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

[CaptainHulk]

11 hours ago, Revealed said:

If you listen to public opinion about why Neighbours is no more I've heard many people say go woke go broke. On that basis it's good that Home & Away are sticking to their guns. That said a lesbian couple would be good, they're the only relationships I care for in any TV show.

I just find tge notion _____ing stupid tbh. Bit a few heads off online about it.

Neighbours was down to money. As for LGBT For a long time they did *not* live in the real world most of their gays were plot devices. People couldn't handle this "twee little show" actually began  "growing some balls" so to speak.

Edited January 24 by CaptainHulk

[adam436]

22 hours ago, Revealed said:

If you listen to public opinion about why Neighbours is no more I've heard many people say go woke go broke. On that basis it's good that Home & Away are sticking to their guns. That said a lesbian couple would be good, they're the only relationships I care for in any TV show.

I don't think one (or two, if you want them in a long-term pairing!) LGBT characters is going to be the end of H&A as we know it, just as it wasn't a problem for Neighbours for a long time. It just became an issue when there were a large number (5 regulars by the finale!) in a relatively small cast - and that's coming from someone who idenitifies as gay myself. 

When there are so many interchangeable hetereosexual pairings in the same group on H&A, a gay or lesbian couple might actually feel refreshing.

 

[Revealed]

I stopped watching Neighbours long before they had any gay characters so I'm only going off what I heard. The point is Home & Away is just light entertainment at at the end of the day and not something you're supposed to take seriously.

I'm an average at best looking middle aged bloke with a beer belly and have never been particularly sporty or nerdy. That type of character has always been lacking in the show but it doesn't bother me. I'm also well aware you're never going to find a village in Australia where most of the women have the looks of your average Home & Away actress. Again it doesn't matter, I enjoy watching the show as an escapism of the real world. 

I agree that there are many interchangeable heterosexual pairings to the point I forget who has been with who but I'll always have fond memories of Charlie and Joey getting up close on the boat. I would love to see another lesbian relationship on the show but if it never happens then it doesn't matter. 

[CaptainHulk]

^ 7's conservative-ass mandate may not see it that way. 

They're fine with the bed-hopping and the shooting the arse off each other but  they have yet to have a full-on Gsy regular which they're probably too chicken to.

[Revealed]

Again I have no problem with them introducing a regular gay character but if they were to do so what would it achieve?

I think the majority of us are already accepting of homosexuals and those who are homophobic aren't going to change their mind because of a TV character. 

[pembie]

5 hours ago, Revealed said:

I stopped watching Neighbours long before they had any gay characters so I'm only going off what I heard. The point is Home & Away is just light entertainment at at the end of the day and not something you're supposed to take seriously.

I'm an average at best looking middle aged bloke with a beer belly and have never been particularly sporty or nerdy. That type of character has always been lacking in the show but it doesn't bother me. I'm also well aware you're never going to find a village in Australia where most of the women have the looks of your average Home & Away actress. Again it doesn't matter, I enjoy watching the show as an escapism of the real world. 

I agree that there are many interchangeable heterosexual pairings to the point I forget who has been with who but I'll always have fond memories of Charlie and Joey getting up close on the boat. I would love to see another lesbian relationship on the show but if it never happens then it doesn't matter. 

The attractive women of the show that I often fancy when they first start become quite annoying to me and my attraction stops lol 

[j.laur5]

The other thing I'm finding bit overkilled is the amount of overprotective big brother and little sisters relationship we had on this in recent years Matt/Ellie Colby/Bella Cash/Flick Ash/Billie Dean/Mackenzie  and Levi with Eden/Abby.

Also we got three sets of sisters on show at moment  Dana/Harper Lancey/Jo Eden/Abby.

We don’t have any two brothers relationship on show and we haven’t had two brothers on show in ages .

[jakeyy.]

Yeah the sibling/family combos are killing it, as well as no connection to the older cast. Like it might've been nice for Harper and Dana to have been Selina/Stevens kids with the last name and the connection to Irene, or Bree being Adam Cameron's daughter etc. I feel like neighbours was over the top with family and connections/relationships and Home and Away has lack of generational connections. I feel like these 20's sibling combinations are severely killing the show. Remi and Sonny are good as they are friends etc.

[adam436]

11 hours ago, jakeyy. said:

Yeah the sibling/family combos are killing it, as well as no connection to the older cast.

I'm not sure if it harks back to the Braxton days. They were obviously hugely popular back in the day, so is it still the producers thinking "sibling families" is the winning formula? Since them, we've had the Barretts (connected to the Braxtons via Casey!), Ash/Billie, the Morgans, Spencer/Chris, Dean/Mackenzie, Harper/Dana, Flick/Cash, Xander/Rose, the Paratas, the Fowlers, the Langhams and possibly others I've forgotten. That's not even including the adullt/teen sibling combos like Colby/Bella, Bianca/April, the Morgans/Raffy

We had a few sets of adult siblings in the early years, but they were certainly more spread out. Off the top of my head, there's been the original stewarts (Alf, Celia, Morag), Travis/Joel, Jude/Noah, Alex/Leah, Brad/Rachel, Dan/Peter and Tony/Gina all over a 20+ year period. There was also the occasional adult/teen combo not connected via a parent like Nick and Shane Parrish too. 

[joany208121]

On 02/02/2026 at 06:11, adam436 said:

We had a few sets of adult siblings in the early years, but they were certainly more spread out. Off the top of my head, there's been the original stewarts (Alf, Celia, Morag), Travis/Joel, Jude/Noah, Alex/Leah, Brad/Rachel, Dan/Peter and Tony/Gina all over a 20+ year period. There was also the occasional adult/teen combo not connected via a parent like Nick and Shane Parrish too. 

When we look back though, most of those sibling combos were part of a wider family dynamic. Travis and Joel both had their own families, with a range of relationships (Travis had a wife, a mother and father in law, nephews and nieces, a grandnephew, and a sister in law in additon to Joel). Alf, Celia and Morag were the same, Gina and Tony were the same… and even Alex and Leah were built around Leah and Vinnie already being together / married when Alex came in.

Comparatively the list you shared of “Braxton, Barretts, Ash/Billie, the Morgans, Spencer/Chris, Dean/Mackenzie, Harper/Dana, Flick/Cash, Xander/Rose, the Paratas, the Fowlers, the Langhams” only a select few have anything more than the sibling dynamic..  the Paratas and now Langhams. Which is quite sad, especially when we point out that it is only one character takes them beyond being another typical “sibling set”.