Home And Away Spoilers – Irene Falls Off The Wagon

Those who have followed our articles will be aware that six weeks ago, Back to the Bay exclusively disclosed a significant upcoming tale for Irene (Lynne McGranger), following our observation of some fascinating sequences being shot in Palm Beach in March.

Irene was taken in by conwoman Bronte (Stefanie Caccamo) in recent weeks. She had met Bronte at her annual health check-up at a city hospital, and she was told she had an autoimmune condition.

Bronte had been asked to remain at the Beach House while she awaited test results after confiding all of herself to Irene.

When it became apparent to the audience that everything was a hoax, Bronte moved things up a notch, saying her test results indicated she only had a few months to live.

It was not long until Bronte casually mentioned that clinical studies were being conducted in Canada, but the cost of $100,000 to participate made it prohibitively expensive. Taking the bait, Irene quickly organized the Summer Bay community as a whole to create a crowdfunding page.

After claiming to be a victim of the benzine pollution, Irene even pushed Bronte to sue the café. However, she subsequently came to an agreement with Leah that they would instead provide $25,000 apiece to support Bronte’s cause.

To Irene’s dismay, Dana (Ally Harris) was the only one who aggressively questioned Bronte’s claims during the entire ordeal. However, when she persuaded Bree (Juliet Godwin) to check up Bronte’s medical records, they discovered she didn’t exist in NSW.

It was too late for Bronte and her accomplice Chase (Joshua Mehmet) to abduct Dana in an attempt to quiet her. Rose (Kirsty Marillier) started looking into Dana’s disappearance when Bree confirmed her concerns and the evidence did not line up.

Following Bronte to the isolated area where Dana had been taken, John (Shane Withington) and Xander (Luke Delaney) saw her operating Irene’s vehicle. Dana was spared when John was able to sound the alarm, and Bronte and Chase were taken into custody.

When Bronte saw Irene for the last time, at the police station, she pointed out to her that she was the only one at fault. All she would have needed was an ignorant elderly woman who would have fallen for her.

Irene feels terrible for bringing Bronte to the bay, even though everyone has received their money back. This is especially true since it has strained Xander and Dana’s relationship, which they don’t know if they can mend.

Lynne tells TV Week, “Irene has always prided herself on being a great judge of character.” “This has obviously completely gone down the drain with Bronte.”

Irene was noticeably preoccupied when the bartender poured John a whiskey during their supper at Salt with Leah (Ada Nicodemou).

She later bought a bottle for herself when she got home, but as soon as she opened it, she had second thoughts. She called a helpline and begged them to persuade her not to consume alcohol ever again.

Sadly, it is insufficient.

This week, as revealed by TV Week, Irene can’t even get out of bed, so when she doesn’t show up for work at the diner the next morning, a worried John goes around to see how she’s doing.

However, his attempt to assist only makes Irene more agitated, and she kicks him out before retrieving the bottle from where she’s hiding under the sink.

She pours herself a glass and, in spite of her best efforts to resist, takes a swig, then another.

According to Lynne, “she returns to alcohol because, as most alcoholics know, it’s an escape for her because of the shame and despair that she feels.”

Irene carefully descends to the diner coffee cart after finishing the bottle, where Leah and Marilyn (Emily Symons) observe that she is a little off-kilter and clumsily fumbling around everywhere. Upon interrupting Xander and Dana’s discussion regarding their relationship, it becomes evident that there is a severe problem.

Before it’s too late, will her friends be able to assist her?

As Lynne McGranger prepared for an impending theater play, we already knew that Irene would be taking a vacation from the show this year. It appears that this most recent plot point is setting the stage for Irene’s brief absence.

Following a little vacation to the UK in March, Lynne returned to the UK and immediately began rehearsals for her new comedy musical, “The Grandparents Club.” She currently plays Liz in the show, which debuted in late May and is currently touring theaters in Victoria, the ACT, and NSW until August 4.

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!”

Irene was portrayed by Jacqy Phillips in the early years of the show, but ardent viewers may recall her as an alcoholic and violent mother to Nathan (David Dixon/Craig Ball), Finlay (Tina Thomsen), and Damian (Matt Doran) back in 1991–1992.

Lynne McGranger took over as Irene when she moved back to Summer Bay permanently in 1993, and it would be sixteen years before she had to portray the character drunk.

