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The show seemed to embrace and celebrate its history in the 2000s with Sally's non-wedding, Summer Bay's bicentenary, Sally's farewell and Alf's 60th bring people back. We also had a number of characters back for Sally's wedding to Flynn, Lance's frequent appearances and other characters like Pippa, Carly, Floss and Sophie back for the visits outside of the mass returnee events. Most of those events didn't line up with a milestone though except for Alf's 60th. It kind of makes sense that past characters from the first 20-25 years rarely come back these, since they are mostly irrelevant now except for a handful that were closely connected to Alf, Leah and Marilyn.

I agree, barring any health crisis etc. that might force Ray to retire early. I also assume Marilyn, Leah and probably John will still be around (though we all never thought Irene would leave either!). It's hard for me to believe that by that stage, John will have been around almost as long as Sally We'll also likely have Justin and Mackenzie, who will have been around for 11 and 8 years respectively. I assume any onscreen marking of the anniversary won't hark back to the 80s/90s heyday, but there will be enough long-term cast to potentially actually make a celebration out of it, instead of letting it pass quietly onscreen like the 25th and 30th.

Great question here's a list from my memory Roo and Frank Carly and Matt Haydn and Sophie Sophie and Blake Shannon and Curtis Selina and Jack Jack and Chloe Gypsy and Will Hayley and Sam Sally and Vinnie Jade and Duncan Noah and Kit Scott and Hayley - but than got back together Matilda and Lucas Martha and Jack Ric and Cassie Sally and Brad - in the end they were friends again Ruby and Xavier Ruby and Casey Mac and Ari - after some time but .... Jas and Colby

Watching the Dodge storyline again for the first time in a while. Sorry but Pippa and Tom both suck here. Pippa for taking Dodge in when Tom and her had already agreed not to take on another foster child, but then backtracking when Sally threatened to leave. But Tom also sucks for trying to be the "boss" at home when he isn't at the office. "I want you to get on the phone to Miss Molloy and tell her it's not on." Yeah no buddy, it's not 1955 you don't talk to your wife like that.

Mostly by Sal and Sam and the Stewarts.

Tbf, Michael did get mentioned during Sal's (2nd) near death when Tom appeared as a vision, by the man himself (he was supposedly on the "other side" with Ailsa, Bobby and Flynn)

H&A has never really acknowledged milestone episodes or anniversaries onscreen though, with the exception of episode 4000, which you could argue was in response to Neighbours' 20th anniversary celebrations. Other than episodes 2000, 4000, and 8000, the other milestone episodes were just regular episodes really. Episode 2000 featured Angel's exit (arguably the biggest character at the time!), and episode 8000 had Flick and Tane's wedding. Vinnie and Leah's wedding occured in the same week as episode 3000, but not the episode itself. The 20th, 25th and 30th anniversaries went by largely unacknowledged too, with the exception of Sally's exit. Would the producers have found another way to shoehorn all those returnees and nostalgia into a 20th anniversary story if Sally wasn't leaving? Unlikely, but who knows? Weirdly, Sally's non-wedding in 2000 and Summer Bay's bicentenary(?) in 2002 had the mileston celebration vibes, yet they just occured at random times. I've read that Sally's return and the Martha retcon were meant to be the big 25th and 30th anniversary storylines respectively, but are probably both best forgotten to be honest.

Tom was the first dad and that counts for a lot when people look back at old Home and Away. If you see articles written about early Home and Away, it's almost inevitable that they'll use the cast photo from 1988 with everyone gathered around the two round tables with pink tablecloths. Even though Michael was around for much longer, the pattern of actors coming and going was well-established by then. The producers axing him may tell a story all of its own. Pippa is a different story. I think Debra Lawrance is more associated with the role, probably by being around for longer. It's telling that when Sally nearly died and was visited by the ghost of a past foster dad, they went for Tom. While you could argue that Michael was the one who had to parent her through the teenage years and had a more complicated relationship with her, it makes sense that ghost Tom was there for her.

I guess the 10th and 20th anniversaries saw the loss of its then-lynchpin characters in Pippa and Sally. I can't remember if it they did much in terms of flashbacks etc. for Pippa's exit, but Sally's exit was certainly nostalgic with all the returns and creating a real link to Sally's Milco. I feel like that was a joint celebration of Sally and the 20th anniversary. I can't remember what was done for the 21st in 2009 other than a TV Week special magazine.

