“But was it Summer Bay? Hmmm…. in my humble opinion, not to that extent.”
Ray Meagher reflects on straying too far from Home & Away's heart and bringing diversity to Summer Bay.
- Published by David Knox
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this post contains images and names of deceased persons.
EXCLUSIVE:
When you’ve been voted Australia’s Greatest Character of All Time you’re doubtless entitled to a little privilege. But the man behind ‘Alf Stewart’ never seeks it.
Gold Logie winner Ray Meagher has played Alf for over 36 years, affording him a Guinness World Record as being the longest-serving actor in an Australian drama.
Meagher was there for Home & Away‘s pilot in 1988. He was there when Kerry Stokes acquired control of Seven from Christopher Skase. And he’s the only original cast member still with the show.
He takes it all in his stride, never asking writers for Alf storylines.
“There are so many people that say, in the nicest possible way, ‘I’ve got an old uncle that’s just like you.’ That’s some sort of validation that you’re sort of doing something right. People ask ‘How much of how much of you is in Alf? What’s the difference between the two?’ I mean, people cast you originally because of the way you look, the way you sound and all of that, particularly for ongoing, running roles,” he says.
Indeed in television serials, where writer turnover can be considerable, Meagher has approval to amend dialogue if he feels it strays too far from the character of Alf Stewart. Long-running actors are often regarded as the best custodians of their characters.
“Obviously, in a long running soap, there are heaps of different writers. There are some old, some young, some English, some Australian, some Kiwi, some straight, some gay, men, women -they can’t all write accurately for every character,” he explains.
“Put it in into Alf-speak”
“I do have an arrangement with the good people upstairs, that I don’t go to them every five minutes to say, ‘Can I change this?’ They say ‘You just change it. Put it in into Alf-speak.’ Not change the intent or the direction the character’s going.
“I never go up there and say, ‘What about a storyline for me?’ I’ve never asked for one in however many years it is.
“But if the character is pulled out of his lane too far, then I’ll say, ‘Look, I’ve already softened this but can we just be a bit careful that we don’t go down that track?’
“The audience should know how he’s going to react in any given situation before he reacts.”
“Point being, I firmly believe that with a character like this, and I suppose a lot of characters that have been in soap for a while, the audience should know how he’s going to react in any given situation before he reacts. They know him backwards. Those sort of basics in the character have been set in stone and sort of concreted-in along the way. If you take him too far away from that, unless he’s having a nervous breakdown, or something fairly serious -which isn’t beyond soap- you’ve got to stay in that lane otherwise, you’re not truthful to them.”
With over 8000 episodes, there have been times when Summer Bay was not always the world Alf Stewart recognises.
In 2003 on an operating table, Alf was close to crossing over to the afterlife and -in a stark shift by writers- was even shown what Summer Bay would look like 10 years in the future without him.
That literally involved a scene where Meagher came face to face with Indigenous actor David Ngoombujarra bizarrely dressed as Alf Stewart himself.
“I mean, he was dressed like me, he was the same as me. The character was cast and we had this scene standing together,” he recalls.
“When we read it, we thought ‘This is a bizarre storyline'”
“I could see what the Bay would look like without Alf Stewart: tumbleweeds, the place gone to wrack and ruin and all this sort of stuff. When we read it, we thought ‘This is a bizarre storyline’.
While Ngoombujarra was the first Indigenous actor to step foot into the Bay it would take until 2007 for the first Aboriginal actor in Luke Carroll as intern ‘Lewis Rigg’ for a recurring role, and 2023 for Kyle Shilling as Mali, the first in an ensemble role.
How does Meagher gauge diversity in Summer Bay?
“I think we’re doing pretty well. Right now we have a regular character in the show, Mali (Kyle Shilling), and he’s terrific. He’s been in for a year or so. I assume he’s on a three year contract, like everybody that comes in,” he continues.
“And then, as well as that, Kirsty Marillier has a South African background. She plays the young copper (Rose Delaney). So there’s that aspect, then, of course, recently, we’ve had the Kiwis: three Maoris -and I still haven’t got the pronunciation of that word correctly. I played rugby against them 50, 60 years ago, and I still say ‘Maori,'” he admits, acknowledging the ‘Māori’ pronounciation.
“Ethan Browne, who plays Tane, has been the strength of that group. He’s outlived his three years and I think he’s into a bit more than that now. He’s a NIDA grad and he’s a lovely, lovely man and it’s fantastic. So with him, and with Kyle, they’ve had family members visit.”
Yet Summer Bay has been criticised for lack of sustained LGBTQIA+ characters, which almost Australian dramas, including perennial Neighbours, has found room to include. Does Meagher feel the show has evolved?
It’s a question he measures alongside the show’s dramatisation of a fictional town.
