These two Woman have Destroyed and Taken a way everything Home and away every was for there twisted vision I though Cameron welsh was bad but jesus these two took it to the next level... Gone are the heart warming and fun Storylines with a good mix of Characters and Drama for non stop Bad Boy and romance....

Sadly they brought in so many teens who drool over the Braxtons she will keep her job but she has pushed away many of the shows loyal fans and the name is becoming the only recognizable factor left....

Any thoughts?

Totally agree. Time for both to leave. Will add in my thoughts later on . Love this thread!!

I really can't stand many of the characters brought in in the past year. The MacGuires are so boring, they're a horrible replacement for the Walkers. Not loving any of the girls brought in for the Braxtons either.

Need some Hollyoaks-style disaster for a cast clear out. Keep Alf, Irene, Marilyn, Roo, John, Jett, Brax, Leah, Nate, Josh, Spencer and Chris and out with the rest.

move alf roo ect out of the carvan park and have a proper core family revamp the dinner back into a spacious bright set making it central again bring back even a 30 second theme we dont need a huge one minute recap 20 seconds is enough for that

it needs a total overhaul but i think they want to make it some hip new drama instead of what its meant to be....

are you the same james c of backtobay used to be such a vibrant and buzzing community but people dont seem as bothererd anymore

they need to stop all the bed hoping. The Braxtons are popilar in this house but i agree the macguires are totally dire!

Yep I am the same person on BTTB. "JamesC10"

I agree, there used to be lots of interesting discussions there but many long-term posters don't post on there anymore (not surprised because of the crap Home and Away storylines).

Home and Away is a very different show nowadays. Obviously they need to keep up with the times and make it "modern" but I don't like how Lucy and Louise have completely chnaged the show. Home and Away has been turned into a teen soap like Hollyoaks. It's fair to say that they have lost a lot of long-term fans and gained many new younger viewers. These days, the "new" viewers seem to watch the show just for the Braxtons.

The Braxtons always get dominant storylines and we never get a break from them. Heath and Casey are leaving the show but my main fear is that when the Braxtons leave the show, they will replace them with carbon copies or another set of "bad boys" from Mangrove River.

We have lost several long-term characters under Lucy and Louise but what annoys me is that they replaced Gina, Sid, Harvey, Colleen, etc with many new young characters.

The McGuires are so frustating. It's fantastic they have a new family but the family set up is a bit confusing. Why can't Lucy and Louise introduce an OLDER mother and father for the McGuires?!?

I am not gonna bother commenting on the Braxtons because you all know why the Braxtons annoy some people

Lynne McGranger have BEGGED producers to give Irene some new family members. She has grandchildren and of course she has her own children. Lucy and Louise have ignored Lynne's suggestions. I feel so sad for her because the writers promised her that they will explore more of Irene's family, but no they can't be bothered. Lucy and Louise have NOT given Irene a big storyline or a purpose :/. Why are Lucy and Louise never give her more screentime?

Apart from Ricky and Nate, all the characters they have introduced are bland/boring. What is the point of Matt?!? He is pointless because he has no relatives and he seems to be there because he gives Sasha a purpose in Summer Bay.

When they introduced Sally Fletcher back in the Bay in 2013, it was good but they didn't research about Mitochondrial disease properly. I hate that Sally's 2nd farewell is a bit sad because Pippa could die. Sally is an iconic character and an original and we STILL don't know if Pippa has survived the treatment. They didn't mention anything about Senior Pippa, FFS.

There is no warm Summer Bay feel in the community anymore. They don't invest in friendships nowadays. It's also REALLY hard to invest in couples because we know they won't last as they always split up. WHY does the majority of storylines are about romance?!? I had to suffer watching an entire episode on just romance storylines. I couldn't care less! I want proper compelling storylines. They need to focus more on characterisation.

At least Lucy and Louise are doing a good job with Marilyn/John/Jett. But they need to leave the show and let someone else take over and understand Home and Away roots.

On and on guys, if you don't enjoy watching it anymore don't bother its as simple as that

Yes, there's a difference between making the show move with the times and completely changing what the show was all about.


We already have a new Heath and Casey in the form of Andy and Josh Barrett. We also have a new Brax and Charlie relationship with Andy and Hannah. It's a carbon copy of their relationship in that they're on and off more times than I care to remember and Hannah has lost all sense of perspective when it comes to the things Andy has done wrong, just like Charlie did before her.

Um... No. If you like this zombie version of Home & Away that's fine. But don't tell people what they can & can't watch.

Sally and Pippa's return was a massive flop of a storyline and it really should be completely wiped out of existence. How can Sally realistically cope after losing her daughter? Thus making a future return for Pippa and even Sally merely impossible.

Producers really should think before coming up with stories that will have a disastrous effect in the future.

Well how far do you wanna go down the rabbit hole?

