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

[cymbaline]

I'm not sure what you mean by the fostering element being abandoned. The show started out with 5 foster kids (Sally, Steven, Carly, Bobby, Lynne), and that number expanded over time. Within a few years, Alf & Ailsa, Fisher and Irene all had foster kids in their houses.

[James Martin]

16 hours ago, j.laur5 said:

Look they only just arrive let’s not get ahead of ourselves and honestly this days people start talking about  people departures as soon as characters arrive . 

I'm not saying that.  I'm saying that in the story it's inevitable that Jo Langham is going to bag herself a boyfriend.  There isn't anywhere for her to go if you leave her single for too long.  At best, that means she spends at least half the time staying the night at his leaving David on his own in an iconic set.  Which isn't sustainable.

We've had teachers, notably Don Fisher, take in waifs and strays but I don't think that's ever happened with a cop and certainly not a Sergeant.  So I can't see the house being filled.

Actually maybe it is time to bring the school back.  One thing the Bay has a lot of is Civil Servants, whether that's in law enforcement, medicine or lifeguarding.  Having teachers wouldn't be that big a stretch.

What Irene's departure has created, big time, however, is a matriarchal vaccum.  Soap Law states that you need a Matriarch.  For years, that was Pippa and then really it became Irene, or at least it did after Shelley and then Beth exited.

I imagine at some point we're going to get a love interest for David.  If she doesn't come from outside, Marilyn would be a great shout, or maybe even Roo.  That in itself would create a great dynamic.  Jo happy for him and Lacey, er, not.

[j.laur5]

On 18/10/2025 at 11:06, James Martin said:

I'm not saying that.  I'm saying that in the story it's inevitable that Jo Langham is going to bag herself a boyfriend.  There isn't anywhere for her to go if you leave her single for too long.  At best, that means she spends at least half the time staying the night at his leaving David on his own in an iconic set.  Which isn't sustainable.

We've had teachers, notably Don Fisher, take in waifs and strays but I don't think that's ever happened with a cop and certainly not a Sergeant.  So I can't see the house being filled.

Actually maybe it is time to bring the school back.  One thing the Bay has a lot of is Civil Servants, whether that's in law enforcement, medicine or lifeguarding.  Having teachers wouldn't be that big a stretch.

What Irene's departure has created, big time, however, is a matriarchal vaccum.  Soap Law states that you need a Matriarch.  For years, that was Pippa and then really it became Irene, or at least it did after Shelley and then Beth exited.

I imagine at some point we're going to get a love interest for David.  If she doesn't come from outside, Marilyn would be a great shout, or maybe even Roo.  That in itself would create a great dynamic.  Jo happy for him and Lacey, er, not.

I always looked at Ailsa as more of a matriarch than Pippa and looked at Irene as matriarch after Ailsa died. 
 

I look at Leah as the matriarch now. After all Ada is now older than Debra Lawrence was when she was on the show and Ada older now then Judy Nunn was when show started. 

[Red Ranger 1]

8 hours ago, cymbaline said:

I'm not sure what you mean by the fostering element being abandoned. The show started out with 5 foster kids (Sally, Steven, Carly, Bobby, Lynne), and that number expanded over time. Within a few years, Alf & Ailsa, Fisher and Irene all had foster kids in their houses.

By the end of the year, Lynne's gone for good and Bobby and Carly have both moved out/turned 18, and we don't get another permanent Fletcher foster child until Sophie a year and a half later. Okay, they brought in Viv living with Donald and Emma (who barely qualifies given she's a blood relative) living with Alf and Ailsa in the second year, but they never had as many foster kids living there as they did at the start.

[cymbaline]

Fair enough. They then leaned into the fostering in a bigger way. By the time the mid-90s came around, half of the main cast was made up of teenagers living with adults who weren't family. That limits the audience IMHO, and puts off older people who don't want to watch multitudes of shouty teens.

[adam436]

21 hours ago, James Martin said:

What Irene's departure has created, big time, however, is a matriarchal vaccum.  Soap Law states that you need a Matriarch.  For years, that was Pippa and then really it became Irene, or at least it did after Shelley and then Beth exited.

