Home and Away/Characters

Since the show has had Loads and Loads of Characters since day one, it's high time we got started on one of these.

Alf Stewart
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Ray Meagher (with Robert Jago playing him as a Timeshifted Actor in flashbacks)

Makes sense to start with him: He's the only character to stay with the show since the first episode. He started out as the most sane member of Summer Bay's most influential family, and has since undergone considerable Character Development to become the Cool Old Guy. He has two children and two grandchildren (neither of whom use the Stewart name). He has another illegitimate daughter but she was largely forgotten after 1995.

Tropes associated with Alf:


 * Cool Old Guy: This guy is the Bay.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: One other thing Alf is remembered for is using outdated Australian euphemisms.
 * Memetic Molester: Rape Dungeon.
 * Timeshifted Actor: Played by The Faceless Robert Jaco for a 2010 story that showed him in 1987.
 * Also appears as a child in flashbacks

Ailsa Stewart
Year Introduced: 1988 Played by: Judy Nunn

Tropes associated with Ailsa:


 * Dropped a Bridge on Him
 * Sympathetic Murderer: The revelation of her father beating her mothe and sibligs invokes this trope.

Sally Fletcher (née Copeland, previously Keating)
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Kate Ritchie

Second longest serving cast member (and longest serving regular female cast member), Sally first appeared in the pilot episode too, when her foster family bought the caravan park from Alf. When first we saw her, she had adjusted well to her life with the Fletchers, leaving only her imaginary friend Milko. She went on to grow up before the eyes of the nation, eventually taking on a teaching job at the high school (and becoming principal after Fisher). She eventually discovered she had a long-lost brother, "Milco" (Miles Copeland), who took over her position in the cast.

Tropes associated with Sally:


 * Expansion Pack Past: We weren't told about Miles until after he first appeared: her name was given as "Keating" until it changed.
 * Happily Adopted: By Tom and Pippa in 1989.

Tom Fletcher
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Roger Oakley

Pippa Fletcher/Ross
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Carole Willessee (pilot, scenes cut) Vanessa Downing (1988-90), Debra Lawrence (1990-8, with guest appearances thereafter)

Colleen Smart (née Hickey)
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Lyn Collingwood

Mother to Lance (or "my Lancie" as she calls him), town gossip, and the bane of Morag's life. As Irene once said, there's no one in Summer Bay she hasn't offended at some point with her interfering gossipy ways. She recently found out she's the half-sister of Alf and Morag, much to her delight and their dismay.

Tropes associated with Colleen:

"Colleen: Ah, Constable Risotto!
 * Gossip Evolution
 * Malaproper: To give one example:

Angelo Rosetta: That's Sergeant Risotto now, Colleen."


 * Promotion to Opening Titles:2000.

Morag Bellingham (née Stewart)
Alf's formidable lawyer sister. Not the nicest of people when she first appeared, she's mellowed a bit over the years and now helps out with the many legal problems Summer Bay's residents get themselves into. Still not someone to cross though....

Tropes associated with Morag:


 * Heel Face Turn: After Alf suffered his brain tumour.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Good Is Not Nice
 * Large Ham

Donald Fisher
Year Introduced: 1988 Played By: Norman Coburn

Third-longest serving original character (although Irene has since overtaken him). Initially the school principal.

Tropes associated with Fisher:


 * Heel Face Turn: After his son Alan's death.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a hardass, He genuinely cared for his students at times (Viv, Shane, Angel, etc)

Marilyn Chambers (previously Fisher)
Year Introduced: 1989

Tropes associated with Marilyn:


 * Genki Girl
 * Psychic Powers
 * Prophecy Twist: Her 2010 storyline revolved her best friend Mitzy predicting her death. During the year, she sold her possessions and got her affairs in order...only to be dead for about 5 minutes after drowning.
 * A 99 44/100% Unfortunate Name

Martha Mackenzie (née Stewart, previously Holden)
Tropes associated with Martha:

Daughter of Ruth "Roo" Stewart and Brett Macklin, Martha was the second character born on the show (the first was Tom and Pippa's son Christopher). She was initially given up for adoption but made her way back to the Bay many years later.


 * Fatal Attractor: OK, so one guy turned out to be Not Quite Dead, but still...
 * Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome
 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad
 * Wangst
 * Also a milder example of The Other Darrin, being played by Burcin Kapkin in her early years, with Jodi Gordon playing her when she returned.

Michael Ross
Year Introduced: 1990 Played By: Dennis Coard

Pippa's second husband, introduced six months after Tom's death when someone decided Pippa as a single mother wasn't such a good idea after all. Considered a Replacement Scrappy for Tom by some fans, but, like The Other Pippa, lasted so much longer than the original that people forgot they weren't the originals.

Tropes associated with Michael:


 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Drowning trying to save Sam Marshall during the floods
 * Romance on the Set: Dennis Coard and Debra Lawrence married during their time on the show and are still together

Irene Roberts
Year Introduced: 1991 Played By: Jacqui Phillips/Lynne Mc Granger

Another long serving character. Irene arrived as Finlay and Damian's nasty alcoholic mother. She got her drinking under control, became a permanent fixture in the various diners, and fostered a truckload of waifs and strays.

Tropes associated with Irene:


 * Abusive Parents: Fin and Damien were removed from her care after she drunkenly tried to strangle them.
 * The Alcoholic
 * Fatal Attractor: Her husband Mud was an abusive cheat, fiance Ken died not long before they were due to get married, boyfriend Barry turned out to be a murderer, and her latest boyfriend Lou was killed by Hugo.
 * Heel Face Turn: She went from a villain to a pillar of the community.
 * The Other Darrin
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: 1994 Season
 * Psychic Powers: She had a premonition of Ken's death.

Leah Patterson-Baker (née Poulos, previously Patterson)
Tropes associated with Leah:


 * Fatal Attractor: Two dead husbands and a boyfriend who was nearly killed by a racist gang.
 * Out of Focus: For a while but she's getting more storylines now.

Miles Copeland
Originally introduced as a Spear Counterpart to Sally just before she left the show, Miles has evolved into his own character. He still retains some aspects of Sally (such as his kind and generous nature), but has developed a tendency to make odd Deadpan Snarker remarks about particularly stupid decisions he observes.


 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * (Yet another) Fatal Attractor: Lost his wife, Both Kirsty and Leah miscarried his unborn children.
 * Psychic Powers (again): Weirdest example on the page: His daughter Amber appeared to him as a ghost named Rabbit. Turned out she had psychic abilities, seeing the fire at the diner, his own (possible) death and the possible deaths of Leah, VJ and Elijah
 * Save Our Students
 * Why Won't You Die?: Has been fated to do so twice (Stabbing and ceiling fan, respectively). Both times failed.