Quick Questions

[cymbaline]

It happens....

 

[CaptainHulk]

59 minutes ago, cymbaline said:

It happens....

 

Did not dissapoint!

[hapitoby]

18 hours ago, cymbaline said:

It happens....

 

This is fantastic ha

[adam436]

On 08/05/2026 at 06:44, cymbaline said:

I would have rather seen Bobby hang around for another few years before deciding to move on 

In some ways, it's a shame that Bobby was killed off, as she's one character who would have popped up frequently throughout the late 90s and 2000s for Donald's and Sally's milestone moments, like we saw with other classic characters. Maybe even for Sam's exit too.

If Greg hadn't left so soon after Bobby's death, he'd have been on borrowed time. We saw it when characters were so strongly tied to an exiting character, like Mia leaving after Ari's death, Judith leaving pretty quickly after Edward etc. 

[cymbaline]

It's an interesting point. Bobby is a character who wouldn't look out of place in the modern-day show and she has surprisingly long-lasting connections in the form of Alf, Roo and Marilyn. Would they have brought her back at some stage if she hadn't been killed off? We'll never know. 

Some of these characters are more like props I think. Neville without Floss is an early example. Lance is another one I can think of it, though he did come back a number of times. Martin was a stronger character than Lance and might've thrived without him as a deadweight. I think Michael is another because he was so tied to Pippa. 

[adam436]

5 hours ago, cymbaline said:

Some of these characters are more like props I think. Neville without Floss is an early example. Lance is another one I can think of it, though he did come back a number of times. Martin was a stronger character than Lance and might've thrived without him as a deadweight. I think Michael is another because he was so tied to Pippa. 

I actually think Lance and Martin could have worked without the other in 1990 if one stayed and the other didn't. Lance could have been married off to Marilyn and had all the newlyweds/young married couple storylines. By this stage, we'd never had a long-term couple who married on the show, since Frank and Bobby imploded so quickly. Adam pretty much assumed Martin's role as the "dreamer"/get-rich-quick scammer, so he could have taken on Adam's storylines instead of Adam and survived without Lance. The problem was that the show was going for a "sexier" image, so Adam and Matt had essentially replaced Martin and Lance as the larrikan scammer and his loyal sidekick (they even picked up Marilyn to round out the trio!), but they were more intelligent and I assume in the producers' eyes, better eye candy for viewers, which essentially degraded to two-dimensional comedy characters with the band storyline, the hotdog stand etc.

Another example is James Fraser. He was completely tied to Chloe and her story arc, that it became very evident after Chloe left the writers had no idea where to take him and he only lasted a few months after her exit. I can't even remember how he exited, or anything he did after their short-lived marriage. There's a few others in the later years too, like Max without the rest of the Surtherlands, Charlotte without Jude, Brad without Sally. I assume Brad was written out early so Sally's exit was about her, rather than riding off into the sunset with Brad. 

Sometimes characters adapt though - Leah is a character I would have put in the same boat, having been so tied to Vinnie in her early days. At the time, I didn't expect her to last more than a year or after Vinnie's prison exit and apparently Ryan Kwanten even volunteered to return for Leah's exit when he left!, yet here we are 25 years later! 

 

[Irishbraxton]

Has the show ever faced a near cancellation.

[christine king]

2 hours ago, Irishbraxton said:

Has the show ever faced a near cancellation.

H&A has a lifetime contract to air. So i don’t think we have to worry about that.

[adam436]

7 hours ago, Irishbraxton said:

Has the show ever faced a near cancellation.

I might be wrong, but wasn't the show at risk of getting cancelled early on, but the Bobby/Frank/Roo triangle and Roo's pregnancy "saved" it? 

[cymbaline]

Yes it was. Alan Bateman (who created Home and Away) stepped in and convinced them to give it a stay of execution. I read somewhere that they got members of the cast to make appearances in shopping centres and to drum up publicity. It's almost the story of early Neighbours again, but with a producer who was prepared to fight for it.