You've got three female stalwarts that are all matriach age - Marilyn, Roo and Leah - so the show should really start thinking about which one would be best suited to the role and start developing that, noting that said character is likely to not only succeed Irene as matriarch, but in the long-term likely to succeed Alf as the "face of Home and Away", "guardian of Summer Bay" etc. I honestly don't know who would work best, since none of them are a natrual fit right now and all have their pros and cons: 

• Roo is an original character and the guest fostering storylines. She's also Alf's daughter and lives at Summer Bay House (where many previous matriarchs resided), so it could be seen as her legacy that she would natrually become the matriarch of Summer Bay. I also don't feel she interacts with the younger characters as much as a matriarch should, which perhaps is a result of Georgie's part-time status? Georgie has also said in the past she's happy to stay as long as Ray is around, so if Ray retired, how much longer would Roo be around?
• Marilyn is a character she's recognisable and familiar to fans of many eras. Is she a strong enough character or central enough though? She feels more like a supporting character these days, and often feels like a hanger-on at Summer Bay House.  The writers missed a trick not having Marilyn buy the Beach House and continue to take in boarders like Irene did, which would have made it a more natrual fit, since it would have got her out of Summer Bay House and interacting with the younger cast more. I still hold out some hope the writers will reunite her and John and perhaps take in a few younger characters, but given it's been over 5 years, that ship has likely sailed now. 
• Leah probably interacts most with the younger characters out of these three, but is she perhaps too close in age to make her a viable matriarch? Leah probably would have been the natural choice if the show still had a share of teenagers - take her role around 2015/2016 as an example - but given the "younger characters" are now generally late 20s - it doesn't seem like the natural fit it should be. 

I guess another reason why none of them seem like a natural fit is that since the teenager element was dropped, Irene still continued to take in young people into her home like Jasmine, Xander and Rose, Willow, Harper and Dana. With the exception of Leah's nephew Theo, the three likely successors have not taken any permanent younger characters under their wing except Roo's foster children. They've all had their share in the past though. 

In terms of replacing Alf as the face of the "Come back to the Bay" promos and the like, Marilyn or Leah would be the obvious choices. Leah is the second-longest continous character and Ada has quite a high profile, while Marilyn is iconic across many eras of the show, including the nineties heyday and Braxton era peak, as well as being one of the mainstays from the last 15 years. 

Edited October 18 by adam436

[James Martin]

That's crazy to think Leah is the second longest serving character.

Looking at the latest Aussie previews 

Spoiler

The Beach House is getting (another) refurb and Jo & Tane will, literally, get a room.

Suggesting there may be at least mid-term plans for the family.

 

[pembie]

55 minutes ago, James Martin said:

That's crazy to think Leah is the second longest serving character.

Looking at the latest Aussie previews 

  Reveal hidden contents

The Beach House is getting (another) refurb and Jo & Tane will, literally, get a room.

Suggesting there may be at least mid-term plans for the family.

 

Needs to cut down on some boring characters I think Mali Theo Lacey Bree Alf their just there doing nothing really bring in a long time villain maybe 

[James Martin]

Spoiler

Theo dies in the UK season finale.

However, yeah I sort of agree otherwise.  Bree fills the "strong independent career woman with a hint of vulnerability underneath the surface" role very well, but there's a lot of characters that don't have a fat lot to do at the moment.  I don't expect Alf to do a lot but I'd agree there's a lot of underused characters.

That said, the last thing the show needs is a return to the OTT 2006 era.

Also, I know it's frowned upon to do this in 2025 but I feel they need to use the beach, and those characters that look good in swimwear, way more.  That's what made the show work for the UK market 35 years ago.  An Aussie girl living in the UK said to me two weeks ago "H&A is an idealised version of Australia, it's not how it really is back home" and I don't think there's a problem with that, really.

Corrie & EastEnders' USP is they're firmly rooted in working class communities.  Emmerdale's is it's still a rural drama.

H&A has some epic cinematography thanks to its stunning location, but the differentiator of a seaside setting and a physically very attractive young cast isn't a card that's played anywhere near enough these days.

[adam436]

16 hours ago, pembie said:

Needs to cut down on some boring characters I think Mali Theo Lacey Bree Alf their just there doing nothing really bring in a long time villain maybe 

The problem is that their are too many characters in the same age bracket, so it's difficult to make them all interesting. Too many of them are just generic or "cookie cutter", and driven by average writing, and many seem to be sticking around longer than perhaps the writers anticipated too. 

The twenty and thirtysomethings were much more interesting in the 90s and 2000s because there were fewer of them - I'm talking the likes of Donna, Travis, Rebecca, Jesse, Shauna, Kelly, Vinnie, Leah, Sally and Flynn. Admittedly some were more interesting and memorable than others, but they seemed to have more interesting storylines, perhaps because there were only a handful around at the same time. The show wasn't flooded with them like they are now. 

The show always seemed easier to keep the teenage characters fresh because it was easier to give them personalities or archatypes (i.e. the nerd, the tomboy, the jock etc.) and teenage issues are generally so varied and relevant. Twentysomethings and thirtysomethings generally have more generic and/or mundane issues - money worries, relationships etc. - so it's hard to make that interesting when there are so many in the cast at once.