SECRETS FROM THE BAY
As the theme song famously goes: ‘You know we belong together, you and I forever and ever. No matter where you are, you’re my guiding star.’ Thirty years after Home And Away debuted on our screens, these lyrics still say it all for fans of the show the world over. For just as it’s always summer in Summer Bay, viewers remain forever enthralled by the heartstopping moments of love, loss and laughter that make Home And Away one of the most awarded dramas in Aussie television history. To celebrate the show’s milestone birthday, Channel Seven has brought together the Bay’s favourite past and present stars for a very special event. Endless Summer – 30 Years of Home And Away sees everyone from Melissa George to Dannii Minogue, Dieter Brummer, Bec Hewitt, Steve Peacocke and Kate Ritchie reminiscing about their time on the series, while also revealing some astonishing behind-the-scenes secrets. Prepare, too, for a surprise reunion and, of course, lots of laughs – and even some tears.
Unknown teenagers when they joined the show back in 1988, Nicolle Dickson and Alex Papps soon became Summer Bay’s first sweethearts – Bobby and Frank.
As the show’s remaining original cast member Ray Meagher – who plays Alf ‘stone the flamin’ crows’ Stewart – recalls: ‘Alex was a good-looking young bloke and Nicolle was this pocket-rocket.’
And while it may have become something of a wellworn tradition for romance to blossom both on and off the set among the hot, young stars, Alex reveals that wasn’t the case for him and Nicolle.
‘Thankfully, no,’ he reveals in the special documentary hosted by Sunday Night’s Steve Pennells, to which Nicolle laughingly adds: ‘It was easy, there was nothing kind of awkward.’
Fellow original cast member Kate Ritchie was only eight when she made her debut as Sally Fletcher. For the next 20 years, Kate lived and breathed Summer Bay as she literally grew up in front of the cameras. She even had to announce to all and sundry – as Sally, of course – that she was wearing her first bra. As Kate, now a real-life mum, knows, that is ‘mortifying at the best of times’.
‘It was awful, awful, but probably not as awful as kissing a boy on the telly for the first time and playing spin the bottle, and then having to sit in my
lounge room at home in Campbelltown and watch it with my dad,’ she recalls with a laugh.
Then there was Melissa George, who has gone on to star in mega-hit shows Friends and Grey’s Anatomy, but was a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Perth when she won the life-changing role of Angel.
While Melissa at one point in her career reportedly refused to talk about her time in the Bay, that’s no longer the case.
In fact, she now admits on the special to having been ‘completely star-struck’ when she joined the cast. ‘It was my favourite show,’ she says.
But what about the long- standing rumour that Melissa and her on-screen love Dieter Brummer – who played Shane – were anything but close when the cameras stopped rolling? Let’s just say that Dieter’s response is a candid one.
As for Bec Hewitt (Hayley), she did once date her Home And Away love interest Beau Brady (Noah) before leaving the Bay to marry and raise a family with Australian tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt. Few may remember, though, that Lleyton himself paid a visit to the Bay, popping up in the diner for a rather special cameo.
Again, speaking of life imitating art in the love stakes, Dannii Minogue certainly found romance on the hit show, in which she played Emma. As she now reveals with a smile, it was where she ‘met my future ex-husband’, Julian Mcmahon (who played Ben).
‘He stopped me in my tracks,’ she confesses now, also revealing she would love to one day return to Summer Bay.
More recently, the infamous River Boys, originally led by Brax (Stephen Peacocke), made major waves in the Bay. But you will certainly be surprised by some of the more senior members of the cast’s thoughts on the gang’s arrival. We also learn that the young actor who became the show’s most successful export – movie megastar Chris Hemsworth – was given a rather ironic pep-talk by one of his co-stars before farewelling the small coastal town. We’d love to know what he’d have to say about it now!
But while Home And Away has launched the careers of many of our biggest names, Ray believes there is no mistaking the biggest star – the show itself.
As the veteran actor sagely says: ‘None of us own Home And Away. We are just caretakers.’