Does the show need an injection of life, if so, then what?

[JamesC10]

I don’t know where to post this but Kate Ritchie said it’s likely Sally will never return to the show.

She stated “The show is doing so well, it doesn't need Sally anymore," she said, adding that the show has "moved on" and that Sally has a "nice life somewhere".

She said she might come back "if asked", but she soon talked herself out of it, saying: "That's a chapter of my life that's done”.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/home-and-away/a69145387/home-and-away-kate-ritchie-show-future

[James Martin]

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.

[c120701]

3 hours ago, JamesC10 said:

I don’t know where to post this but Kate Ritchie said it’s likely Sally will never return to the show.

She stated “The show is doing so well, it doesn't need Sally anymore," she said, adding that the show has "moved on" and that Sally has a "nice life somewhere".

She said she might come back "if asked", but she soon talked herself out of it, saying: "That's a chapter of my life that's done”.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/home-and-away/a69145387/home-and-away-kate-ritchie-show-future

 

2 hours ago, James Martin said:

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 if she did go back it’d be for something for Ray/Alf.

As for Sally living a nice life somewhere, it’s likely she’s now grieving her daughter.

[cymbaline]

4 hours ago, JamesC10 said:

I don’t know where to post this but Kate Ritchie said it’s likely Sally will never return to the show.

She stated “The show is doing so well, it doesn't need Sally anymore," she said, adding that the show has "moved on" and that Sally has a "nice life somewhere".

She said she might come back "if asked", but she soon talked herself out of it, saying: "That's a chapter of my life that's done”.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/home-and-away/a69145387/home-and-away-kate-ritchie-show-future

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.

 

1 hour ago, c120701 said:

I think if she did go back it’d be for something for Ray/Alf.

As for Sally living a nice life somewhere, it’s likely she’s now grieving her daughter.

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. 

[adam436]

I wonder if H&A has been having an identity crisis since Sally left? 

The show was so solidly focused on the foster children for much of the first 20 years. Since Sally left, the show was really struggled to define itself: we had the years with the Hugo mystery, the Braxton/gang era and finally the Lyrik/band era, which feels a little like a PG rated Secret Life of Us/This Life etc. Elements of the fostering aspect have carried through on and off, but overall it seems to change its "identity" ever 4-5 years since Sally left. 

[j.laur5]

1 hour ago, adam436 said:

I wonder if H&A has been having an identity crisis since Sally left? 

The show was so solidly focused on the foster children for much of the first 20 years. Since Sally left, the show was really struggled to define itself: we had the years with the Hugo mystery, the Braxton/gang era and finally the Lyrik/band era, which feels a little like a PG rated Secret Life of Us/This Life etc. Elements of the fostering aspect have carried through on and off, but overall it seems to change its "identity" ever 4-5 years since Sally left. 

I felt foster element was lost  once Sutherlands arrived . 

[James Martin]

On 03/11/2025 at 21:10, j.laur5 said:

I felt foster element was lost  once Sutherlands arrived . 

Disagree.  It was still there via Irene, the Sutherlands took in Brodie, etc.

Sally & Flynn took in Ric & Cassie.

Irene took in Tasha, Belle etc. and even effectively mothered KK for a period.

[adam436]

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. 

[hward]

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.

[pembie]

I will stick around for

Spoiler

Brax return and the train crash 

 see what happens there I’m not sure I will afterwards though