Storylines that might have been

[-g-l-a-m-o-r-ous-]

If Lucas had stayed maybe he and Belle could have got back together and then this time Drew would have been the jealous one.

If Amanda had stayed it would have been funny for he and Jazz to have more fights!!

[emmasi]

If Lucas had have stayed, he and Jazz could be having an affair

[Luc]

If Lucas had have stayed, he and Jazz could be having an affair

Now that would have been a lot better than the whole Naomi thing - especially if Drew stuck around.

[sunray]

Cassie grew up extremely quickly towards the end, but I think that was because the writers were rushing her storyline which was meant to pan out over a longer period of time. I would love if Kit and Kim had stuck around, I find it weird that Rachel is in a relationship with Tony who is essentially the stepfather of her arch-nemesis. And as for Dani, well I'd love if she were still in the show now. The Stalker storyline felt weird without Dani around, it was so obviously set up for her in the first place.

I completely forgot about Tony's connection to Kit! I don't quite get the Tony/Rachel connection either. I'd vote for the return of the lovely Hugh to shake things up a little, but doubt that is on the cards anytime soon...

[zoea86]

Going back a few years, I'd have loved to see what happened if Will DIDN'T get back with Gypsy & stayed with Dani. I remember starting to watch H&A when it moved to five and I loved Will and Dani as a couple.. I didnt mind Gypsy and Will but I think it would have been interesting to have seen Gypsy try single motherhood with help from Will, and what if it'd been Will and Dani get married?! It would have been interesting to see how Gypsy coped, and also who Josh and Scott would have got with when they joined the Bay.

What if Jude actually cared about his brother Noah and turned up to his funeral? One thing that amuses me in soaps is that they can change actors to suit themselves when actors want to leave, but they can't just get someone to play a relative for one episode? I mean, is Jude still with Shauna? Or maybe he could unintentionally have gotten close to Hayley while she was mourning causing confusion?! Or maybe he could have never run off with Shauna and stayed in the Bay only to find love with someone like Amanda maybe.

What if Kane had been sent down and he and Kirsty hadn't ran away? It would have been a good storyline to see Kirsty going through labour etc. with just Irene to help, or maybe Beth as she was always quite close to her before she died. And it might have been cool to see Kane struggling in prison trying to get bailed to see his wife and child. But getting nowhere. Maybe also an interesting storyline could occur involving Kirsty experiencing chemistry with another summer bay lad when he's helping her out with her & Kane's child.

What if Martha and Jack had never had their issues in the first place? OR, what if Martha had made it to the church on time and stopped the wedding, then Sam goes out in a similar way to what she did but goes all psycho trying to kill Martha as revenge for stealing Jack.

What if Nick & Jade never left? Or Alex and Brodie? What if the Hayley and Noah story NEVER happened because her and Mitch never broke up?

Geez I've got dozens more... but I shall not bore anyone with my exploding imagination. Dammit the threads got me thinking hard.

[Drew]

I was watching some old clips yesterday on Youtube; the beginning of the whole Sarah/Danni/Felix story.

If Danni never wrote that article, more then half the things that have happened in the show wouldn't of been happening in the past three and a half years. Storylines wouldn't have happened and characters wouldn't appear. Just off the top of my head: Dan wouldn't have come because Peter wouldn't be in a coma. No Drew after Peter's "death" from the stalker sequel. No Amanda, Jazz. No stalker stories. Kim and Kit wouldn't have been pregnant. Cake Girl wouldn't have been blown up... The list is endless

When you think about it, that story has influenced alot of what is happening in today's show.

[DinerLandlord]

I was watching some old clips yesterday on Youtube; the beginning of the whole Sarah/Danni/Felix story.

If Danni never wrote that article, more then half the things that have happened in the show wouldn't of been happening in the past three and a half years. Storylines wouldn't have happened and characters wouldn't appear. Just off the top of my head: Dan wouldn't have come because Peter wouldn't be in a coma. No Drew after Peter's "death" from the stalker sequel. No Amanda, Jazz. No stalker stories. Kim and Kit wouldn't have been pregnant. Cake Girl wouldn't have been blown up... The list is endless

When you think about it, that story has influenced alot of what is happening in today's show.

That's true, Dani's actions in 2004 had a huge influence on the storylines for the next two or three years.

[Perry]

Sometimes a planned longer term relationship is cut short because one of the partners decides to end their contract prematurely leaving the writers nowhere to go with the remaining partner. ( I’m not a fan of recasting!! )

Sometimes the tell the story right you need to recast the role and just think a lot of what people have plotted (and some of them are quite good) could have happened if they recasted the roles. I think a sudden departure of a character because the actor sucked or wanted to leave the country to be with their famous partner isn't fair on the writer who spent hours upon hours plotting storylines for the character.

[Anaya]

I think a sudden departure of a character because the actor sucked or wanted to leave the country to be with their famous partner isn't fair on the writer who spent hours upon hours plotting storylines for the character.

Is that some bitterness I sense in your post over the HIV Storyline being cut short and a slight dig at Sharni or am I reading too much in to itl?

[DinerLandlord]

Recasts are very common in American soaps, and it means that characters stay around for years on end, sometimes played by multiple actors. I don't know if I'd like that or not in Home and Away, it might be really difficult to accept another actor as a character you love, for example if they recast Peter Baker to keep him around when Nic left I would have been totally unable to accept anyone else playing him, but if they recast Lucas I would have been fine with it, in fact it might have been an improvement.