in the final week Shane makes a shocking discovery about Angel after using brother Nick’s password on the police computer. In the season finale, currently due to air on 25th April, Shane confronts Angel – “Why didn’t you tell me you had a kid?”
Below is a full list of dates for some of 1993’s key episodes (again this presumes that 7TWO keep the episodes on-air over Christmas), and you can join other forum members in discussing the season as it airs in the dedicated thread.
| 1146 | Mon 9th Jun 2014 | 1993 Season Opener |
| 1147 | Tue 10th Jun 2014 | Lynne McGranger’s first episode as Irene / Luke Cunningham’s first episode |
| 1157 | Tue 24th Jun 2014 | Sarah Thompson’s first episode |
| 1158 | Wed 25th Jun 2014 | Sophie’s final episode |
| 1164 | Thu 3rd Jul 2014 | Karen Dean returns |
| 1176 | Mon 21st Jul 2014 | Pippa gives birth to Dale |
| 1178 | Wed 23rd Jul 2014 | Blake’s final episode |
| 1202 | Tue 26th Aug 2014 | Angel’s first episode |
| 1207 | Tue 2nd Sep 2014 | Irene returns to the city |
| 1222 | Tue 23rd Sep 2014 | Dale’s death |
| 1230 | Fri 3rd Oct 2014 | Dale’s funeral |
| 1251 | Mon 3rd Nov 2014 | The Summer Bay Musical |
| 1259 | Thu 13th Nov 2014 | Greg starts an affair with Fiona |
| 1273 | Tue 3rd Dec 2014 | Bobby tells Greg their marriage is over |
| 1295 | Fri 2nd Jan 2015 | Bobby & Greg reunite |
| 1298 | Wed 7th Jan 2015 | Bobby’s accident |
| 1304 | Thu 15th Jan 2015 | Bobby’s death |
| 1307 | Tue 20th Jan 2015 | Morag returns |
| 1309 | Thu 22nd Jan 2015 | Bobby’s funeral |
| 1323 | Wed 11th Feb 2015 | Greg’s final episode |
| 1339 | Thu 5th Mar 2015 | Irene returns to the bay permanently |
| 1346 | Mon 16th Mar 2015 | Nathan Roberts’ first episode |
| 1348 | Wed 18th Mar 2015 | Morag leaves (final appearance for 8 years) |
| 1370 | Fri 17th Apr 2015 | James Hudson’s (Simon Baker) first episode |
| 1375 | Fri 24th Apr 2015 | 1993 Season finale – Shane confronts Angel about Dylan |