Home and Away will mark its 8000th episode in style next week, with the wedding of Tane Parata and Felicity Newman.
Both the season opening and the season finale of November 2022 focused on the scheduled wedding day of Tane (Ethan Browne) and Felicity (Jacqui Purvis), which turned disastrous after a vehicle accident. Bikers who wanted to assassinate Flick’s brother Cash cut the ute’s brakelines, leaving driver Eden (Stephanie Panozzo) in a coma (Nicholas Cartwright).
Flick was traumatized after finding herself trapped in the flaming vehicle, even though she only suffered minor injuries herself. It has taken her a few weeks to process what happened.
Flick ultimately recovered after quitting Tane and abusing alcohol after visiting her foster father Gary (Peter Phelps) on his farm. This was the first time she had been home since she was 16 years old.
Flick was able to finally exorcise all of her old demons by visiting her parents’ graves.
Before entering a relationship with Tane, “Flick recognized that she needed to work on herself,” Jacqui told TV Week. So, it is wonderful that she had the guts to try it and that it was successful.
She learned how to deal with her weaknesses and got comfortable with them.
Flick immediately popped the question to Tane once they were back together. Given her prior hesitations, Tane was concerned that Flick might be moving too quickly. However, Flick reassured him that things had changed, and the two were thrilled to announce the engagement was once again on.
Not wishing to have any reminders of their last attempt, Tane and Flick agreed to start over, and made a bold move in asking Cash and Eden to organise things for them.
Tane and Flick are growing frustrated as Cash and Eden, who have only recently started dating after months of will they or won’t they, find themselves a little preoccupied with their young romance.
Cash and Eden make an effort to beg for forgiveness after realizing they had been ignoring their responsibilities. But by the time the soon-to-be husband and wife announce that they won’t require their services after all, it’s already too late.
Tane has since made another proposal to Flick, asking if she’ll marry him the following day!
“Ok, I’m in, I’m in!” is Felicity’s ecstatic response.
”After all they’ve been through, Flick and Tane want a simple wedding and just to be married,” Jacqui explained to TV Week.
It’s all hands on deck to get everything sorted in time, with Cash helping Tane to organise a surprise setting for Flick.
As Flick gets to the remote bushland location, she discovers a traditional Maori wedding there, complete with poi dancers and a kaikaranga, a lady who calls the ceremonial welcome to the guests.
However, the ceremony is much more low-key and private than they had anticipated, with only Cash and Eden present (nicely removing the need for the show to concoct an excuse for important family members to be absent…
Tane surprises Flick by repeating her vows in te reo Mori while she is draped in a traditional korowai cloak to represent Tane’s protection of her. But, Flick is still able to deliver her own surprise that was intended for the original ceremony.
“I was so lucky to see it firsthand,” Jacqui told TV Week of the Maori customs. “I was truly touched.
“To learn from Ethan what the traditions are has been really moving. I also had to say my vows in te reo Maori, so I felt the pressure! I hope I did the beautiful language justice.”
The couple is finally given their marriage license, and they go to Salt to celebrate. However, there is still one more surprise in store.
Home and Away typically doesn’t make a huge deal out of the thousand episode milestones, although there have been a few that may have increased fan expectations for following celebrations.
Irene Roberts, who was then portrayed by Jacqy Phillips, fell down the steps at Summer Bay House after a battle with her children Finlay and Damian in episode 1000 (May 1992), which dealt with the aftermath.
Believing Irene was dead, Fin and Damien left her at the bottom of the stairs and hid out in the bay overnight, thinking that no-one would believe it was an accident. When they eventually returned to the house to confess and hand themselves in, Pippa was perplexed – when Sophie & Nick had returned to the house the previous night, there was no sign of Irene, alive or dead.
,, and,, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and (Melissa George). Angel departed Summer Bay with Dylan (Corey Glaister) in order to start again with Simon Broadhurst in England after Shane, her husband, passed away tragically earlier in the year (Julian Garner).
After a busy week that included Leah’s (Ada Nicodemou) and Vinnie’s (Ryan Kwanten) wedding, Episode 3000 (March 2001) included Mitch McColl’s departure (played by future series producer Cameron Welsh). After being located by an uncle he had never met, Mitch had recently traveled to New Zealand to be with his dying grandmother. Upon his return to Summer Bay, he had made the difficult decision to move across the Tasman to be with his family.
In hope of catching Mitch before he left for one last goodbye, his girlfriend Brodie (Susie Rugg) was knocked off her bike by a car. Meanwhile, Will (Zac Drayson) and Gypsy (Kimberley Cooper) gave in to temptation by having sex in his car… which nine months later would lead to the birth of their daughter Lily.
Episode 4000, which will astoundingly mark the halfway point of the entire show as of next week, was by far the most memorable of the milestone episodes. Many familiar faces from Summer Bay’s history visited the community to celebrate Alf Stewart’s 60th birthday in the episode, which aired in July 2005.
Fans were treated to a special montage of scenes from the show’s history following tributes from Alf’s loved ones. Nevertheless, Chloe Richards (Kristy Wright), who was killed off in a car accident, brought about the event’s tragic conclusion.
As Xavier (David Jones-Roberts) and Romeo (Luke Mitchell) discussed what to do with a shoebox of money left by Xavier’s brother Hugo after his apparent death (he’d actually gone into witness protection), episode 5000 in the first week of the 2010 season was a much more understated affair with a subtle nod to the number 5000 in the opening lines.
The episode aired at the conclusion of a tremendous week that saw the resolution of the 365-day mystery that had exposed Hugo’s involvement in human trafficking. A $5000 portion of it was to be discreetly donated to the refugee appeal, but when it dropped into Leah’s picnic basket, a series of unfortunate occurrences saw them chasing the money across the bay.
In episode 6000 (July 2014), Alf kept watch over his daughter Roo (Georgie Parker), who was hospitalized after contracting an unidentified disease following a trip to America. The episode concluded on a cliffhanger as Roo was taken into custody despite Alf’s pleas for him to wake up.
November 2018’s episode 7000 passed by quietly as Tori (Penny McNamee) and Robbo (Jake Ryan) awaited word on her IVF surgery. The two were worried as time went on that only three of the embryos were still viable despite Robbo having donated sperm to Tori for the purpose.
Luckily, two were still there when it mattered; one was implanted into Tori, while the other was frozen. Ryder retook his Year 11 examinations, while Ben (Rohan Nichol) and Coco (Anna Cocquerel) went door-to-door to gather money for Maggie’s (Kestie Morassi) cancer research.
Episode 8000 of Home and Away airs in Australia on Monday 27th March, 7pm on Seven.
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