Home and Away/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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

Introduced in the 80's

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:

Ailsa Stewart

Year Introduced: 1988
Played by: Judy Nunn

Tropes associated with Ailsa:

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

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:

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:

Marilyn Chambers (previously Fisher)

Year Introduced: 1989
Tropes associated with Marilyn:

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.

Introduced in the 90's

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:


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:

Introduced in the 2000's

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.