It has been said it was done because it gives Kate Ritchie the excuse of possibly never having to come back and gave the producers the chance for Brax to be the drug dealer with a heart of gold to a legacy character such as Sally.

It has lost the balance well and truly. Where is the mix of comedy, drama and everyday scenes? Why is the cast split in 3 - chopping veg in diner group, boring romances group and crimes and in hospital every other week group. Where is the surprise twists of the past? It needs a new production team to sort it out fast.

I agree with everyone else on here. Home and Away used to be my all time favourite show but it isn't anymore. I still watch it but I get frustrated with the show. They don't have many long term characters nowadays :/

watched it since the beginning and stop watching about 6 months ago. its just not the same.

I catch the odd episode every few months, and I feel there are a handful of characters that work (outside of Alf, Marilyn, Leah, Irene and Roo): Ricky, Spencer, Chris, John, Jett, Kyle and Nate... but the rest are either bland or quite identi-kit.

TPTB don't seem to be able to create dynamic, fun, characters with individual personalities. Or storylines to match. Everyone who's a fan will remember the days of: Sally, Pippa, Michael, Ailsa, Bobby, Morag, Steven, Selina, Jesse, Chloe, Travis, Rebecca, Fisher, Joey, Saul, Angie, Josie, Tasha, Amanda, Belle, Aidan, to name a few... These characters weren't tied up on a merry-go-round of romance storylines or crime story-of-the-week, like the Braxtons.

H&A has lost its identity and tone. I know it had to modernize and evolve to stay alive, but they have completely taken it in the opposite direction. But Lucy Addario and Louise Bowes won't be going anywhere, as the ratings are up and consistently good, and that's all that matters to the execs at Seven. They will see the revamped H&A has being a success, disregarding the fact that quantity doesn't always equal quality.

H&A is a curious case as some elements have improved, such as the use of the beach setting and the various interiors. They are superior to all other soaps IMO. The problem is the characters and storylines are dreadful. I think it's unlikely to chance as ratings are holding down under though I don't think they are fantastic. But still not bad enough to warrant a panic, which is perhaps what happened at Neighbours and led to good results. H&A will have to hit rock bottom down under first and that seems unlikely with it's timeslot giving it total security. Here in the UK it doesn't seem to matter what the viewers say.

its not even the crime we had that in the stalker storyline sarah ect its the lack of feeling for the characters dex was the last character that had any type of personality of the younger crowd the rest are just plain Dull the Show needs a total overhaul with new family and a few returnees to try bring back the old fans

The Braxtons, particularly Brax himself, have all been overused since they first appeared. I especially don't like how they keep trying to make out that Brax is this wonderful, amazing person. Before, Charlie was a good cop who didn't turn corrupt. But she became completely entranced by him and became corrupt to save him from being arrested. The producers got him to be the one that donated enough money for Sally's daughter, Pippa, being able to go to America to get treatment, which is what you referenced above. And on top of that, it was an anonymous donation so that he wouldn't get the credit for it from the other characters. It felt like it was written like that to get the viewers to think, "How lovely is he to do something like that and not to expect any credit for it". They could very easily have had Sally's foster mother, Pippa and others like Carly and Steven to briefly return and help out in whichever way they could. Or failing that, there could have been just a little mention of them. But there was literally no reference to any of them. Her foster family, particularly Pippa, would have absolutely have tried to help out.

Some glimmers of the old H&A popping up especially with John and Marilyn, so maybe there is hope? I thought all the stuff with her engagement ring was quite sweet.

Can't believe you left Shannon off the list

When I watch H&A I only half concentrate on it as it loses my interest sometimes and therefore apart from the older characters and the Braxtons and a small handful of others there are some characters whose names I still don't know. Some other posters on this thread have mentioned the Maguires. Who are they? Are they the male & female twins? If so can someone explain how the male teacher who lives with them is related to them and also how the female doctor is related to them aswell? Also is the girl who works at the bait shop related to them?

I've watched H&A for over 20 yrs but this last couple of years I cannot give a damn about half of the characters on the show and I also couldn't care less about the teens and them going from one relationship to another in a blink of an eye.

I used to love this show - even when they had some kind of disaster every other week, I still loved it because it had some really strong characters and exciting storylines (Aden, Belle, Miles, Jack, Tony and Rachel), but since the River Boys rocked up in the Bay, the show has because crime obsessed and everything seems to revolve around them. I feel sorry for the likes of Leah and Irene who are interesting characters who seem to merely dish out advice and cups of tea. Bring back family storylines and decent relationship storylines. Sadly, the ratings in Australia are still holding up well, so I doubt we'll ever see the show return to its roots.

Actually the ratings in Australia are not that fantastic. Most nights I've noticed it rates lower than the show before it - a news show - and also the show that comes after it. That can't be good as means a chunk of viewers switch the channel while it's on. Perhaps though this was always the case does anybody know? My source for ratings is tvtonight.com.au