![\"Smiling](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvtonight.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lynne-McGranger.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThree 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I was floundering. I\u2019d never done telly. I\u2019d certainly never done multicam. I didn\u2019t know what I was doing, because I\u2019d come from theatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t start til my late 30s, but I remember the producers said, \u2018Just watch Judy Nunn.\u2019 I went \u2018What, hide in the kitchen or the diner and write a novel?\u2019\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I suppose incidentally over the years, that just happens as you form a lovely friendship with you with different people. It\u2019s like any workplace, you gravitate to some people, not so much others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bumped into Judy and Bruce (Venables, husband) a few months ago at a function, and it was great to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s own website once described Irene as \u201cYour classic Aussie battler. Down to earth and with a wry sense of humour, she\u2019s always good for a yarn and a laugh. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are, young or old, Irene\u2019s door is always open to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Whilst managing the Summer Bay Diner may have been her go-to, it was McGranger\u2019s own persona and performance which motivated writers to make her an essential part of the storytelling.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s a rough diamond with a heart of gold\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s a rough diamond with a heart of gold. That\u2019s the way I see her. She\u2019s probably become smarter as she\u2019s got older, but still a soft touch,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing you can do is find something and run with it and the writers will follow you. Because then they don\u2019t have to go, \u2018What are we going to do?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2003 they were going to write Irene out. Coral Druyn, who was the writer went, \u2018No, you can\u2019t. I\u2019ve got a great storyline!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cShe fought for me, for the character. They probably felt I\u2019d been painted into a bit of a corner. Sometime you run in the wrong direction, and that\u2019s life, right? But don\u2019t sit and flounder. Find something about the character.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Irene, she calls a spade a front end loader. And people might say, \u2018That\u2019s like a female Alf,\u2019 but she\u2019s more. I think she\u2019s very nurturing, very caring, but she doesn\u2019t take shit from anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s had her share of wild storylines over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a Country and Western singer, with Daniel Amalm\u2026. I was on a boat that sank, and was on a stranded island with a guy that I was having an affair with.<\/p>\n \u201cIn real life, he was late 20s\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat 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 \u2018Come on, guys, this is so peculiar! He was a nice person, a real good sort.<\/p>\n \u201cBernard Curry\u2019s 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\u2019t even see land, but there\u2019s a wine cellar, isn\u2019t there? So she thinks she\u2019s going to die and gets stuck into the wine.<\/p>\n \u201cShe finds a gun. She starts shooting, because she\u2019s delusional, and then I shot Luke Jacobz, the cop, and I go to prison!\u201d<\/p>\n But she\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get to the point where you just go, \u2018I\u2019m not going upstairs, because last time I went up, I got a hammered for three months with 13 hour days!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut the young ones are keen as mustard. \u201cIf they haven\u2019t had a storyline for a week, they think they\u2019re getting written out. But no, it\u2019s not all about you. There\u2019s 25 full time actors, as well as guesties who might last three or six months. It\u2019s not the Mary Smith Show!\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cShe passed at 49 but (Lynne) would have been late 50s, early 60s. So that meant a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cMy storyline was mirroring, even down to the medication for chemo affecting the heart. So that\u2019s, in the end, what got Nicky was because she couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI really wanted to pay homage and honour Nicky and Maureen. They were all for it because if you\u2019ve known anyone that\u2019s going through cancer, they want to promote it so that it gets fundraising.<\/p>\n \u201cSame as when Johnny (Ruffo) passed.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI go, \u2018No wonder Zac (Charlie Clausen) left you!\u2019 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\u2019s just an awful thing for your best friend to have to do that to you. I just remember thinking, \u2018Oh, God, this is awful. Why are we doing this? It\u2019s horrible!\u2019 and she felt the same.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, we got through it. We lived to tell the tale.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI never got abducted by aliens, which is a shame\u201d<\/p>\n In soap sometimes the storylines are so far-fetched, such as Bobby\u2019s ghost (Nicole Dickson) appearing as an apparition to Ailsa (Judy Nunn) through the fridge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always joke and say, \u2018You know they\u2019ve run out of ideas if people start morphing through the white goods,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cI never got abducted by aliens, which is a shame, because I think that would have been a great storyline. But it\u2019s been a ride!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n