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PG plots but Ray Meagher stays true

Violence in Summer Bay doesn't deter Ray Meagher from the core values of Home and Away.

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2013-04-16_2305Earlier this month Home and Away dabbled with the serious subject of date-rape when Rosie (Terri Haddy) was raped by a boy from her school.

It’s a tricky subject to handle for a 7pm timeslot, but Haddy recently told TV Week she did some research into how teenage girls have coped with being sexually assaulted before filming the scenes.

In its PG timeslot, Seven’s soap has always been able to tackle themes that G rated Neighbours could never entertain.

I recently asked Ray Meagher, who was on the record 4 years ago as saying the show was going back to being a family show, what the risks were in tackling a sensitive subject like date-rape.

While he wasn’t specifically familiar with the details of the storyline, he acknowledged the show had done some pretty “out there stuff” in the last couple of years.

“I can remember coming home one night and having Seven on and before Home and Away started there was a thing saying ‘Parental Guidance recommended, violence,” he recalled.

“I thought ‘7:00? Home and Away?’ What’s that about?”

“But look there are a few stories being filmed now that are going to be fantastic and that get back to that very issue.

“I think you’ve got to have a bit of crime and drama in any community to keep things bubbling but the core of this show is foster families.”

Meanwhile Meagher remains ever-loyal and shows no flamin’ signs of leaving Summer Bay any time soon.

“I’m there for a few more years, the good Lord willing. As long as I’m upright.”

5 Responses

  1. I like to see a variety of different storylines utilising different characters. There has to be a happy medium between the more violent storylines and the family orientated storylines. I don’t like it when there is too much violence or too much Braxton. The braxtons have there place just not all the time.

    I was actually surprised when they used the word rape during this storyline. I thought they weren’t allowed too as they haven’t used it in similar storylines that have occurred over the years but this appears to have changed.

  2. the return to ‘family viewing’ seemed like a good idea to me but the ‘bay of love’ campaign was executed so badly and ratings dropped sharply everyone thought going back to the dark side was the only way to go. i’d like to see them try again to make it more family, lighter oriented but with a better promotion this time.

  3. Wow how times have changed. I remember in the ’88 episodes of Home & Away when Carly was raped they were never allowed to use the word “rape” but rather were only ever allowed to say she was “attacked”. I always wondered later how exactly she was attacked. But I guess it was just a ‘G’ rated program back then.

  4. Ray is a class act. Very diplomatic answers!

    I totally applaud H&A for doing a date rape storyline though, yes it’s a family show but young people need to know these things.

    Neighbours is a lot tamer but there is one area they have excelled in – representation of gay characters. H&A have a very poor track record here, which is a bit shameful in this day and age.

  5. It’s not the first time the shows covered the subject. There was Dani with Kane a few years ago, and just recently Bianca was attacked after the b & s ball. I thought Neighbours had covered more gutsier topics since moving to 11.

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