I am glad they bought in new family to replace Irene at beach house even though it’s missing mum but glad they replaced with new people instead of just having Dana and Harper take over house .

David would have been the perfect opportunity to do that, but instead he only has adult children rather than younger children or teenagers. If you want a foster family, you could build one around Levi and Mackenzie (their conception issues) or Eden and Cash (as a former foster child) and actually take the characters in a new direction. Anything long-term for Roo is difficult whilst Georgie Parker is taking extended breaks. I guess if you want a nuclear family, you could introduce Duncan Stewart, his son Bryce (a teenager but now?) and maybe a new wife and stepchildren. Unless the producers want an unconnected nuclear family to shake things up a little. I still don't understood why her and John broke up. There seems little onscreen reasoning for it, and both have been a bit of a spare part since. It seems like a baffling decision. With Irene gone, it could be the perfect time to reunite them, if not romantically then at least as besties/housemates. I thought her jealously/misreading of the John and Irene situation last year was the beginning of their path to reunion, but sadly it wasn't.

I emailed the Channel 5 Viewer Enquiries Team to ask if there are any plans for classic episodes to be uploaded to My5 since they don’t seem to air older episodes either in summer or winter anymore… I know they could just be saying this but here’s hoping… Your Reference: VE/122378/CS (Please quote this reference in all further correspondence) Date: 13th November 2025 Dear Steven Thank you for your e – mail regarding Classic Home and Away. 5 appreciates all viewer feedback, and we are currently looking into some classic episodes of this programme, but nothing has been confirmed. Yours sincerely VIEWER ENQUIRES TEAM

Writers championed him over Michael in later years.

Certainly a variation on a common theme about the pregnancy testing kit, they are usually found in the kitchen/bathroom bin for all to see. it just happened the black bag split and while Mali was picking up all the litter he saw it. He was kind of panicking in case was Abby's and how would he explain that to Levi, I noticed he wanted to speak to Mac alone before saying anything to her, though I think if it had been Abby's he would have been given some sort of clue by her behaviour and she's been her normal scatty self. Another secret Mali has been asked to keep, though I see why Mac and Levi want to keep it quiet until after the Wedding so as not to take the shine off Eden's big day. I was wondering how Mac was going to explain why she wasn't drinking alcohol at the Wedding reception but as she told Levi she has alcohol free booze at Salt so can drink that and hopefully no-one will notice. Nice little reference to the time Mac and Levi last had champagne. More fun about the Hen and Bucks nights and what had been planned by Abby and Tane which when they - Cash and Eden talked about them - they decided they wanted more relaxed dos and it was a lovely idea that Abby and Tane came up with. A mixed Hens and Bucks do, just their friends there. They did have a good choice of whisky/whiskey there apparently. Flick would have loved the fact Cash and Eden were finally getting married. As an aside will Eden stay a Fowler of become a Newman? It was funny about the vows that Eden found were fake, though as you said the promo did give it away, but John played it so well teasing Eden like that. We didn't hear what the F was going to be? Funny, fabulous, freaky? Then the serious stuff, David talking to Justin about how he felt torn about his principals to always play it by the book and bringing the guy he, rightly, feels killed his wife but being prevented by the very rules he's vowed to obey all these years not to break. I suppose he could do something off his own bat but he'd have to tread carefully so TPTB don't find out. Of course he doesn't know Lacey is doing her own thing having taken photos of what was on David's wall.

The Braxton house used to be Sally and Flynn's. I think Sally lived there with others - maybe Shauna, Charlotte and Gypsy? Fiynn and Sally swapped it with the Hunters who combined it later with the Holdens. I think Tony and Rachel still owned it when they left which mainly consisted of the Braxton and their extended clan living there. It returned a few years ago and Lyric have been staying there. When was Johns house last seen? I see a few people mention that. I wonder how many years it's been. The Morgans were the first in that house ..I think.

Need the school back . Need the caravan site used again properly to house new characters , tourists etc. can’t Roo run that ? She has little else to do. The new bait shop got a few scenes … then forgotten again . Definitely need a family with children. Give Marylin a love interest for crying out loud..! Everything now seems short-term , the fixtures and the characters.