“It’s funny you ask me that, having spent a goodly period in Priscilla here and in London, NZ and Brisbane -a year and a half probably. It’d be nice to have a nice, ‘normal’ -whatever that means- gay character come into the Bay. That would be good,” he suggests.
“There would definitely be a percentage, whether they’re above the ground or underground still in a town like the Bay”
“However, how many of them do we have in Summer Bay? There would definitely be a percentage, whether they’re above the ground or underground still in a town like the Bay. But I think it’d be nice to have something like that where a character comes in… ‘G’day mate. G’day’ as is life. I agree with all that.
“The one thing that I have a bit of a problem with is sometimes when you realise there’s a representative hole when people tend to think, ‘Oh, jeez, we’ve ignored that area,’ and then there’s a wash of it. And you think ‘No community looks like that.'”
Yet no community has such a disproportionate amount of bad boys, stalkers, crazed killers, mad bombers as Summer Bay.
On that point Meagher seems to concur.
He has famously criticised network execs for letting Home & Away stray from its premise of a seaside community and its original Fletcher family taking in foster children.
“There is still penchant for a River Boy,” he agrees. “I mean, that was just a great period. But was it Summer Bay? Hmmm…. in my humble opinion, not to that extent,” Meagher insists.
“However, it was fantastic and what the boys did was great. What they wrote was great. All of that was fantastic. I just reckon that the story from a country coastal town that started with a family, where you follow the foster kids stories, came to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, except it came in too big a dose.
“But I would hate to be a head storyliner on a show like this. I don’t know how they keep coming up with this stuff. We’ve had a number of them over the years -Louise (Bowes, Series Script Executive) has been here for quite a while now and she does write that crime stuff incredibly well. The bad boy stuff.
“I just don’t know how they keep coming up with the stories and maybe for their own sanity, they’ve got to stray a little bit every now and then.”
“You can learn from all of them”
In 2022 Meagher signed a new 5 year deal with Seven, so will remain with Home & Away for several more years. It’s the people who keep him connected to the job, now for nearly 4 decades.
“The crew are just the best people. I mean, there are so many here that have been here for so long, both the studio crew and the location crew. It’s just a very, very pleasant place to come and the core cast are bloody terrific as well. You see, young kids come in, some that get (big-heads) for a while, and others that are just fabulous kids. You can learn from all of them,” he observes.
“People who look down their nose at soap I reckon are often people who’ve never been asked to do it and if they were they’d realise that it isn’t a walk in the park. You’ve got to learn and adapt quickly. So I enjoy all of that.
“If there was a time when I was driving to work one morning and I drove to Channel Nine I’d probably think about giving it away.”
Home & Away screens 7pm Monday – Thursday on Seven.
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27 Responses
H&A has passed its peak and will never return to where it was. At its peak, we had amazing plots such as Angie Russell, the school principal with no morals, Sarah Lewis, and the Sydney Olympic cliffhanger, and the Summer Bay Stalker. All those plots happened within about 5 years.
I stopped watching as Summer Bay turned into a crime town overrun by gangs.
His comments on diversity are wild, given that it took until 2007 for an indigenous actor to get recurring role and until literally last year for an ensemble role, and how he thinks Australia, NZ, and South Africa is a sufficient cross section of the community.
But I am reminding myself to remember where he is coming from – that he is of a generation where the bar for diversity is lower, shall we say, and his comments on what would be true to Summer Bay make me think he also grew up in a similar suburb surrounded by straight, white folks.
So I kind of understand how he came to this conclusion but also I take his comments on diversity with a grain of salt.
A great read, Alf is the backbone off the show.
I too dont watch anymore as most of the characters just dont have much of an appeal to me and as someone said they are all interchangeable with each other.
I feel it neglects its history and back story.
I’d return a little heart to the show and have Carly and Ben (a recast) return to run the caravan park with their kids and their kids kids and have the school setup back, Irene has grandkids and they can even invent some defacto grandkids of hers with all the strays she’s had in her house over the years!!
Just give the show a little of its heart back and I’d be back in a heartbeat!!
I was most disappointed when there was no funeral for Morag. Would’ve been great to see Colleen and Celia again and maybe even Sally. Plus it would explain why none of the characters call for Morag’s legal assistance anymore.
Also don’t get me started on Martha…Alf’s presumed dead former wife returning from the dead, getting married again and her having mental health issues and staying on her property to allow Ray to work part time on H&A. Why can’t Martha still show up in the bay every so often?
Great interview, I remember when Blue Heelers was axed and all of a sudden Home & Away turned into a police show for a while, it has lost its original feeling, I was a viewer for years, have no desire to turn it on now, but good to see Alf still around, funny I was watching an episode of original Mother & Son the other and a much younger him was in it playing a dad away from home for a night of cards and gambling! Fabulous thanks David!
