Give Irene a decent storyline!

[Bareenfan]

Its more like Heartbeak High than Home and Away sometimes, and I do agree with kitkat, I think that it may be a deliberate decision to target the teenage audience and as such they are sidelining the older characters. They do forget though that the teenage audience actually like the older characters, and also that the ratings, which are vital to the show's log term survival, depend on a much wider demographic. I really enjoy the story lines they are producing at the moment but they are not melding the older characters with the younger ones in the way that they used to. Several people have mentioned Irene and Belle and it was an obvious example. Many of us were eagerly anticipating what would have been a first rate emotional scene between Belle and Irene following the siege, but it never happened.Equally there was little reaction Geoff was rescued from Elliott. A few years back we would have seen a parental, caring human reaction, now we don't get to see it, its assumed , and what we see of Irene is behind the coffee cups in the diner. Dan did say earlier in this thread that Bevan had told him that Irene gets another significant story line this year, I do hope that it is more substantial than what she has been given thus far.

[alexx]

A few years back we would have seen a parental, caring human reaction, now we don't get to see it, its assumed

That's just it. I mean we don't even have to go as far back as the 90's, with the thousands of Irene/Selina/Joey/Chloe bonding scenes etc I have recently been watching episodes around early 2003, when Irene was accused of child abuse, and Nick ran away from home...etc There was some strong scenes, and the storylines she was involved in, the writers had obviously thought about from the characters point of view ...i.e how would Irene react within this situation...etc So we ended up with some terrific and powerful scenes, Irene sobbing on the phone for Nick to return, Irene punching Angie in hysterics once she found out it was her who had been 'messin with my boy', even down to Irene being there for Rhys when he and Shelly split.

Its ironic, because at the time I thought they were missing out the adults more, but when you compare it to now, well its not comparable really. Irene was a character within her own right, not a ''Heartbreak High'' mum.

I'm close to compiling a 'show reel' of Irene scenes for the writers to try and get an idea of what she is about.

[Corey]

A few years back we would have seen a parental, caring human reaction, now we don't get to see it, its assumed

That's just it. I mean we don't even have to go as far back as the 90's, with the thousands of Irene/Selina/Joey/Chloe bonding scenes etc I have recently been watching episodes around early 2003, when Irene was accused of child abuse, and Nick ran away from home...etc There was some strong scenes, and the storylines she was involved in, the writers had obviously thought about from the characters point of view ...i.e how would Irene react within this situation...etc So we ended up with some terrific and powerful scenes, Irene sobbing on the phone for Nick to return, Irene punching Angie in hysterics once she found out it was her who had been 'messin with my boy', even down to Irene being there for Rhys when he and Shelly split.

Its ironic, because at the time I thought they were missing out the adults more, but when you compare it to now, well its not comparable really. Irene was a character within her own right, not a ''Heartbreak High'' mum.

I'm close to compiling a 'show reel' of Irene scenes for the writers to try and get an idea of what she is about.

That's it exactly a HeartbreakHigh Mom she has become! And I would love to see the show reel alexx, they bill HaA as a family show but really since Bevan left its gone back to being a teen soap.

Frankie started this thread, we should make sure the message is heard by 7. Its the least we can do.

[Jimbo]

I am hoping that they us Irene to come to Melody's rescue. She is the only one with suffcient backbone and fighting spirit to do it. I would love to see her deal with Christine, and Melody really needs someone like Irene in her corner right now. If they do, I hope its not a flash in the pan and they use Irene to her full potential and we start to see her as we should be seeing her, as the caring, crusading parent who will fight for her kids no matter what.

[Zippy]

That would indeed be a good use of Irene's fighting spirit Jimbo. I am hoping that the next arc that she gets will be more Irene centric than Kirsty and Kane's return was, as in reality this was their story line and Irene , whilst an important part of it, has not been seen much since Kane was packed off to jail. Corey and the mercury was Irene centric until Martha high jacked it at the end, for which I personally have never forgiven Dan Bennett. She needs something which is quintessentially Irene. And SOON!

[Oipoodle]

Irene punching Angie in hysterics once she found out it was her who had been 'messin with my boy'

That was so good the whole storyline was excellent and the three actors involved all did such a cracking job, I loved how protective Irene was of Nick it was so moving. I agree they need another mother figure I always loved the way Beth was with Mattie and Irene was with Nick etc. And the poisoning storyline blew me away she is so talented!

[alexx]

Yeah the Mercury storyline was fantastic, but when the whole thing was shifted to Martha's storyline, it felt like we'd been short changed, especially as we had a few episodes where Irene didnt feature, and then when she did, it was back to normal as if nothing had happened - which is garbage.

