A new Home and Away promo has introduced us to Bronte, a new character who looks set to manipulate Irene as she arrives next week.
Irene (Lynne McGranger) departed Summer Bay in early May, on what she claimed was her annual health checkup in the city. It seems it was quite the examination, as she’s returning exactly a month later, with a clean bill of health and a new friend, Bronte (Stefanie Caccamo). It’s all a little familiar, as viewers will know that Leah (Ada Nicodemou) recently returned from her stint in a mental health clinic, having made a friend in her roommate Valerie (Courtney Clarke).
While Valerie had her issues, and led Theo (Matt Evans) down a dangerous path when she tempted him with party drugs, there was no malice behind her actions.
However, the new promo makes it clear from the get-go that Irene’s new friend is lying to her and manipulating her, and it seems she’s about to make her life hell. “Darl, this is Bronte,” Irene says as she arrives back at her beach house and introduces Harper (Jessica Redmayne) to the new arrival. “Bronte’s going to be staying with us for a couple of days.” As the trio sit down for a coffee in the living area, Harper asks whether Irene and Bronte are old friends.
When Harper and Irene are alone in the kitchen, Harper asks if Bronte is okay, having picked up on her fragile emotional state.
“No, love, she’s not,” Irene explains. “She’s very ill.”
Yet as we quickly discover, there is much more to Bronte than meets the eye.
The promo shows her on the phone outside the surf club, as she tells the person on the other end of the line, “She’s got her own house and a business. Trust me, she’s a total pushover.”
We won’t have long to find out, with the new character making her debut appearance next Monday 10th June in Australia. UK viewers will see her for the first time next month, on Wednesday 17th July.
As we recently reported, Home and Away is lining up a new story arc for Irene as part of her temporary departure from the show, and it seems like Bronte’s arrival could be the start of the huge new exit storyline.
Lynne is currently on a planned break from the show, as March saw her begin rehearsals for new comedy musical ‘The Grandparents Club‘, in which she stars as Liz. The production opened earlier this month and is touring theatres in NSW, ACT and Victoria until 4th August.
“(I’ll be going for) just a little while, not leaving anything permanently,” Lynne revealed on Seven’s The Morning Show earlier this year.
“I came from revue-type situations, from community theatre, all of that,” she explained of the production. “I’m getting back to my roots, singing and dancing, interacting with the audience. I can hold a tune and I can belt-out a number, but I’m no Aretha Franklin!”