1989 Episode Discussion

[Ryan]

I often wondered since you hear Ray Meagher going on and on and on in every single, bloody interview that he only planned to do six months etc. etc, whether Fiona Spence and Judy Nunn, who would appear to have been the two best known actors previously, though Fiona Spence appears to have had these two soap roles and very little else, I imagine she does a lot of stage work, that perhaps they had to be written out due to prior commitments, also had other shorter jobs lined up, as they leave approximately 6 months in.

[alexx]

Yes I can see why they chose to get rid of them, but if I were in charge I would have pushed to keep Floss and killed Nev off, having said that I do really like them both together and it was a nice thought that they went off to join the circus again, its just Neville didn't make that much of an impact.

I have to say though, if they were written out like that today I would have aired by disappointment particularly as it was so rushed and they really deserved to have the final scene of the episode. There final scene was nicely done though. They'll be missed.

[Ryan]

I've not quite got that far with the scene counts, but I've got a feeling they might have appeared in less scenes than Lynn.

[Skylover]

So we've just said goodbye to our second and third departees, Floss and Neville. And we've welcomed our first new regular character in Morag. She's an awesome character, I love her Cornelia scowls in the credits!

[alexx]

Yes that shot of Morag in the credits is awesome!

[Ryan]

I almost expect the music to turn slightly darker in her shot. I remember there in Heartbreak High, there was one of the main characters that was a bit of a loner and during the credits the music took that brief darker turn it does for his shot (I think he was on some swings and played Lara Cox's brother, but it's over ten years since I watched this show over summer on BBC2.

Also finally completed the 1988 Scene Counts and though this probably should go in the other thread, well it's a dead thread.

Bobby 1016

Carly 892

Frank 835

Pippa 775

Tom 765

Steven 698

Lance 632

Martin 570

Ailsa 542

Roo 522

Alf 500

Celia 462

Lynn 441

Fisher 419

Floss 384

Sally 375

Neville 343

Matt 110

So, what can we take. I wonder if this will the only time a character appears in a 1000 scenes in the one season. The Fletchers are helped by the Pilot, but they clearly have the largest number of scenes, though primarily in the first 100 episodes. Since Episode 100 to the end of the season, Celia appears in nearly as many scenes as Pippa despite her trip to Tahiti.

Surprised at how far Lance and Martin appear, but especially towards the end of the year whilst Alf, Ailsa, Roo could drift by with a few scenes per week, but they actually churned them out. 4 characters lasted the entire year and yet still appeared less than Lynn. Had she continued at that rate throughout the year she would have 782 scenes, or 4th overall.

[alexx]

Thanks for that. I actually feel like we've seen more of Ailsa than Pippa, but as you say, it is probably becuase her stroylines really started kicking off from episode 100-onwards. Not surprised Neville made so low on the list but I thought Floss has been in more.

[Ryan]

Another fact is that Bobby appears in 72% of the episodes. Whilst she's undoubtedly the most used of the characters this year, it's not as high a number as you might expect, it's only works out at 3.5 episods a week, and yet she was used when she was needed and rested when she wasn't.

[GameTime]

Awesome week, especially Wed-Fri as the Macklin + Donald storyline really took off.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Donald Fisher is an awesome character, he was outstanding this week.

[Skylover]

Thanks for all the info Ryan! It seems like Lynl left absolutely ages ago so I don't know how she could have appeared more often than Fisher!