First viewed : Early 1989
This Aussie soap arrived in the UK in February 1989 on ITV to do battle with the BBC's Neighbours although they weren't directly scheduled against each other. Ironically, Home and Away only came about because Australia 's Seven network realised what a blunder they'd made in selling Neighbours to a rival company and needed to re-enter the soap market. Home and Away was based around a fostering couple bringing troubled children to an idyllic beachside community, the fictional Summer Bay. The concept allowed for regular replenishment of the young cast. While Home and Away never managed to launch stars to rival Kylie and Jason , it did become popular in its own right and it's generally thought that British interest is what's kept the show afloat over the years.
I initially dipped into it to look for Prisoner faces but finding only minor players Ray Meagher and Judy Nunn as the local shopkeepers I didn't linger.
I came back to it in 1991 for a glimpse at what Dannii Minogue's acting ability was like but was soon distracted by the lovely Rebekah Elmaloglou. She played Sophie Simpson and was only 17. She was short and clearly had some youthful skin problems but my goodness what a rack, huge and completely natural. I remember a young girl on our team called Rachel saying her boyfriend was transfixed by them and watched it religiously just to drool over her. I can't say many of the storylines grabbed me. I remember one about a boy getting a puppy to impress the girls and a doomed romance because the girl was dying of leukaemia which was quite touching but that's all.
Eventually, even phenomenal boobs weren't enough to keep me watching and I checked out before Sophie did. The show continues to run on Channel 5. Elmaloglou quit the show in 1992 suffering from nervous exhaustion but never found regular work and returned to Summer Bay as an adult Sophie in the early noughties. Since 2013 she has had a regular role in Neighbours.
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