Home and Away

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Home and Away
Image:Home and Away Logo.jpg 2007 opening credits
Format	Soap opera
Created by	Alan Bateman
Country of origin	Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia
No. of episodes	4560 (as of 30th November, 2007)
Production
Running time	Approx 22 minutes per episode (excluding commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Picture format	PAL (576i), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	January 17, 1988 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

Home and Away (also commonly abbreviated in writing to H&A) is a Logie-winning soap opera that is produced in Sydney by the Seven Network since July 1987. It premiered on 17 January, 1988 and is now one of the longest-running series on Australian television.

The show initially focused on the characters of Pippa and Tom Fletcher who ran the Summer Bay Caravan Park and lived there with a succession of foster children, but the show has expanded and now explores the lives of various characters of Summer Bay.

The success of Home and Away has caused the show to be broadcasted in many countries including United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, Estonia, France, Norway, Sweden, Israel and many Asian countries.

Contents 1 History 2 Storylines 3 Cast 3.1 Credited cast 3.2 Recurring cast members 3.3 Upcoming 3.4 Departing 3.5 Deceased cast members 4 Production and broadcast schedule 4.1 Broadcasts 5 Theme song 6 Awards and accolades 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

In 1985 the Seven Network axed the poorly-rating soap Neighbours^[1], but they were unaware that Network Ten, a rival television network, was in talks with the production team to air the soap on their network in 1986.

When Neighbours returned to television on Network Ten in 1986, it initially attracted low ratings.^[2] The Network worked hard to publicise Neighbours^[3] and their hard work was paid off when its popularity grew, by the end of 1987 it was attracting high ratings in Australia.^[4]In October 1986, Neighbours started to broadcast in the UK, where it began to attract strong viewing figures.

In late 1986, Network Seven's head of drama, Alan Bateman was tasked with creating a pilot for a soap opera that was in no way a copy of Neighbours. Bateman soon found his inspiration when he stopped in Kangaroo Point, New South Wales on a family outing. Chatting to locals, Bateman discovered that the townspeople were angered over the construction of a home for foster children from the city. Seeing the degree of conflict the plan for the new youth centre had produced within the community, Bateman recognised the drama that could be generated by this situation and began to develop it as the basis for the new soap opera.^[5]

[edit] Storylines

The soap originally centered around Pippa Ross (Debra Lawrance) and foster children, right up until Pippa's departure in 1998. Notable foster children include Bobby Simpson (Nicolle Dickson), Sophie Simpson (Rebekah Elmaloglou), Carly Lucini (Sharyn Hodgson), Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), Shannon Reed (Isla Fisher), Justine Welles (Bree Desborough), and one of the longest-serving cast members, Kate Ritchie who has grown up on screen as Sally Fletcher. The Stewart family was also featured since the series' premiere. Town veteran Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher) lived in the bay with his daughter Roo Stewart (Justine Clark) and sisters Celia (Fiona Spence) and Morag (Cornelia Frances). He married Ailsa Hogan (Judy Nunn) in 1988 and this couple was a mainstay in the show up until Ailsa's death in 2000.

From 2000-2004 the show centered around the highly dramatic Sutherland family, who provided many storylines, including a mine shaft collapse, long-lost children, switched-at-birth babies, a sexual assault, criminal charges, and fake miscarriages. 2003 saw the emergance of the Hunter family and the eventual merging of these two families through marriage. Since then, the Sutherland-Hunter clan has seen it's numbers dwindle in the Bay; Matilda Hunter (Indiana Evans) is the sole remaining member.

In 2004, the show returned to its roots with Sally Fletcher and her now late husband Flynn Saunders (Joel McIlroy) fostering children, in a similar arc to how Pippa once fostered Sally herself. The fostered children included Alf's long-lost grandson Ric Dalby (Mark Furze) and orphan Cassie Turner (Sharni Vinson).

2005 saw Summer Bay in the clutches of the Summer Bay Stalker and Sally was later kidnapped by Zoe (aka Eve Jacobsen). Zoe was revealed to have a connection to Sarah Lewis, a psychopath who had years before shot and killed Summer Bay local Noah Lawson (Beau Brady) and then herself. Zoe later returned in 2006 to wreak havoc on Jack Holden (Paul O'Brien) and Martha Mackenzie's (Jodi Gordon) wedding, injuring many but was killed herself.

In early 2006, Flynn died from skin cancer, with Alf Stewart moving in to help run the Caravan Park. Sally later found love with Brad Armstrong (Chris Sadrinna). In the 2006 season finale she was stabbed; a culmination of Sally fostering a young teen, Rocco, whose family had connections to gangs and who pressured him to rid Sally from their lives. By the end of 2006, Jack and Martha had also separated.

As 2007 drew to a close, Dan Baker (Tim Campbell) departed Summer Bay, Brad Armstrong left Summer Bay for a teaching job in Tasmania along with his half-sister Tamsyn and her mother Heather McCabe, while Jack and his new love Sam were wed, despite there being unresolved feelings between Jack and Martha, his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Ric's relationship with Matilda was all but over after newcomer Viv Anderson, who successfully lured Ric from her, fell pregnant with Ric's child. Matilda found out at Jack and Sam's wedding, and told Ric to stay out of her life for good.

Long time resident for 20 years Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) Departs Summer Bay in April 2008 with daughters Pippa and Cassie.

