It all started with the Fletchers, and all their foster children…
You know we belong together…
You and I forever and ever…
When Home and Away first went to air in July, 1987, my family and I sat down to watch it together. I was 11 and we’d just moved from the only home I had ever known.
In my mind, we were just like the Fletchers in a brand new TV show called Home and Away.
I immediately related to the Fletcher family, who - after dad Tom Fletcher was retrenched from his job in the city - were forced to move to the coastal town of Summer Bay.
Channel Seven had let Aussie drama Neighbours run off to Channel Ten after a ratings slump. And boy was that a mistake.
It became a HUGE hit once more. So Seven desperately needed a show so they could get in on the domestic drama market again, and Home and Away was born.
So Tom Fletcher loses his job, and due to his loss of employment could lose his Foster children, so drastic action is needed.
They decide to pack up and move to the coast.
Those were the days when a move to the coast was actually affordable, as opposed to today when many parts of the coast (and especially Palm Beach in NSW where the show is filmed) will set you back many of millions of dollars.