Lynne McGranger reflects on learning TV soap on the fly -and the TV romance with a 20-something co-star.
EXCLUSIVE:
When Lynne McGranger was invited to audition for Home & Away she had barely done any “telly,” as she describes it.
There had been guest roles in A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Skirts and role on ABC miniseries Seven Deadly Sins. But her acting experience had been in theatre, winning the 1974 Wagga Wagga Drama Festival Best Actress and performing with Q Theatre, Murray River Performing Group, Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre and comedy with Lynda Gibson & Denise Scott.
In 1993 she would replace Jacquy Phillips as Irene Roberts, an Aussie battler (and sometimes drunkard) role in Home & Away.
“For whatever reason, she didn’t come back. And my then agent said, ‘It’s three months but it could go on.’ And three months then turned in six months. They said, ‘Would you come back for a year?’
“I’m like, ‘Hell yeah!’”
Three decades later she would go on to take out the coveted TV Week Gold Logie Award, as the longest running actress in an Australian drama. If success crept up on her, so too did experience in the day to day grind of TV soap.
“Honestly, I was floundering. I’d never done telly. I’d certainly never done multicam. I didn’t know what I was doing, because I’d come from theatre.
“I didn’t start til my late 30s, but I remember the producers said, ‘Just watch Judy Nunn.’ I went ‘What, hide in the kitchen or the diner and write a novel?’” she laughs.
“But I suppose incidentally over the years, that just happens as you form a lovely friendship with you with different people. It’s like any workplace, you gravitate to some people, not so much others.
“I bumped into Judy and Bruce (Venables, husband) a few months ago at a function, and it was great to see them.”
The show’s own website once described Irene as “Your classic Aussie battler. Down to earth and with a wry sense of humour, she’s always good for a yarn and a laugh. It doesn’t matter who you are, young or old, Irene’s door is always open to you.”
Whilst managing the Summer Bay Diner may have been her go-to, it was McGranger’s own persona and performance which motivated writers to make her an essential part of the storytelling.
“She’s a rough diamond with a heart of gold”
“She’s a rough diamond with a heart of gold. That’s the way I see her. She’s probably become smarter as she’s got older, but still a soft touch,” she continues.
“The best thing you can do is find something and run with it and the writers will follow you. Because then they don’t have to go, ‘What are we going to do?’
“In 2003 they were going to write Irene out. Coral Druyn, who was the writer went, ‘No, you can’t. I’ve got a great storyline!’
“She fought for me, for the character. They probably felt I’d been painted into a bit of a corner. Sometime you run in the wrong direction, and that’s life, right? But don’t sit and flounder. Find something about the character.
“With Irene, she calls a spade a front end loader. And people might say, ‘That’s like a female Alf,’ but she’s more. I think she’s very nurturing, very caring, but she doesn’t take shit from anyone.”
She’s had her share of wild storylines over the years.
“I was a Country and Western singer, with Daniel Amalm…. I was on a boat that sank, and was on a stranded island with a guy that I was having an affair with.
“In real life, he was late 20s”
“That was very weird. He was probably playing early 40s and I was late 50s, but in real life, he was late 20s, and I was like ‘Come on, guys, this is so peculiar! He was a nice person, a real good sort.
“Bernard Curry’s character was smuggling immigrants, and we were on the boat. And David Roberts heard something and a fight ensued. Anyway, Irene wakes up the next morning, crickets! Nothing! Can’t even see land, but there’s a wine cellar, isn’t there? So she thinks she’s going to die and gets stuck into the wine.
“She finds a gun. She starts shooting, because she’s delusional, and then I shot Luke Jacobz, the cop, and I go to prison!”
But she’s also learned over the years not to complain to writers if her character has a lull in the storylines. That can result in a big workload -be careful what you wish for.
“You get to the point where you just go, ‘I’m not going upstairs, because last time I went up, I got a hammered for three months with 13 hour days!’
“But the young ones are keen as mustard. “If they haven’t had a storyline for a week, they think they’re getting written out. But no, it’s not all about you. There’s 25 full time actors, as well as guesties who might last three or six months. It’s not the Mary Smith Show!”
There have been storylines that have been meaningful to her, largely for the personal connection and for bringing important topics to a wider audience. Top of mind was a breast cancer storyline for Lynne because her a close friend, Maureen, had lost her daughter Nicky.
“She passed at 49 but (Lynne) would have been late 50s, early 60s. So that meant a lot.