This has been turned into a clickbait story in all the tabloids to make it look like he is bashing the show when that’s not really what he was doing at all. Context matters and not blowing things out of proportion
It is frustrating. Ray and I had a good chat and there was no “bashing”, no “slamming”, and no suggestion of it in my copy. They even added quotes from a Scotland press interview years ago. Yes he raised concerns but in the context of 36+ years of happy, diligent work.
As a Loyal Viewer from the start of Home and away I have watched it all and enjoyed the ups and downs but the last year I have not enjoyed it at all …. one I cannot stand the Band in the bay at all many storylines are always about the band and no of them work at all and Justin is never at the garage how does he run his a garage like that
they need to bring back the good old days with laughs and fun and more real life
and maybe a gay in the bay too
Thank you David Knox….I come here mostly to read your work…I really enjoy most of what you write….
Very kind thanks.
I watched Home and Away my whole life. It was part of my weekday routine. But a couple of years back it occurred to me that I didn’t care about a single storyline – many of the newer characters seemed completely interchangeable, like they could swap dialogue between characters and nobody would notice. I also think they’re disrespectful to the senior characters and they either don’t do much or have insane storylines that don’t fit.
Competitively, the River Boy years seemed more like the show I loved. At very least I was never bored!
So I stopped watching regularly and now when o do, I cringe.
I think they need a bomb in the diner.
Fantastic read! Nostalgic. And what a bloke 🙂
That’s a great chat and seems other media have picked up on this and twisted things as usual. I am wondering though why you used a photo of him with the Ailsa recast Nancye Hayes who was on the show for a few weeks while Judy Nunn played her for 15 years?!
Seven sent me a bunch of archival photos, no Judy.
Ah I actually just thought of that after I posted, seems it just proves Rays point as whoever was in the office clearly doesn’t know the difference… they probably just saw a file named with Ailsa and sent it.
… “when Kerry Stokes acquired control of Seven from Christopher Skase”? not really, there was five years of toing and froing between the time that Skase went broke and fled the country and Stokes acquiring control of the 7 network …
Excellent stuff, great insights from a stalwart character in Australian tv. The show, given budget, high volume & time constraints, is impressive. However, the plotting in recent years has become lazy and repetitive. The cast is regularly shaken up – same should go for head writer(s). And I agree, as a teenager back in the day, the school/foster kids element worked well. Summer Bay now looks like a town with a few oldies and a truck load of twentsomething model/actors. No wonder the storylines are so repetitive.
Agreed. Louise has pushed this crime rubbish for far too long now and judging by the promos it is only going to get worse. I can’t stand watching all the police, private security guard and medical stories at the moment. The band is also just as horrible- fast forward through them. The writing team needs a shake up.
I’d be interested to know why the decision was made to completely shift the show away from having teens in it, and Summer Bay High School as one of the key settings. It feels like one of the strengths of the show has been lost without that in it. Also, the show clearly can do better in terms of its diversity of characters. It’s embarrassing how far behind the show is in comparison to other soaps in Australia and the UK.
I have a feeling covid had a lot to do with it. Ryder and his mates had aged out of high school and then covid restrictions would’ve been too hard in a school setting when the show was playing it as any usual year. Hopefully they reintroduce it at some point.
David, a great and very candid interview. Well done!
Home and Away is hugely popular and outrated Neighbours 3 to 1 until the latter was (temporarily) pulled.
Home and Away must be doing something right. It has avoided the traps that many other shows have succumbed to – it has aimed to please the vast majority by giving them what they want rather than appease small but noisy sections of the community. I guess the commercial imperative has guided this.
I have watched bits of the show over the years but think myself extremely fortunate o have watched it for several months when Chris Hemsworth was appearing. Maybe early 2005.
I haven’t watched H&A in years, but it must be doing something right. It’s ratings, particularly on catch-up are astonishing for a 35 year old show. Great to hear from Ray as well. A national treasure.
Thanks David, as a regular viewer it was good to read. I like that Ray has dialogue input when required.
I feel like there has been a big deviation away from crime in recent years. But there are characters who are in the police force and hospital, so it is natural to weave events in for their work. The current stalker storyline is a bit different as a character has left the police force and is working as in security.
Yes, police and hospitals are a big part of any soap and indeed any ongoing drama -it’s where new characters wind up in jeopardy, where hero characters work, where economic sets are used on repeat, and best of all new stories come in the door unannounced.
A lovely article David. I have not watched H & A for a few years now but it was nice to dip back in a read a bit of news about the show. I do think however more diversity is needed when I think about the shows I watch now, but given I haven’t watched it for a long time I will reserve judgement.
Good read. Hate how H&A now completely ignores its past and history.
Too much crime.