When have you felt the show was going through a low point

[c120701]

On 25/09/2025 at 22:41, adam436 said:

I get what you mean abiut the stalwarts being treated badly, but the number of older characters was quite high in this point. Characters like Gina, John, Roo, Marilyn and Sid were introduced in 2009/2010, so older characters in general were not sidelined in the same way they were from the late 2010s onwards.

I think the problem was the show didn’t know what to do with them. Roo & Marilyn seemed to return for nostalgia only, filling a gap Sally held in terms of a ‘daughter’ (in Roo’s case, biological) for Alf. Summer Bay House just seemed to become a random collection of adults.

Had they put Marilyn back in the Beach House with Irene instead of them not saying a word to each other for months her return would’ve been much better. Aside from John & Jet, I don’t think they’ve ever known what to do with her this time around. The amnesia was her best story.

[CaptainHulk]

15 hours ago, c120701 said:

I think the problem was the show didn’t know what to do with them. Roo & Marilyn seemed to return for nostalgia only, filling a gap Sally held in terms of a ‘daughter’ (in Roo’s case, biological) for Alf. Summer Bay House just seemed to become a random collection of adults.

Had they put Marilyn back in the Beach House with Irene instead of them not saying a word to each other for months her return would’ve been much better. Aside from John & Jet, I don’t think they’ve ever known what to do with her this time around. The amnesia was her best story.

Well, they still could put Maz back there; marry her off to the Sarge!

[adam436]

22 hours ago, c120701 said:

I think the problem was the show didn’t know what to do with them. Roo & Marilyn seemed to return for nostalgia only, filling a gap Sally held in terms of a ‘daughter’ (in Roo’s case, biological) for Alf. Summer Bay House just seemed to become a random collection of adults.

It's weird they both dated Sid Walker, yet neither of those relationships lasted. Becoming step-mother to the Walkers and giving them an instant family would have given at least one of them a long-term purpose. Both were given husbands and foster children later, but the first few years of their returns they were just there. I would argue that Roo's return didn't even feel nostalgic because of the recast. She felt like a brand new character to me. I'd say it was a case of Alf needing a new "daughter" to replace Sally and giving Georgie Parker, who was a massive signing for H&A at the time, a character with meaningful connections rather than just a random newcomer with no connections. Georgie has well and truly made the role her own now though. 

 

 

22 hours ago, c120701 said:

Aside from John & Jet, I don’t think they’ve ever known what to do with her this time around.

Which makes the decision to split them up even more baffling. I get their role as foster parents was no longer needed, but they still could have remained married and perhaps taken in the odd lodger like Irene did.

[j.laur5]

2 hours ago, adam436 said:

It's weird they both dated Sid Walker, yet neither of those relationships lasted. Becoming step-mother to the Walkers and giving them an instant family would have given at least one of them a long-term purpose. Both were given husbands and foster children later, but the first few years of their returns they were just there. I would argue that Roo's return didn't even feel nostalgic because of the recast. She felt like a brand new character to me. I'd say it was a case of Alf needing a new "daughter" to replace Sally and giving Georgie Parker, who was a massive signing for H&A at the time, a character with meaningful connections rather than just a random newcomer with no connections. Georgie has well and truly made the role her own now though. 

 

 

Which makes the decision to split them up even more baffling. I get their role as foster parents was no longer needed, but they still could have remained married and perhaps taken in the odd lodger like Irene did.

I thought John and Marilyn would get back to together long before this. 
 

When John and Marilyn broke up in 2020 I thought their separation would only be temporary and they would be back together within 6 months. Now it’s been five years so looks like it’s permanent. 
 

2020 was awful season on many levels . 
 

 

[project90]

I never liked John and Marilyn but I stopped watching  start of 2012 and didn't start again till 2016 so I missed whole build up of John and Marilyn when I stopped watching John was still married to Gina so when I tune back in seeing these 2 married off was so random 

[James Martin]

I agree it made sense if you're signing Georgie Parker to have some heritage there, and it'd been 20 years since Justine Clarke had been onscreen.

I've got a real beef that they bought loads of characters back when Sally left, but not one has been bought back for Irene's exit, and I'd argue it's a bigger deal than Sally.  Lynne's not original cast, she didn't even originate Irene, but she's clocked up over 30 years on screen compared to Kate's 20.

People have argued "you could have recast Fin" but Emmerdale recast Tina Dingle for Zak Dingle's funeral (a storyline written as a direct result of the real life death of the actor) and... it didn't work.  I watched Emmerdale religiously in the 90's and didn't buy it.

You'd think they'd be able to get somebody back who could swing back in on learning of Irene's condition.

[adam436]

5 minutes ago, James Martin said:

I agree it made sense if you're signing Georgie Parker to have some heritage there, and it'd been 20 years since Justine Clarke had been onscreen.

I had no issues with the recast as such, I just didn't find anything about the return particularly nostalgic, even during her interactions with Alf and Colleen who were around in the Justine Clarke era. She was basically a new character in my eyes.

 

10 minutes ago, James Martin said:

People have argued "you could have recast Fin" but Emmerdale recast Tina Dingle for Zak Dingle's funeral (a storyline written as a direct result of the real life death of the actor) and... it didn't work.  I watched Emmerdale religiously in the 90's and didn't buy it.

I've never watched Emmerdale, but if the character of Finn was recast for the full dementia story arc, as opposed to just the exit episodes, maybe it would have worked. As long as the resemblence was there in terms of appearance and mannerisms too.

Duncan Stewart was recast for a guest role in 2016. Admittedly, the most memorable Duncan wasn't particularly liked, but they've proved they can recast former regulars for guest storylines when needed.

[CaptainHulk]

12 hours ago, James Martin said:

I agree it made sense if you're signing Georgie Parker to have some heritage there, and it'd been 20 years since Justine Clarke had been onscreen.

I've got a real beef that they bought loads of characters back when Sally left, but not one has been bought back for Irene's exit, and I'd argue it's a bigger deal than Sally.  Lynne's not original cast, she didn't even originate Irene, but she's clocked up over 30 years on screen compared to Kate's 20.

People have argued "you could have recast Fin" but Emmerdale recast Tina Dingle for Zak Dingle's funeral (a storyline written as a direct result of the real life death of the actor) and... it didn't work.  I watched Emmerdale religiously in the 90's and didn't buy it.

They were up against it and were s***ting themselves as they couldn't Jacqueline Pirie back so they hurridly chose her replacement.

[cymbaline]

According to the woman herself, they never asked

It's doubtful they asked Matt Doran or Tina Thomsen either, even though both are still in the industry. Matt gave an interview and sounded like he was keen to come back as Damian. Tina Thomsen runs an acting school and I'm sure she'd have been delighted to be asked back. 

[adam436]

2 hours ago, cymbaline said:

It's doubtful they asked Matt Doran or Tina Thomsen either, even though both are still in the industry. Matt gave an interview and sounded like he was keen to come back as Damian. Tina Thomsen runs an acting school and I'm sure she'd have been delighted to be asked back. 

It could have even been an opportunity to keep the "spirit" of Irene going through an adult grandchild, in much the same way Miles was introduced just weeks before Sally left for that reasoning. Paul and Mark would be in their late 20s by now, and Nathan and Grace could easily have children in their early 20s. Instead of just keep introducing more unconnected generic characters.

It would have been more desirable to have those characters while Irene was around (I've always maintained, given their chemistry, Johnny Ruffo would have been great as one of Finn's sons), but it would have kept the connection there.

Edited October 3 by adam436