Season 21 of Home and Away begins at 19:00 on January 28, 2008.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Credited cast

Actor	Character	Years in Show
Ray Meagher	Alf Stewart	1988 - Present
Kate Ritchie	Sally Fletcher	1988 - 2008
Lynne McGranger	Irene Roberts	1992 - Present
Cornelia Frances	Morag Bellingham	1988-1989, 1993, 2001, 2002-2003, 2004-2007, 2007- Present
Lyn Collingwood	Colleen Smart	1988-1989, 1997, 1999 - Present
Ada Nicodemou	Leah Patterson-Baker	2000 - Present
Indiana Evans	Matilda Hunter	2004 - Present
Mark Furze	Ric Dalby	2004 - Present
Sharni Vinson	Cassie Turner	2005 - 2008
Jodi Gordon	Martha MacKenzie	2005 - Present
Todd Lasance	Aden Jefferies	2005, 2007- Present
Jon Sivewright	Tony Holden	2005 - Present
Paul O'Brien	Jack Holden	2005 - Present
Rhys Wakefield	Lucas Holden	2005 - 2008
Amy Matthews	Rachel Armstrong	2006 - Present
Jessica Tovey	Belle Taylor	2006 - Present
Bobby Morley	Drew Curtis	2006 - 2008
Charlotte Best	Annie Campbell	2007 - Present
Lincoln Lewis	Geoff Campbell	2007 - Present
Conrad Coleby	Roman Harris	2007 - Present

[edit] Recurring cast members

Actor	Character
Josh Quong Tart	Miles Copeland
Felix Dean	V. J. Patterson
Rebecca George	Const. Lara Fitzgerald
Lisa Hayson-Phillips	Nurse Julie Cooper
Kim Knuckley	Sgt. Darren McGrath
Chloe Marshall	Pippa Saunders
Jessica Chapnik	Sam Holden
Jack Richard	Rory Tolhurst
Sam North	Dom Moran

[edit] Upcoming

Actor	Character	Status
Callan Mulvey	Johnny Cooper	Returns January 2008
Holly Brisley	Amanda Baker	Returns February 2008
Bob Baines	Martin Bartlett	Debuts February 2008
Rachel Gordon	Jazz Curtis	Returns February 2008
Jade Wilson	unknown	Debuts April 2008

[edit] Departing

Actor	Character	Status
Jessica Chapnick	Sam Holden	Departs February 2008
Rhys Wakefield	Lucas Holden	Departs February 2008
Kate Ritchie	Sally Fletcher	Departs April 2008
Chloe Marshall	Pippa Saunders	Departs April 2008
Sharni Vinson	Cassie Turner	Departs April 2008
Bobby Morley	Drew Curtis	Departs 2008

[edit] Deceased cast members

Actor	Role	Duration	Year of death
Megan Connolly	Rebecca Nash	1998 (temporary recast)	2001
Gwen Plumb	Doris Peters	1988 (guest)	2002
Belinda Emmett	Rebecca Nash	1996-1999	2006
Richard Morgan	Donahue	1989 (guest)	2006

[edit] Production and broadcast schedule

The show is filmed five days a week for 46 weeks of the year. The crew is given a four week holiday at Christmas and a two week break for recuperation mid-year. There are an average of eight weeks between shooting and airing the program. All interiors for the show are filmed at Seven Sydney's Epping studios. The exterior scenes are filmed on location mainly at Palm Beach and at Fisherman's Beach, Collaroy in Sydney's Northern Beaches region.

[edit] Broadcasts

Home and Away is broadcast in Australia on weekdays at 7:00 p.m. The show airs for 46 weeks each year (except for occasions where worldwide events take priority such as the Olympic Games). Each new season begins on the second Monday in January, and the season finale airs on the last Friday of the ratings period, at the end of November (the 2006 season however, started, and finished, one week later than normal). The show rates very well in its time slot, receiving between 1.1 and 1.5 million viewers per episode.

[edit] Theme song

The theme's lyrics have remained the same since the pilot episode, but have been gradually reduced in length to keep newer versions of the song at a shorter length. The theme was released as a single in the UK in 1989 and peaked at #73 on the UK single charts. ^[6] The single track includes the opening and closing themes and an additional saxophone section. Since the launch of the 1995 version of the theme tune, extracts from the second verse of the full-length soundtrack have been used to close the show, as opposed to an edited version of the opening song which was used until this point. The theme was shortened in 1996, and again in 2004.

• Version 1: Mark Williams and Karen Boddington (1988-1995)
• Version 2: Doug Williams and Erana Clark (1995-1999)
• Version 3: The Robertson Brothers (2000-2003)
• Version 4: The Robertson Brothers (2004-2006)
• Version 5: Israel Cannan (2007)
• Version 6: Luke Dolahenty (2007-)

The current theme was recorded by 20-year-old actor and musician Luke Dolahenty. Originally, Israel Cannan sang the theme in early 2007, but due to complaints from fans, Network Seven decided to re-record it, making it the shortest running theme song in the program history.

[edit] Awards and accolades

Main article: List of Home and Away awards

Home and Away has been nominated for, and won numerous awards throughout its twenty year broadcast history. Most notably, the show has won 27 Logie Awards.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Home and Away Directory
• Home and Away on Network Seven
• Home and Away on five.tv
• Weekly episode guide for UK and cast interviews

v • d • e Home and Away
Characters	All characters · Current characters · Recurring characters
Current characters	Annie Campbell · Geoff Campbell · Drew Curtis · Sally Fletcher  · Roman Harris  · Jack Holden · Lucas Holden · Tony Holden · Aden Jefferies  · Martha MacKenzie · Irene Roberts · Colleen Smart · Alf Stewart · Belle Taylor · Cassie Turner
Related articles	Awards · Summer Bay · Theme song

fr:Summer Bay

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