Summer Bay Caravan Park may appear to be the ideal, lovely setting for a vacation, but the Grim Reaper is a frequent visitor.
Ari Parata (Rob Kipa-Williams), who has cancer of the appendix and tumours in his abdomen, will die to his condition next week, as another favourite Home and Away character.
Ari’s death comes so soon after his hospital room wedding to Mia, and he’d been languishing in prison for falsely confessing to a murder he didn’t commit.
His demise is the latest in a long line of heartbreaking departures from the iconic Australian soap opera.
Let’s have a look at what we’ve got…
Tom Fletcher was involved in a car accident
In 1988, married couple Tom and Pippa Fletcher moved from Sydney’s inner suburbs to the fictional beach resort of Summer Bay.
They had their hands full with a problematic bunch of foster youngsters in tow, in addition to overseeing the town’s camper park. Frank, Carly, Lynn, Steven, and Sally are the members of the group.
Tom, who was firm but fair, quickly became a popular member of the community, but he died two years after the show premiered when he fell while driving. Although this was not the show’s first fatality, it had the greatest impact.
After Sally was stabbed in 2008, Tom appeared to her as a ghostly vision.
Bobby Simpson speedboat accident
Rebellious In the early days of the show, Bobby immediately became one of the most popular characters. She made things difficult for her own father, school principal Donald ‘Flathead’ Fisher, after joining the Fletcher clan as their newest foster child.
Bobby’s love life was also full of twists and turns, with a love triangle involving her, Frank, and Roo being one of the most memorable.
Bobby was died in a motorboat accident after evolving into a stepmother position. Bobby’s face emerged in Ailsa’s fridge door after she suffered a mental breakdown in 1995. (We’re noticing a pattern here.)
Shane Parrish’s illness
Dieter Brummer’s sad death in 2021, at the age of 45, left Generation Xers heartbroken.
Dieter decorated posters in thousands of teenage bedrooms across the UK and Australia as one half of Summer Bay super couple Shane and Angel from 1992 to 1996.
The golden couple was hugely popular on the show, with their wedding being compared to Scott and Charlene’s big day on Neighbours.
Shane tragically died of septicaemia after cutting himself on an infected wire.
The cardiac attack of Ailsa Stewart
Before marrying Alf and becoming a pillar of the Summer Bay community, Ailsa had a shady past.
She went on to become a mentor for the town’s problematic youngsters, particularly Bobby, after serving three years in prison for killing her abusive father.
Ailsa was abruptly killed off after more than a decade on the show due to a heart attack.
But, as you might expect, she reappeared in 2002 when Alf’s brain tumour caused him to have hallucinations. Strewth!
The murder of Noah Lawson
Noah was another disturbed adolescent who managed to build a relationship with Hayley despite his mother’s religious insanity and his own drunkenness.
In a major cliffhanger, Noah was fatally shot by mad Sarah Lewis, a psych facility escapee out on vengeance. But don’t worry, he showed up in Hayley’s visions multiple times. He did, of course.
The cancer struggle of Flynn Saunders
Sally moved from being the Fletchers’ youngest foster child to a foster mother in her own right and the principal of Summer Bay High, and Kate Ritchie continued with the show for 20 years.
Sally’s doctor husband Flynn found he had cancer after performing a demonstration skin check for a group of school children, in a scenario that was very relevant to Australian viewers.
After halting chemotherapy so he could die at home, Flynn died in Sally’s arms.
The killing of Casey Braxton
Casey, the youngest of the Braxton brothers, was angst-ridden and had rage issues, but he managed to gain popularity among fans.
Casey’s death, which was shot by Jake Pirovic, who had previously killed Brax’s girlfriend Charlie Buckton, tore the family apart. Sob.
Home and Away airs weekdays at 6.30 p.m. on 5Star, with a 1.15 p.m. rebroadcast on Channel 5.