Tane is one of THE reasons to watch now . He’s one of the best characters..but needs better storylines, the ones with harping Harper and Jo are pathetic. He needs a new love interest that he’s actually got chemistry with like he had with Mac and Flic.

Point of order: ITV never went ahead. It was RTÉ who went ahead, by one episode. They had to come off for a couple of weeks to drop back. I believe they stayed on air during the ITV/Channel 5 switch, but by 2005 they were only a few weeks ahead of the UK

But to fair though there was definitely times when Michael was just as harsh and unlikeable as Tom and Michael could be very hard on Pippa at times. I don’t think any character is perfect they are only human and I think both Tom and Pippa and Michael and Pippa were good Foster parents on whole.

I've just said something similar in the weekly thread. I've watched on and off for the last 25 years, maybe even a bit longer, and this is the worst I've ever found the show. There's only a very small handful of characters that are keeping me watching, but even then I sometimes just put it while I'm working and don't really watch properly. Although the band has fizzled out it still seems like they're trying to keep the musical element going to some extent but I can't see it having any longevity and tbh it seems as though a lot of people are fed up with the music storylines (including me!). The characters they're bringing in now are mostly all 20/30 somethings which leads to the same repetitive relationship storylines. They shy away from the tougher storylines nowadays that they used to tackle and now when they do attempt a decent storyline it just fizzles out or has a quick fix so everyone is back to normal within a few weeks. Irene's storyline was an attempt but again it felt like it didn't hit the mark because it went from 0 to 100 so quick. Losing the school, teens, and the main fostering theme was a major loss and again leads to new characters just being bland rinse and repeats. Unless something new is done and they make big changes and shape up the storylines (and preferably get rid of some of the naff characters) then I can't see the show lasting all that much longer.

I guess were were just used to the large foster family being the largest household/family unit and situated at Summer Bay House, so it was a big shift to have a large nuclear family at the "heart" of the show. And other than Brodie, no new foster children joined the cast during the Sutherland years other than stray family members (Don's grandson Seb, Rhys' nephew Max). The Smith kids stuck around with Irene for a large chunk of the Sutherland years though, so they didn't need to add anyone new there. There was also Tasha and Kim toward the tail end of the Sutherland era But yes, come the mid 2000s it was back at the forefront again and pretty much continued for a number of years through Irene, Sally and Flynn, Miles, Roo and Harvey, John and Gina/Marilyn and even Leah - her waifs and strays included Drew, Tamara, Matt, Oscar and Evie., though of course some of them were related to Dan and Zac. The fostering element is completely lost now other than guest eras, but I feel it doesn't have a definitive theme/thread in the same way the first 20 years did - they've tried the River Boys, long-term mysteries (the Hugo stuff, Robbo's backstory) and the band, with varying degrees of success. Now it feels like Lyrik is starting to fizzle out due to cast changes and 3 years of repetitive storylines, that it's time for something new again to carry through for the next 2-3 years.

Thanks for sharing this, James. I don't think she said anything surprising, despite the hysterical way this article is written. If anybody is feeling "devastated" or "upset" over this non-news, they need to give their head a wobble. Kate seems to be doing fine again, and she seems to be doing more acting now. It wouldn't surprise me if they brought her back to wave Alf off, but it'd also hammer home the point that Sally no longer belongs in Summer Bay. That all depends on what timeline you're following... maybe Sally has been hanging around with Marilyn's unhinged daughter and visits Martha on her mysterious property.

That's fair. She's been off nearly as long as she was on. Now Irene's gone, there's only two characters currently on the show when Sally left in 2008 and another two that she knows. The only way I could see it happening is to introduce Pippa Jr (now 24/25) as a full time character but the show has too many 20something girls.

I think it was also a way to tie it into the 20th Anniversary of the show itself. Neighbours had gone full send a few years previously (which probably influenced the 4000th episode storyline) and I think there was an expectation that Summer Bay would follow where Erinsborough led. Obviously knowing Kate was leaving meant there was scope to do quite a few separate things, mostly revolving around Sally, before bringing Kirsty & Kane back later in the year.

Do you think James Stewart will be the next 10-year character? He is 3 years away do you see him lasting? I think he can survive long term obviously up to the actor. Thoughts?