Irene's relationship with a Priest was very much an Irene storyline, as was the surrogacy for her daughter, which also stemmed off a few smaller fill-in story-lines until she gave birth - only to have the baby kidnapped, which was all about Irene - there is a fantastic scene, when the baby is missing and she is on the beach literally having a break down screeching 'what if I never see my baby again?!' to tearful Chloe and Selina.

But anyway, for a start all I want to see is the original Irene back, along with making mistakes as she used to, being a bit 'ditzy' - if I had it my way, they wouldn't have ever taken her out of her mini skirts and lime green eye shadow, - after toning down during the late 90's, they seemed to inject it back in during 2000 with her knee high boots and short skirts, wardrobe aside, all they did over the past 4 or so years was kinda strip layers off the original concept, so I'd like to see them take her back down to the routes again, same could be said for Leah.

I like how Coral wrote Irene, she seemed to get what she was about, but wrote for the character in terms of where she would be now, after maturing and living in Summer Bay for the years she had.

[chatter box]

Irene has always been a firm favorite in our house. I agree alex that Coral, and also Bevan wrote Irene with greater understanding than todays writers. I am not sure that I agree they shoud have kept her in short skirts and with lime green eye shadow however, as I quite like the fact that she has matured and wised up, whilst at the same time reataining that spark and that young at heart quality which we all love so much. I always felt That Dan Bennet did not really get Irene . He did write the poisoning storyline. Lynne was magnificent throughout this, and I shall never forget the scenes where she sat crying and rocking on the beach, where she was dragged off to the psych unit by the police or where she was pinned down on the bed and forcibly sedated, as Lynne conveyed the helpless of the situation so wonderfully. It was powerful stuff. However, by making the ending of this story line about Martha Dan Bennet in my view showed a fundamental alck of understanding and some migt argu a disregard for the character. But at the time, everything was about Martha.

I would dearly love for them to bring back Barry. Barry was deeply flawed, and Irene is not without her faults. Irene in my view could have been, and to a certain extent already was, his salvation. The potential was never explored for a family unit with two such flawed characters as carers, and the journey would be a complex and a bumpy one. It would a fascinaing ride. Lynne and Ivar are both fantastic actors and the possibilities are endless. Jail would inevitably affect him and were he to come home with a couple of young people from jail who need Irene's particular brand of help, who knows where things could lead?

I am very keen to see an Irene focused story as opposed to one where she is a tag along player. The powers that be responded to our overtures in relation to those ghastly promos. Can they be prevailed upon to bring this thread to the attention of the current writers please?

[alexx]

I am not sure that I agree they shoud have kept her in short skirts and with lime green eye shadow however

Yeah it wouldn't work if they did it now, but I think my point was more that they have stripped away so many layers in 'maturing' her, that most of the time, she is just a shadow of the original concept.

[Wal Harisse]

I am not sure that I agree they shoud have kept her in short skirts and with lime green eye shadow however

Yeah it wouldn't work if they did it now, but I think my point was more that they have stripped away so many layers in 'maturing' her, that most of the time, she is just a shadow of the original concept.

People grow, and I like how Irene has grown, it would have been unrealistic to keep her that way. What they haven't done in recent years is continue the growth and shown her in relation to other characters, which is the kids in her care or the other adults in Summer Bay like Alf, Collen, Miles, Tony, Leah, Roman, Morag etc.. unless she is serving them coffee, muffins or lasagne at the diner. If they did that they would at least be half way home in addressing this issue. Bevan Lee brought it back a bit in the first half of this year as Irene was interacting a lot more with all the other characters but when he went it was lost again. He set it up for have some story line with the K/K thing, but it wasn't a biggie and she does need an IRENE story or something which doesn't end up being about something or someone else like the mercury one did. That was so unfair, I remember a lot of us were really fed up about it at the time. I remember when Irene was fussing over Nick when Angie was causing him grief, and when she punched her in the face, when she punched Diana, and all heart felt chats she had with Will, Nick and Hayley. We haven't seen much of it all with the current lot and we were short changed when Belle was kidnapped and Geoff got stranded, absolutely nothing. I was gobsmacked. The writers should be ashamed of themselves in my opinion.

When you do that show reel Alex please could you post it on here for us all to see as I'd love to see it

And can Dan F please ask the people at Seven that he is in contact with to do something like has been suggested, like print off this thread and let (make ) the writers read it and also suggest they watch Alex's show reel when he does it