Best/Worst character exits

[CaptainHulk]

On 03/08/2025 at 09:29, Red Ranger 1 said:

Yes but you don't tend to stop being special needs in ten years, which suggests people are reading things into it that wasn't intended.

Don't think Lance was special needs. Just a bit thick and easily led.  The Lennie to Martin's George. 

[Red Ranger 1]

42 minutes ago, CaptainHulk said:

Don't think Lance was special needs. Just a bit thick and easily led.  The Lennie to Martin's George. 

If that's an Of Mice and Men reference, I'm pretty sure Lennie is meant to be mentally handicapped. So...not really anything like Lance!

[adam436]

8 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Don't think Lance was special needs. Just a bit thick and easily led. 

I agree. I think the writing and acting was just so overdone that it could easily be interpreted that way.

Lance's lack of intellect was definitely dialled down in 1989, despite giving him storylines like the goldfish funeral, the hotdog stand and the band story.

[Wadsy]

Worst:

• Nick Parrish - Agree with others who pointed this out. He just sort of leaves and he was a great character, particularly 1991-1992.
• Rob - Yeah.... What happened. Guy just disappeared and is mentioned to still be in the bay? Cannot remember. Another short term character that was done dirty, kind of like Luke who I liked. Pretty sure Rob was his replacement.
• Bobby Simpson - I could never agree to her death and had questions surrounding the logic towards a boat accident causing that much damage. 
• Greg Marshall - Awful... Selfish character all the way through who was easily irritable but late 1993 really proved a turn for the worst both before and after Bobby's death. Poor Sam and his character appears fine for a while only to go downhill around 1998. I guess Ryan Clarke wanted to stay despite his on-screen parent's death which I can understand. 
• Sarah Thompson - Yep, like others I was angry about how she left. At some times I really hated Alf and his stubbornness but here it seemed like they never recovered. There are always two sides to every story. However, Sarah's poor treatment of Tug in 1994 just seemed off to me. She was happy to run after him when he was a bad boy, then Nathan.. She really went against her father's wishes and while it didn't bother me at first, she got worse as she went on. 
• Ailsa Stewart - Even Judy Nunn was not happy with her on-screen character's death. After 12 years, gasp* dead. I did like her ghost return in 2002 and Alf's trip to heaven to see the real Ailsa Stewart so there is that!
• Dani Sutherland - I just did not gel with her departure at all. She wants to do well in the city, I get that but the way that other guy is in the picture and gets between her and Scott is just hard to see every time. It is a shame we have never seen Tammin return since.
• Rhys Sutherland - I remember watching his exit in 2004 and I can see why the bay disliked him, but even so I really liked his character and I liked him most from the family. 
• Jesse McGregor - His second exit, not the first. This might be controversial but I hated it. He did the wrong thing no question, but he deserved forgiveness. I have seen worse things happen on the show, or near equally bad like Adam's boat accident for instance. He was basically cancelled and went off to prison.
• Dan Baker - Agree with others again. He just leaves and dies in Sally's place. 
• Roman - I just hated his exit and he gets arrested. Wish he had a better story because Nicole really took a turn for the worst following his departure. 

Best:

• Marilyn - Only because we all know she comes back 3 years later. Her second exit however, terrible but not as terrible as the 'worst' list above.
• Selina Cook - After a solid three years I was happy with her departure, but what makes a departure even better is when you see them again in the future (1998), and they are doing well, or on the path to it.
• Sally Fletcher - How can you not like her exit? What a time that was after 20 awesome years!

[adam436]

On 29/03/2026 at 20:09, Wadsy said:

Rob - Yeah.... What happened. Guy just disappeared and is mentioned to still be in the bay? Cannot remember. Another short term character that was done dirty, kind of like Luke who I liked. Pretty sure Rob was his replacement.

It certainly has the markings of an unplanned/rushed exit, but I'd agrue that it didn't really. He was essentially phased out of all the scenarios that gave him reason to interact with the regular cast - he'd quit his job at the school, moved out of Irene's, ruined his friendship with Donna and was running a business regular characters had little reason to frequent, so other than incididental interactions at the Diner etc., it was kind of believeable that he'd just fade into the background in Summer Bay, perhaps moreso than moving to the other side of the world in the space of a few days. 

 

On 29/03/2026 at 20:09, Wadsy said:

• Bobby Simpson - I could never agree to her death and had questions surrounding the logic towards a boat accident causing that much damage. 
• Greg Marshall - Awful... Selfish character all the way through who was easily irritable but late 1993 really proved a turn for the worst both before and after Bobby's death. Poor Sam and his character appears fine for a while only to go downhill around 1998. I guess Ryan Clarke wanted to stay despite his on-screen parent's death which I can understand. 

It wasn't needed given Greg was written out just a few weeks later. I also highly doubt a child actor wanting to stay would be the reason to keep him when his onscreen parents were going. I'd say it's more likely the show wanted a "cute younger kid" to replace Sally who was growing up. The fallout from Bobby's death gave characters some great material though - the custody battle for Sam, Adam being ostricised from the town, Greg's exit and some amazing performances from some of the mainstay cast like Norman and Debra. 

 

On 29/03/2026 at 20:09, Wadsy said:

Worst:

• Dani Sutherland - I just did not gel with her departure at all. She wants to do well in the city, I get that but the way that other guy is in the picture and gets between her and Scott is just hard to see every time. It is a shame we have never seen Tammin return since.
• Rhys Sutherland - I remember watching his exit in 2004 and I can see why the bay disliked him, but even so I really liked his character and I liked him most from the family. 

I was never a fan of the Sutherland family so wasn't overly fussed, but given how much the producers loved the Sutherland family and how central they were, it's surprising they all such poor exit storylines:  

• Rhys - ended his marriage to Beth after a few months to return to his ex wife. I'm guessing it was a reasonably last-minute decision to write him out, since they had only just married him off and set him, Beth and the Hunters up as the central new family unit. 
• Kirsty - her and her child were subjected to a life on the run with Kane. 
• Jade - finds out she wasn't really a Sutherland, then disappears and is never mentioned again. It wasn't needed and the bombshell had no really long-term impact other than the novelty of Christie Hayes playing two characters for a few episodes. For me personally, it ruined the entire history and foundations of the family and I never bought it. The fallout of Seb's accident/Duncan's return could have been enough of an exit storyline for her. 
• Max - makes the abrupt decision to go to boarding school. A rather odd choice when Beth and Colleen both offered him a home in Summer Bay, and leaving with Rhys and Shelley was the obvious exit. 

 

 

On 29/03/2026 at 20:09, Wadsy said:

• Marilyn - Only because we all know she comes back 3 years later. Her second exit however, terrible but not as terrible as the 'worst' list above.

Marilyn's second exit wasn't great. I remember she disappeared for months with post-natal depression, then she returned for a few months before going to the US with Byron and then vanishing off-screen after his death. It definitely had the hint of it either needed to be rushed for some reason or a temporary exit that ended up having to be permanent. I'm sure neither of those were true, but it certainly how it came across in some ways. 

Was it too soon to do another SIDS story after Dale? It was 6 years earlier, but the episodes were so powerful the producers might have been reluctant to do that again, and then we could have had Don and Marilyn's marriage breakdown in the aftermath. Norman and Emily would have smashed such a story.