There’ll be fears for Home and Away‘s Irene later this year, in what looks to be a huge storyline for the stalwart as she takes a break from Summer Bay.
During one of our trips to Palm Beach back in March, the Back to the Bay team witnessed the filming of an intriguing scene outside the surf club with Mackenzie (Emily Weir), Levi (Tristan Gorey), John (Shane Withington) and Irene (Lynne McGranger).
We already knew that Irene would be taking a break from the show this year, as Lynne McGranger prepared for an upcoming theatre production, and this scene could give us a clue as to how it will be explained on-screen.
We anticipate that this block of episodes will air around mid-late August, dependent on Seven’s future scheduling. The scene starts ordinarily enough with a loved-up Mac and Levi walking towards the club whilst Levi carries a gift bag.
John catches up and has a few words with them, but as they walk off he turns around and something catches his eye further up the road.
John spies Irene pull up next to some wheelie bins in her car. After surreptitiously dumping something in one of the bins, she hastily drives off (with Lynne completing this scene in only one or two takes, we didn’t manage to get a good angle to grab a photo). The last time Irene did something like this, she and Bella (Courtney Miller) were dumping the unconscious body of Tommy O’Reilly (Adam Sollis) outside the hospital, after Irene thwacked him over the head with a champagne bottle, so naturally John can’t help but be a little curious. As John heads over to the bins to investigate, he’s extremely concerned by what he finds inside… empty bottles of booze!
“It’s a career highlight,” Shane joked when we later commended him on his finely acted bin-diving.
After jetting off for a short break in the UK only a week after this scene was filmed, Lynne went straight into rehearsals on her return and is now starring as Liz in new comedy musical ‘The Grandparents Club’, which opened this week and will be 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!”
With it looking as though Irene could be gone for a few months, could falling off the wagon be the cause of Irene’s departure? In a further interview with Stellar magazine last week, Lynne discussed her future on the show after 31 years, and whether she was tempted to leave Summer Bay permanently.