Despite the fact that those years had seen a few near misses.

After siding with killer Dodge (Kelly Dale) upon his return to town in 1995, Irene found herself shunned by her friends. Dodge won Irene over by revealing that he had shared a cell with Nathan.

When it became clear that Dodge had not only staged his death to put Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), whom Irene had demonized after Dodge vanished, on trial, but also that Dodge had killed her own estranged husband Murdoch (Tom Richards) a few weeks earlier, Irene was mortified.

Unaware of the “no alcohol” policy in Irene’s home at the time, Marilyn (Emily Symons), the housemate, had purchased a bottle of wine to add to a casserole and assured Selina (Tempany Deckert) that she would discard any leftovers.

Marilyn neglected to do so, though, and the open bottle remained on the kitchen shelf, waiting for Irene to discover it. Luckily, she managed to avoid giving in to temptation.

When Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn) fired Irene from Summer Bay High in 1998, she was at her lowest moment ever. He had discovered that Irene had falsified her secretarial abilities and had been surreptitiously recording their discussions to type up later.

Irene was struggling financially and without a work for the first time in years after leaving the stylish revamped Bayside Diner, where she felt uncomfortable.

Irene sat down with a bottle of wine and looked through her family photo album with tears in her eyes. She was startled back to reality when she accidentally smashed a glass over pictures of her grandson Paul.

The first time we ever witnessed Lynne’s Irene go off the wagon was in 2009, after a particularly painful incident. A few weeks later, their yacht was discovered drifting about 100 kilometers off the coast, where Irene had gone sailing with her new boyfriend Lou De Bono (David Roberts).

Irene fired at the cops, injuring one, as police officer Angelo (Luke Jacobz) and his comrades approached.

It was discovered that one night, while Irene was sleeping, Lou had vanished from the yacht. Irene, who was marooned at sea for several days, turned to alcohol out of paranoia that whoever had captured Lou would return for her and her inability to use the radio.

Irene was placed under custody in jail after she was unable to give the authorities a plausible explanation for what had occurred.

In an effort to further undermine Irene, Lou’s enraged ex-wife Donna (Suzie McKenzie) then paid a prison guard to smuggle wine into her cell.

Irene was freed when forensic evidence found on the boat demonstrated the presence of at least one additional person. Still, she drank.

The pivotal moment occurred when Annie (Charlotte Best) discovered Irene’s secret gin bottle in the cabinet behind the sink and emptied it. Having been unable to pry the bottle from Annie’s grasp, Irene struck her across the face.

Irene joined AA meetings after this served as the wake-up call she needed to get help.

Up until problematic Olivia Fraser-Richards (Raechelle Banno) came to Summer Bay in 2015, Irene kept up her sobriety for an additional six years. Olivia revealed to Irene that she had been abused by a family friend back in London after she saw that she was cutting herself.

After hearing Olivia’s story, Irene was moved to confess to Olivia and Leah (Ada Nicodemou) that she, too, had experienced abuse at the hands of her Uncle Pete when she was a teenager.

But Irene was concealing a deeper secret, and it was because of this that she turned to a bottle of vodka to drown her sorrows.

Leah discovered Irene sobbing on the kitchen floor after she wounded her hand on the broken bottle. Irene was shocked to learn what she had done and reacted angrily when Leah stopped the blood with a nearby baby blanket.

Later on, Irene acknowledged that she had given birth to a child after experiencing abuse from her Uncle Pete, and that the child had been placed in foster care. She didn’t even know if she had a boy or a girl because she was unable to hold the child before it was taken away.

Irene did not try to disguise her relapse, even if it was lighter for her to have let go of a long-standing secret. This time, the community was much more affected by her drinking.

Olivia became enraged and called her a leech. Alf tried to reason with her, but she refused to listen, even after he dumped her grog down the sink.

When Irene arrived drunk at Zac (Charlie Clausen) and Leah’s wedding, flatmate Chris (Johnny Ruffo) tried to take her hip flask away, but Irene slapped Chris instead.

Once more, it was this violent incident that turned Irene around and made her stop drinking. Later, when she talked to Leah, Irene made the decision to confront her past by learning what had happened to her child. The next year would prove to be an entirely different experience as it became apparent that her son was Mick Jennings (Kristian Schmid).

Will Irene be able to overcome herself once more, considering that this is her third relapse in 15 years?