History Series / HomeAndAway

** One infamous example was Aden Jefferies, a bully who was given a back story about being abused by his grandfather as a child to make him seem sympathetic. A mid-season cliffhanger saw him refuse to call an ambulance for his dying father, take two women who turned up at the house hostage and finally try to murder him... because he found out his father was abused too. The entire cast, most of whom didn't know about his abuse and didn't like him, saw nothing wrong with this and the judge declared him not guilty as soon as he explained his reasons.

** Chloe Anderson never suffered any consequences for killing Matthew Montgomery (albeit accidentally) and her mother Mia never faced any for covering it up or for using stolen money to buy the gym. Worse, they pass the karma on to others: Ari takes the blame for Matthew's death and conveniently turns out to be [[DeceasedFallGuyGambit dying]] anyway, while Tane has to deal with the money's original owners when they turn up looking for payback after Mia has left.

* SuperOCD: April develops this after being bullied and suffering panic attacks. Much earlier, Sally had developed an obsession with hand washing.

* PlayingGertrude: Mick Jennings was supposed to have been born when Irene was 15, but the actors were born 21 years apart and Kristian Schmid wasn't much older than the actors of Irene's previously established children.

* FanService: Most men below the age of 30. Particularly notable examples in recent years include Brad, Ric, Lucas, Geoff, Aden, Romeo, Xavier, the Braxton brothers and Nate.

* BecomeARealBoy: Miles, after twenty years of being the seemingly imaginary Milco.

** Andy and Josh Barrett, perhaps even more than Brax. Andy starts off attempting to murder two main characters for trivial reasons, and ends up ''actually'' killing two main characters, albeit by accident. In between, he murders a rival criminal in cold blood and Josh accidentally kills someone else while covering for him. They both confess in the end, but instead of taking their punishment they go on the run together. (The [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER negative reaction]] may have been greater than anticipated, as several months later it's casually announced that [[AuthorsSavingThrow they were arrested off-screen]].)

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Well [[SoapOpera duh]].

* AsYouKnow: Irene to April: "Well cheer up, 'cause tomorrrow's your birthday!"

* CruelTwistEnding: Poor Charlotte (Adams), who in 2002 having said her goodbyes on her last day in the bay decided to take one last swim. It didn't work out so well...

-->'''Miles:'''Who calls their son 'Penn'? Does he have a sister named 'Cil'?

* EveryoneHasStandards: Darryl and Heath Braxton may be low-life criminals, but even they regard their alcoholic mother as a lost cause and realise that their younger brother Casey is better-off living elsewhere.

* MoralDissonance: Christian fundamentalist Christine Jones seemed rather more angry about ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'' being taught to the children and her daughter Melody ''consensually'' kissing a boy than her daughter being sexually assaulted. In fact, she even got Melody sectioned when, following the death of her attacker Axel, Melody admitted fantasising about him dying, calling her "an evil girl".

* MoralDissonance: Christian fundamentalist Christine Jones seemed rather more angry about a slightly risque play being taught to the children and her daughter Melody ''consensually'' kissing a boy than her daughter being sexually assaulted. In fact, she even got Melody sectioned when, following the death of her attacker Axel, Melody admitted fantasising about him dying, calling her "an evil girl".

** Mia's daughter Chloe, as revealed when her father Matthew turned up. Mia accuses him of taking advantage of her when she was too drunk to consent. Matthew claims to remember it differently, saying that he was just as drunk as her that night, but the fact that he refuses to respect her request to stay away from Chloe really doesn't help his case. Mia agonizes over telling Chloe the truth, eventually deciding she has no choice when Matthew convinces Chloe to move to Sydney with him.

* TheCameo: Creator/MichaelPalin appeared on episode #1.2258 in 1997. He was in Australia filming his travelogue ''Full Circle''.

** Mia's daughter Chloe, as revealed when her father Matthew turned up. Mia accuses him of taking advantage of her when she was too drunk to consent. Matthew claims to remember it differently, saying that he was just as drunk as her that night, but the fact that he refuses to respect her request to stay away from Chloe really doesn't help his case. Mia agonizes over telling Chloe the truth, eventually deciding she has no choice when Matthew convinces Chloe to move to Sydney with her.

* ChildByRape: Ruby was this to Charlie. She was [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo raised by her grandparents]].
** Also Shauna, who was conceived as a result of Ailsa being raped by a prison guard, and Ella, whose mother Tasha was drugged and raped by at least one member of a cult.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Nick Smith (played by Chris Egan from 2000-2003) went through a lot on the soap including losing his father to being crushed by a car he was working on, becoming wheelchair-bound after a school bus crash, being sexually harassed by a psychotic schoolteacher and framed for her sexual assault, and being set up to look [[YourCheatingHeart unfaithful to his girlfriend]] on a reality TV show. In the end he was offered a role in a film and after leaving everyone on good terms moved to {{Hollywood}} to become an actor.

* IdiotBall: tends to get passed around a fair bit. As of this writing, Ruby Buckton and Angelo Rosetta are probably the biggest offenders..
* ItIsAlwaysSpring: maybe that's why the place is called ''Summer Bay''. Never mind that it's just outside of Sydney and all....

* KilledOffForReal: half of the people who've not returned to the show.

* PutOnABus: the other half of people who've not returned.

* ShipperOnDeck Ruby trying to get Jai and Annie back together. Ruby seems to ship pretty much every couple on the show, notably Nicole/Aden and Charlie/Angelo.

* SuperOCD: April develops this after being bullied and suffering panic attacks,
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Miles, being a teacher who not only fosters kids, but also runs a caravan park, is obviously this to his sister Sally. Of course, he was probably set up as that so Sally fans wouldn't miss her too much. Over time he's [[CharacterDevelopment developed]] into an [[CloudCuckooLander oddball]] DeadpanSnarker..

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Nick Smith (played by Chris Egan from 2000-2003) went through a lot on the soap including losing his father to being crushed by a car he was working on, becoming wheelchair-bound after a school bus crash, being sexually harassed by a psychotic schoolteacher and framed for her sexual assault, and being set up to look like a [[YourCheatingHeart unfaithful to his girlfriend]] on a reality TV show. In the end he was offered a role in a film and after leaving everyone on good terms moved to {{Hollywood}} to become an actor.

** A much more perverse version of this is her best friend Melody Jones, who starts off EVEN MORE prudish, innocent and religious than even Annie, but eventually becomes a drug-taking party girl who crashes a car into the school disco.

* MoralDissonance: Christian fundamentalist Christine Jones seemed rather more angry about a slightly risque play being taught to the children and her daughter Melody CONSENSUALLY kissing a boy than her daughter being sexually assaulted. In fact, she even got Melody sectioned when, following the death of her attacker Axel, Melody admitted fantasising about him dying, calling her "an evil girl".

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Rob Storey.

* Hypocrite: Charlie objected to Ruby having a relationship with Casey for being a River Boy, even while having an affair with his infinitely more criminal and nasty brother Darryl; furthermore, Bianca violently opposed April having a relationship with Heath...not long before getting together with him herself.

** EstrangedSoapFamily: Unsurprisingly, several teenagers have these, since they are often fostered by others.