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Home and Away facts for kids

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Home and Away (often called H&A) is an Australian soap opera that has been made in Sydney by the Seven Network since July 1987. The show first aired on 17 January 1988 with a two hour pilot. It is set in Summer Bay, a fictional town in New South Wales. It stars Samara Weaving with Jessica Falkholt and Cornelia Frances.

In July 2005, Home and Away celebrated its 4000th episode.

Home and Away has been sold to over eighty countries around the world, making it one of Australia's most successful media exports. In the UK, it and Neighbours, another Australian soap opera, are the most popular of the genre that are filmed internationally, with them both airing on Channel 5. It is one of the highest-rating shows on RTÉ Television in Ireland and TVNZ 2 in New Zealand. In Australia, Home and Away is the most awarded program at the Logie Awards, with a total of forty-eight wins, including Most Popular Drama Program. Some cast members have won several other awards such as the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor, and Most Popular Actress. In 2015, Home and Away was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.

Cast and characters

Ray Meagher
Ray Meagher (Alf Stewart) is currently the only remaining original cast member in Home and Away.

When Home and Away began in January 1988, it initially focused on the "Fletcher" family – Tom (Roger Oakley) and his wife Pippa (Vanessa Downing), and their five foster children, Frank Morgan (Alex Papps), Carly Morris (Sharyn Hodgson), Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), Lynn Davenport (Helena Bozich), and Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) – who relocated from the city to live in the seaside town of Summer Bay. At the end of the first episode, Tom and Pippa take in their sixth foster child Bobby Simpson (Nicolle Dickson).

The Fletchers bought the Summer Bay Caravan Park and moved into the Summer Bay House. They quickly built strong friendships with the locals, Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), Ailsa Hogan (Judy Nunn) and retired carnival workers Neville (Frank Lloyd) and Floss McPhee (Sheila Kennelly), and town locals including surfer Matt Wilson (Greg Benson) and local yobbos Lance Smart and Martin Dibble, (Peter Vroom and Craig Thomson), whilst having a bitter rivalry with school headmaster Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn).

They were joined in the third episode by Alf Stewart's rebellious daughter Roo Stewart (Justine Clarke) and within the first month by his sister Celia Stewart (Fiona Spence), who portrayed a similar busybody role to what Gwen Plumb played in the pilot.

While Home and Away features a mix of young cast members and older, more experienced actors, the show has always had a definite youth focus, with the younger characters dominating much of the storylines.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Home and Away para niños

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