Later this year, when Irene from Home and Away takes a break from Summer Bay, there will be concerns for her in what appears to be a major storyline.
The Back to the Bay crew saw an interesting scene being filmed outside the surf club including Mackenzie (Emily Weir), Levi (Tristan Gorey), John (Shane Withington), and Irene (Lynne McGranger) on one of our travels to Palm Beach back in March.
This block of episodes is expected to premiere in mid- to late-August, depending on Seven’s upcoming schedule.
Ordinarily enough, the scene opens with Mac and Levi, who are in love, strolling toward the club while Levi is holding a gift bag.
After catching up with them, John speaks with them briefly before turning around and noticing something further down the road.
John watches as Irene pulls up in her car near to some wheelie bins. She quickly leaves after slyly placing something in one of the bins (Lynne finished this scene in one or two takes, so we didn’t get a decent position to shoot a picture).
John can’t help but be a little curious because the last time Irene did something similar, she and Bella (Courtney Miller) were disposing of Tommy O’Reilly’s (Adam Sollis) unconscious body outside the hospital after Irene gave him a champagne bottle blow to the skull.
When John opens the bins to look around, he discovers empty alcohol bottles within, which really worries him!
Irene is back on the grog, right?
When we subsequently complimented Shane on his expertly performed bin-diving, he joked, “It’s a career highlight.”
As she got preparing for an impending theater production, Lynne McGranger had previously informed us that she would be taking a vacation from the show this year.
The week following the filming of this scene, Lynne took off for a quick vacation in the UK. Upon her return, she dove headfirst into rehearsals and is currently starring as Liz in the brand-new comedy musical “The Grandparents Club,” which debuted this week and will be touring theaters in NSW, ACT, and Victoria until August 4.
Earlier this year, Lynne said on Seven’s The Morning Show, “(I’ll be going for) just a little while, not leaving anything permanently.”
Regarding the play, she said, “I came from revue-type situations, from community theater, all that.” “I’m returning to my origins, engaging with the audience while dancing and singing. I’m hardly Aretha Franklin, but I can bellow out a song and hold a tune!”
Given that it appears that Irene would be gone for several months, is it possible that she fell off the wagon and left?
If so, will Irene hide out in the bay in embarrassment, or will John’s finding serve as the impetus for his dear friend Irene to ask for assistance?
Lynne talked on her future on the show after 31 years and whether or not she was tempted to move permanently out of Summer Bay in a follow-up interview with Stellar magazine last week.
“I’ve thought about it and had it on the back of my mind for the past year or two. Although there isn’t a specific departure date, I adore working on The Grandparents Club and taking part in this amazing celebration because it helps me reconnect with my roots.
“Who knows what the future may bring,” she remarked playful. “God willing, I might just be hanging up my diner apron if this works out.”
Irene was portrayed by Jacqy Phillips in 1991–1992, but longtime viewers will recall her as an alcoholic and violent mother to Nathan (David Dixon), Finlay (Tina Thomsen), and Damian (Matt Doran).
When a sober Irene returned to Summer Bay permanently in January 1993, Lynne McGranger assumed the part; it would be sixteen years before she would have to portray the character as drunk.
That’s not to say there hadn’t been some close calls during that time.
In 1995, Irene found herself outcast after taking the side of Dodge (Kelly Dale) on his unwelcome return to town.
When it became clear that Dodge had not only staged his death to put the blame on Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), whom Irene had demonized after Dodge vanished, but also killed her own estranged husband Murdoch (Tom Richards), Irene was left cursing herself.
Unaware of Irene’s “no alcohol” policy, Marilyn (Emily Symons), the freshly moved-in housemate, had purchased a bottle of wine to add to a casserole and assured Selina (Tempany Deckert) that she would discard the leftovers.
But Irene resisted temptation when she later discovered the open wine on the kitchen shelf.
Irene was at her lowest point in 1998, having lost her job at Summer Bay High where she worked as Don Fisher’s (Norman Coburn) secretary. Irene had previously quit the Bayside Diner because she didn’t think the new, youthful design was for her. As a result, she was jobless for the first time in years and had financial difficulties.
Irene sat down sobbing with a bottle of wine and looked through her family book. She then poured out her glass and accidentally spilled it over onto pictures of her grandson Paul, which fortunately made her realize what was going on.