“My storyline was mirroring, even down to the medication for chemo affecting the heart. So that’s, in the end, what got Nicky was because she couldn’t keep up the medication because it was affecting her heart, so they had to chop and change. And then, of course, it went to her bones and, you know, liver and all of that, all the horrible stuff.
“I really wanted to pay homage and honour Nicky and Maureen. They were all for it because if you’ve known anyone that’s going through cancer, they want to promote it so that it gets fundraising.
“Same as when Johnny (Ruffo) passed.”
Another storyline saw Lynne and Leah (Ada Nicodemou) square off. The scene saw both characters emotionally wrought over a custody battle, ultimately proving a difficult scene for the co-stars and friends. By the time it reached a climactic scene, Lynne let Leah have it with all guns blazing.
“I go, ‘No wonder Zac (Charlie Clausen) left you!’ and she slapped me across the face! This had been looming for a couple of weeks. We knew it was coming, and we were both terrified. It’s just an awful thing for your best friend to have to do that to you. I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, God, this is awful. Why are we doing this? It’s horrible!’ and she felt the same.
“Anyway, we got through it. We lived to tell the tale.”
“I never got abducted by aliens, which is a shame”
In soap sometimes the storylines are so far-fetched, such as Bobby’s ghost (Nicole Dickson) appearing as an apparition to Ailsa (Judy Nunn) through the fridge.
“We always joke and say, ‘You know they’ve run out of ideas if people start morphing through the white goods,” she laughs.
“I never got abducted by aliens, which is a shame, because I think that would have been a great storyline. But it’s been a ride!”
McGranger says she has mostly been treated well in the press, but she has pushed through social media if she feels it is unwarranted.
“Sometimes certain publications pick up one sentence, and run with it. It’s happened to me twice. One time I’ve forgiven eventually, and the other time I haven’t. I said a sentence, and told this person ‘It’s not all about this,’ but they made it not about that. I thought, ‘Right? You’re dead to me’, and I’ve stuck to that,” she insists.
“There’s one or two radio personalities that I won’t talk to, because I just think they’re puerile.”
On occasions, she’s even taken to social media to lash out at the network.
“Yes, I have, and sometimes you get slapped over the wrist. You learn your lesson. You let you learn when to hold them and when to fold them. That’s something that just comes from 33 years,” she explains.
“But generally speaking, I’ve been treated very well. Very, very well. Unlike some other people who have been hounded by the press, specifically the Daily Mail. I just think it’s disgraceful. But you know, I’m an older woman, and that’s of no interest. You know what I’m saying?”
“You’re that woman off Home & Away”
If her character is loved by Australians, McGranger is also not under any delusions that sometimes characters can divide the audience. It was a rude lesson she learned at a UK airport when a man she presumed was a fan recognised her.
“He goes, ‘You’re that woman off Home & Away,‘ And I thought ‘Ok yes, you can have a photo.’ And he goes, ‘That is the most annoying character I have ever encountered on television! I’m like, ‘Okay, good, chat, see ya!’
“I just thought that was a great thing, in a way, to happen to me, because you become, in a way, so inured to the popularity. You only need one person to put you in your place.
“The fans are truly wonderful, and so devoted. I’ve had 33 years of loyalty, and, no doubt, 33 years of people going, ‘That woman drives me up a bloody wall!’”
It’s something she’s learned about the connection between soap characters and the audience. The power of love & hate, never to be underestimated in long term employment.
“If your character wasn’t either well-loved or well-hated you’ve got no chance. If the general population are ambivalent about you, bye, bye. Because ambivalence doesn’t bring people back to the show. What brings people back to the show is seeing people succeed, or seeing people get their come uppance.”
As she now leaves Home & Away, to continue touring with stage play The Grandparents Club, she departs with a storyline she proposed to writers, surrounding Alzheimers disease.
“I had this idea, and they loved it, and they’ve embraced it and that’s what we’ve gone with. I think it’s very important, it’s very relevant and I think it will hit home with a lot of people.
“I’ve loved every minute of it”
“I’ve been so blessed with working on Home & Away and I’ve loved every minute of it. You know, most minutes of it, but I got to a point where I just went, ‘You know what? I don’t need to do this anymore.’ I wanted do more theatre, yeah, I want to try and dip my toes in some other pools. And at no point have I regretted it. Not once.
“I wouldn’t say no to more telly, but I just don’t want to do another 33 years. I’d be 105!”
Lynne McGranger’s final Home & Away episode screens 7pm Tuesday on Seven.
Photos: NFSA / Seven