Home and Away
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Home and Away is a weeknightly half-hour television soap opera produced in Australia. It is shown on the Seven Network in Australia and is exported to many countries, most notably the United Kingdom, where it briefly became the subject of a bidding war between ITV and Channel 5 (Channel 5 won). It has run since January 1988 and is still in production.
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Synopsis
It features the travails of the inhabitants of a fictional small coastal town in New South Wales called Summer Bay. The soap originally revolved around one family, which was Pippa and her foster children, who included Sophie and Sally. But it now has many different groups: the Hunter family; the Roberts family; the Hydes and the Saunders family.
As of 2004, the program concentrates on the family occupying and running the local caravan park who typically foster several teenagers.
Like Neighbours, Australia's other daily half-hour homegrown soap, it attracts a mainly teenage audience and features a constantly-rotating teenage cast with several older actors who tend to last considerably longer.
Cast
The current cast in Australia are: Rebecca Cartwright (as Hayley Lawson); Jason Smith (as Robbie Hunter); Isabel Lucas (as Tasha Andrews); Kip Gamblin (as Scott Hunter); Chris Hemsworth (as Kim Hyde); Kate Ritchie (as Sally Fletcher); Ivor Kants (as Barry Hyde); Ben Unwin (as Jesse McGregor); Ada Nicodemou (as Leah Patterson); Lynne McGranger (as Irene Roberts); Joel McIlroy (as Flynn Saunders); Lyn Collingwood (as Colleen Smart); Ray Meagher (as Alf Stewart); Clarissa House (as Beth Hunter); Tim Campbell (as Dan Baker); Indiana Evans (as Matilda Hunter); Tobi Atkins (as Henry Hunter); Laurie Foell (as Josie Russell).
Actors Kate Ritchie and Ray Meagher have been with the show since the first episode, the longest such run in Australian television history. Ritchie was aged nine and playing a character a year younger when the show began filming in late 1987. Her character, Sally, is now a teacher at the local high school, and became Acting Principal when Norman Coburn's character, Donald Fisher, the previous principal and fellow original cast member, left the show.
Successful former cast members include Tammin Sursok, Naomi Watts, Heath Ledger, Dannii Minogue, Julian McMahon, Simon Baker, and Melissa George.
Episodes
The popular program has seen various cliffhangers, often to end seasons; The Mudslide; Ailsa having a heart attack and dying; Gypsey and Leah both give birth, and Vinnie gets arrested; Shelley leaves the bay, Vinnie dies and Ailsa returns from the dead; The Sutherlands are buried alive and Tasha's mother is identified as Angela Russell; and most recently the hostage drama, where Noah dies and Leah finds out Vinnie isn't actually dead (although that was not a season ending cliffhanger, rather a cliffhanger to ensure viewers returned to the show after the show went on hiatus during the 2004 Athens Olympics).
The show saw a resurgence in popularity following the successful storyline revolving around the character Angela Russell played by Laurie Foell, who was so successful that after Angie was killed off, Laurie Foell was brought back to play Angie's cousin Josie. The show was also the basis of a spin off that the Seven Network is producing called Headland. However, it became a standalone show due to Channel 5's reluctance towards it (Channel 4 will be airing it instead). The show was originally to be titled Ten Degrees South, and previously Campus and Away From Home.
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. A normal shooting day is 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, but can go later if shooting goes over time. There are 8 weeks between shooting and airing the program. Much of the shots are taken in Channel Seven's Sydney Epping studio, as well as at Palm Beach in Sydney's Northern Beaches region.
As of 2004 Home and Away is broadcast in Australia on weekdays at 7:00 PM and in the UK weekdays at 6:00 PM, (repeated 12.30 AM weekdays and omnibus on Saturdays 7.55 AM - UK only). Other countries that broadcast Home and Away include: Belgium; Canada; Denmark; Estonia; Ireland; Israel; Lithuania; New Zealand; Norway; Poland; and Sweden.
As of 2005 Summer Bay is being hit by a stalker, someone who the residents know.
See also
External links
- Official Site (http://www.homeandaway.com.au)
- Home and Away Online Forum (http://www.dead-teddybears.com/homeandaway/forum)
- Home and Away Online (http://www.dead-teddybears.com/homeandaway)
- Home and Away : Back to the Bay (http://www.backtothebay.com)
- Back to the Bay : The Message Board (http://www.backtothebay.net/forum)
- Summer Bay Journal (http://www.summerbayjournal.com/)
- Summer Bay Journal Forum (http://www.chumster.co.uk/forum/?mforum=sbjforum)
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