The Flamin’ Mongrel!’ – Home and Away Star set for Galway
I have grown up with the shenanigans on Summer Bay. I was one of the lucky ones who was allowed to tune into Home and Away, following a long day of school, dinner, homework and a cycle. I was convinced that life down under was full of beautiful people in swimming togs and incredibly short school uniforms, who spend their time dating and surfing in the year round sunshine. Career choices were simple; a teacher, doctor, lifeguard or waiter, as the drama centred around school, the hospital, the beach and the diner.
If there was any adult content on the Australian TV soap, it went completely over my head, as the only real confusion, and torment, happened when they changed the actress who played foster mom Pippa. Oh the trauma. It was talked about for weeks. Thank God for Ray Meagher who has played Alf Stewart since the first episode aired in 1988- gaining him a Guinness World Record as the longest-serving actor in an Australian serial.
Times have changed. The hunky Braxton brothers are now at the centre of every storyline and I have accepted that Roo is just a different Roo. Marilyn is back, but without Lance. New characters have come and gone, with a higher turnover than ever before, as many use the soap as a springboard onto the Hollywood stage.
And yet Alf is still Alf – managing to dodge a crisis himself while getting embroiled in everyone’s drama. He will co-ordinate search and rescue operations, is responsible for the caravan park and manned the surf club for years. He is the big daddy of Home and Away and it is easy to take him for granted.
A quick ‘actor switch’ for the role of Alf Stewart would cause uproar amongst Home and Away fans and would never be tolerated. And while the hunky Braxton boys have done the meet and greet rounds in nightclubs, it’s now Alf’s turn. Ray Meagher is on a tour of Ireland and will appear in Galway at the Clayton hotel on Thursday, April 2nd at 6:30pm for a Q and A and photo opportunity.