The first time we witnessed Lynne’s Irene go off the wagon was in 2009, after a very painful incident. The yacht was discovered drifting several weeks after she left on a sailing excursion with her boyfriend Lou De Bono (David Roberts), 100 kilometers off the coast.
Irene, who was drunk and paranoid, fired shots at Angelo (Luke Jacobz) and his fellow officers, injuring one of them.
It turned out that one night, while Irene was sleeping, Lou had vanished from the yacht. After being lost at sea for several days, Irene had started to drinking, terrified that whoever got Lou would come back for her and unable to operate the radio.
Irene was placed on remand without any explanation for what had happened, suspected of both murder and wounding an officer. Lou’s enraged ex-wife Donna (Suzie McKenzie) paid a jail guard to put alcohol in Irene’s cell in an effort to further damage her reputation.
After forensic evidence on the boat revealed that there was a third person present, Irene was freed, but she kept drinking.
When Annie (Charlotte Best) discovered Irene’s secret bottle of gin and tried to throw it down the sink, Irene slapped her across the face, bringing everything to a climax.
Irene joined AA meetings after this served as the wake-up call she needed to get help. The next year, it was made public that Lou had died in a fight with people-traffickers Hugo Austin (Bernard Curry) and Derrick Quaid (John Atkinson).
Up until 2015, when a disturbed Olivia Fraser-Richards (Raechelle Banno) returned to Summer Bay to live with her, Irene stayed sober for an additional six years. Olivia told Irene that she had been abused by a family friend back in London after it was found that she was cutting herself.
Irene was devastated by the revelation and told Olivia and Leah (Ada Nicodemou) that she, too, had been abused by her Uncle Pete when she was just 14 years old.
Irene, however, was struggling with a deeper secret to the extent that she bought a bottle of alcohol to drown her sorrows.
Later, when Irene had broken the bottle and wounded her hand, Leah found her crying on the kitchen floor. She used a nearby baby blanket to compress the wound. When Irene realized, she was terrified and yelled at Leah.
She then disclosed that the child had been placed in foster care and that she had given birth as a result of her abuse at the hands of her Uncle Pete. Irene never found out what happened to her baby and hadn’t even been allowed to hold her.
Irene kept drinking and didn’t try to disguise it even after her secret was revealed, and this time her relapse had even more of an impact on the community.
Even a talking to from Alf, who spilled her grog down the sink, didn’t stop her from calling Olivia a leech in her inebriation.
Chris (Johnny Ruffo) drove Irene home after she embarrassed herself at Zac (Charlie Clausen) and Leah’s wedding, where she hit him for trying to take her hip flask away.
Once more, it was this violent incident that snapped Irene out of it. After talking with Leah—who was still wearing her wedding dress—Irene decided that she had to find out what had happened to her baby in order to finally lay her demons to rest. The next year would prove to be an entirely different experience as it became apparent that her son was Mick Jennings (Kristian Schmid).
What or who could have brought Irene to such despair, given that it appears she may be on the verge of her third relapse in fifteen years?
Here are a couple additional behind-the-scenes photos from the same filming day, even though we don’t have any storyline spoilers. The week before to the engagement celebration that we previously covered, on March 11, 2024, these scenes were recorded.
After Felicity (Jacqui Purvis) left the surf club, she set out to find Joshua Orpin’s character. She ultimately located him in the lane that connects the restroom block and the boat shed.
In a running sequence near the surf club, Dana (Ally Harris) and Harper (Jessica Redmayne) were filmed. Block director Chris Martin-Jones chose to use the drone for the initial shot, which followed the sisters.
The pair then had a conversation with Xander (Luke Van Os).
Later, when Dana was on patrol, Luke and Ally taped a scene where Xander and Dana were talking outside the surf club.
On the Home and Away tour, which is hosted by our friends at Celebtime, fans frequently get the opportunity to witness filming firsthand and get a sneak peek at future scenes months before they show.
While the Tuesday “Filming Very Likely” trips do not always guarantee a cast member’s presence, fans can schedule the Sunday “Meet an Actor” tour to increase their chances of seeing a cast member.
The excursions cost $135 per person, and gift certificates are also an option.
Currently planned to appear on the Meet an Actor tour bus over the course of the next month are the following cast members (please note that these are subject to change):
June 2, Sunday – Juliet Godwin
On June 9th, Sunday, Kirsty Marillier
June 16, Sunday: Ethan Browne
On June 23, Sunday, Stephanie Panozzo
