2026 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

18 hours ago, James Martin said:

I'd do it as a 1 hour special on the Thursday.

Obviously you can do that if you like, but with a small number of exceptions, the show's designed to be watched an episode at a time.We did have a period, before the schedule went completely random, where Oz was showing the last two episodes of the block on Thursday, and the way the show's made means they do often focus on the same characters and storylines, but you can still see the join where Sonny's only in 8809 and Abigail's only in 8810.

Alf's episode count this week:Three.

Well, the anniversary celebration went well, Remi's tantrum aside (which was very annoying and unnecessary). I was a bit wary of Cash presenting Eden with that round the world trip for "when" she gets better, but fortunately Eden seemed to accept it in the spirit it was offered. Nice moment between Eden and Mackenzie, and Levi continued to be good form with his attempt to hide that he told Cash the truth. Levi and Mackenzie had a fair point with Abby: It's not like Richie being around is a secret so Eden and Cash deserve that conversation.

The Langhams' lunch was just the right balance of pleasant and awkward. I like that they're not instantly playing happy families and, while Lacey is accepting it and can tell on one level that Amelia being there is a good thing, she's not immediately 100% comfortable with it. I did feel sorry for her when her contribution got ruined, although it gave Amelia a chance to show off her instant dessert skills. Jo didn't seem that comfortable either. There was a cringey moment where she declares that she doesn't know Amelia as well as David and then everyone's thinking "Did you really just say that?" I thought it was unfair of her to reassure Lacey that they're not going to hide the photos away and then cover up the one of David and Kristina anyway, especially since Amelia didn't seem to mind.

[James Martin]

Ironically, I feel with some re-ordering of scenes, the two episodes spanning the respective anniversaries would have worked better in one sitting as both straddled the same event.  I do know for doubles and triples the scenes on the Aussie TX are edited/ordered slightly differently to what we see (usually for the season finale which is written with the intention of being a telemovie for Australia - it's the only double/triple that is presented as one feature-length episode on 7+ whereas the others are divvied up in the way they are for the rest of the world.)

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Curious how you can "book" a trip without giving specific dates for said trip.  Sounds weird.  

[Slade]

I'm glad Alf gave the letter from Zane to Marilyn because I didn't necessarily agree with Mali giving it to Alf in the first instance, although to be fair to him had Mali done that without going through Alf first, I suspect Alf would have had a go at him.

I enjoyed the last two episodes this week.  Whilst I think Remi had a point about Abigail fessing up to Eden and Cash about Richie, given how he supported Sonny with Dana regarding the whole Beau thing, I was a little disappointed at how he was talking to her and thought he was a bit harsh.  I was struggling to understand why they were so worried about Cash's reaction.  I was on the belief his wife is very ill and didn't think he would be too bothered about Richie, so I wasn't surprised when Richie came to tell him he had moved back to the bay, after a little bit of back and forth Cash said he didn't care.  Initially I did raise an eyebrow to Eden's response and then when she went to seek Abigail out at Salt.  I did enjoy that scene, particularly how scared Mackenzie looked, being particularly fearful of Eden in her own restaurant.  At least we got an explanation why Eden reacted so strongly to Abigail not telling her about Richie and Mackenzie and Levi also knowing about this.

Personally, I don't mind Richie.  I do think there is a funny side to him and I've enjoyed the scenes with him and Leah since he moved in.  However, as I mentioned before I think Leah's been quite selfish moving Richie in.  She's put Justin in virtually impossible position.  It's going to look very bad with David and Justin can't exactly throw Richie out because Leah's thinking of Theo when helping Richie, so he would look like the bad guy then.  Leah, based on her interaction with David and Lacey, apparently, doesn't seem to care how housing Richie will affect them.  Maybe not care is harsh, but it is a little surprising, given how after a rough start she effectively took Lacey under her wing and supported her, particularly during the time with that guy that got obsessed with her.  She's not prioritised the friendship with David and how this will affect it.

[H&Alover]

On 23/10/2026 at 19:39, c120701 said:

 

Leah said her roster was full at the Diner, guess she covered Zane’s shifts with existing staff (or decided she didn’t need the extra head).

Wouldn't have been the best of Leah's ideas  to employ Richie at the Diner, she'd certainly lose two of her customers, Cash and David  not forgetting Lacey and Jo.   

[H&Alover]

Remi did keep his rant at Abby low key but he repeated what everyone, including us, have been  saying she has to tell Cash before he finds out another way. You can keep putting it off  it off because  it's not the right moment, but there is never  a right moment, although I concede  the Wedding Anniversary wasn't one. 

Anyways as it turned out Richie took the bit between his teeth and went to Cash's and told him himself which was pretty gutsy in my eyes.  It was, as it turned out, Eden who took it the worst being kept in the dark about Richie being back and how long he and Abby have been back together and who else knew about it.  Richie said he knows he hurt Abby by leaving but as I have saying he didn't have much of a choice, he lost his job, his lodgings and the respect of his boss and people in the bay so decided a clean break was the  best thing to do.  Sonny could be excused as he only found out the  previous day. She understandably got angry because they felt she shouldn't know because of her condition and the  usual line  line of 'protecting her' DIDN'T  go down well. She DOESN'T want to be defined as 'poor' Eden who has a life threatening  illness so can't be told any upsetting  news.  I did though  when Eden yelled out Abigail Fowler when he saw Abby and Richie in that clinch at Salt, you  know you are definitely in trouble if a relative uses your full name.  

I'm supposing Leah was trying to be discreet when David and Lacey rocked up at the Coffee Cart, Maz, it seems is in on in the secret.  Is Alf in on it? Going to be an awkward conversation between Leah, Justin and David at some point.  Oddly enough she had mentioned Justin and David's friendship to Richie.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

I did find Richie annoying initially, but now he's back he seems to have grown up a bit and behaving more like the adult he's supposed to be.  

[pembie]

Richie and David’s interactions make me laugh because Richie is David’s real life Freddie Krueger

Not keen when Richie is with Abby I don’t remember him as cheesy before he left 

[Red Ranger 1]

To be honest, it's hard to see how anyone could have done right here. It was a bad misstep sending Richie to tell Eden that he and Abigail are together because that just rubbed salt into the wound, but ultimately the problem wasn't that she was told or even really that there was something to tell, but when she was told, and that ship had long since sailed in a cloud of good intentions. It is frustrating to see Eden lay into her family on the grounds they kept her out of the loop but I'm hoping it won't last long, since it seems to be coming from a fear of slowly losing them.

And of course, Leah's repeating the same mistake, albeit without the unintentional subtext of "We don't need to tell you because you'll be dead soon." The penny took a long time dropping for Marilyn but she got there in the end. I did like the chats between David and Lacey. I'm trying to remember what we've seen of Alf since Richie moved in, I feel like he's probably been told?

[c120701]

5 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

And of course, Leah's repeating the same mistake, albeit without the unintentional subtext of "We don't need to tell you because you'll be dead soon." The penny took a long time dropping for Marilyn but she got there in the end. I did like the chats between David and Lacey. I'm trying to remember what we've seen of Alf since Richie moved in, I feel like he's probably been told?

I don’t think so as he had to go to Reefton Lakes which seems to have taken several days as he’s phoning John seemingly from afar, unless he’s gone back to Merimbula.