Tonight’s Home and Away sees Irene Roberts say goodbye to Summer Bay as she sets off on her tour across the world. Keep reading for our tribute to Irene’s three decades in the bay.
After more than 32 years, Irene has left Summer Bay for the final time, as Lynne McGranger’s final scenes on Home and Away aired on Australian screens this evening. She will remain on UK screens for another six weeks, with her final episode airing on Channel 5 on Wednesday 1st October.
Lynne’s decision to leave the show was first announced back in February, as she prepared to embark on another nationwide theatre tour of The Grandparents Club, which runs from July to October.
“After almost 33 years in my dream role and working everyday with people who I love, respect and whom I now consider family, it’s bittersweet to be closing the chapter on what has been the best and longest gig of my life,” Lynne said in a statement.
Her final scenes were filmed at Seven’s Eveleigh Studios on Wednesday 26th March, as cast and crew of the show gathered to watch.
Irene first arrived in Summer Bay back in 1991. At that point, the character was played by Jacqy Phillips, but Lynne McGranger took on the role in 1993 and has remained an integral part of the show ever since.
Irene’s departure storyline, which was suggested to producers by Lynne herself, saw the stalwart leave for a tour of the world, wanting to make the most of her remaining time after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Irene only returned to Summer Bay in February, arriving home from a 6-month stint in a rehab clinic after falling off the wagon in mid-2024.
Soon after her return, she began developing some concerning memory issues. Small instances of forgetfulness quickly worsened, as she revealed to John that she’d found herself in her garden in her nightie, with no idea what she was doing there.
She began forgetting appointments and shifts at the diner, and at one point nearly left baby Archie home alone after forgetting that she was babysitting for Harper (Jessica Redmayne).
After John encouraged her to seek help, Bree (Juliet Godwin) ran a lumbar puncture which showed signs of Alzheimer’s, something which was later confirmed by a neurologist in the city.
Irene has spent the last few weeks putting her affairs in order, selling her share of the Pier Diner to Leah, and writing names on the back of all of her photos, preparing herself for the day she doesn’t remember the people and events immortalised in them.
After a conversation with Sonny (Ryan Bown), she decided that she wanted to make the most of her remaining time before her memory failed her, and announced to her friends that she was going to travel the world while she still could.
She put her house up for sale, and last week saw her sell the infamous Beach House to new arrivals David (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) and Jo (Maddison Brown). An emotional episode saw her pack up her things and say goodbye to the place she’s called home since 1994.
Fans were even treated to a scene outside the beach house. While scenes outside the house were commonplace in the 1990s, they gradually declined, and there haven’t been any scenes at the property’s exterior in more than 25 years.
A new beachside location was sourced by producers, who made the unusual choice of selecting a property with no second floor. It also happened to be the same property used as Irene’s former workplace, the Bayside Diner.
Yesterday and today’s episodes saw Irene’s grand farewell, as her friends hosted a “real rip-snorter” of a party beside the beach, before saying goodbye to her forever.
As Irene leaves Home and Away forever, we take a look back at her more than three decades on the show.
As Irene leaves Home and Away forever, we take a look back at her more than three decades on the show.
Irene arrived in Summer Bay in 1991 as an alcoholic mother whose children, Finlay and Damian, were living with Pippa Ross and her husband Michael. Fin had run away to Summer Bay, and Irene tracked her down, promising things would be different. Finlay almost agreed to return but rejected her after discovering Irene was still drinking.
Irene then tried to use her younger son Damian, who was close to Finlay, to pressure Finlay into coming home. Damian refused and returned to face mother and older brother Nathan alone.
The following year, Damian contacted Fin for help. When Fin and Pippa visited, Irene appeared cheerful and insisted she and Damian were getting along, but she resumed bullying and beating Damian once they left. Damian ran away to Summer Bay, and Pippa refused to let Irene take him back after seeing his bruises.
When Irene later returned drunk and tried to force Damian and Fin to come with her, she fell down the stairs and claimed they had pushed her. Following a conversation with Pippa, she admitted her mistakes and allowed the children to stay with Michael and Pippa while she returned home alone, maintaining sporadic contact with them.
Now sober, and with Lynne having taken over the role, Irene returned to Summer Bay in the opening week of the 1993 season, after Finlay was involved in a diving accident.
Staying at the Ross household, Irene stepped up to help out when a heavily pregnant Pippa was forced to go and stay with her parents to rest on doctor’s orders. Although Fin and Damian were wary, Irene proved her commitment by resisting temptation and supporting Fin through a stimulant addiction.
Her hopes of reuniting the family were dashed when her children rejected the idea, and she left town after son Nathan was arrested back in the city.
She returned a few months late and quickly won over locals, befriending Pippa and Ailsa, and starting work in Alf’s shop and the Bayside Diner.
Initially moving in with Adam, she supported him through his grief over Bobby’s death and welcomed Nathan back from prison. But tensions rose when Nathan stole from the school, with Irene feeling she had no option but to provide the police with the evidence needed to arrest him.
After losing many of her possessions in a house fire, Irene was determined to rebuild her life. She bought the Beach House when Greg put it up for auction after Bobby’s death, kept on existing lodgers Luke and Tug, and even convinced Fin to move in. But when Fin left for university just weeks later, Irene had to face the fact she’d missed her chance to bring the family back together.
The following year saw Irene manage a local netball team, but her intense training style soon wore thin. Around this time, her rarely mentioned gift of second sight surfaced, and a test from Roxy confirmed she had high ESP.
She briefly tried working as a clairvoyant under the pseudonym Madame Irena, but gave it up after failing to help her first client, who was more interested in company than answers.
After sensing Selina’s unhappiness at home, Irene offered her a place to stay, and following a falling out with her mother, Selina moved in—the first of many teens Irene would take under her wing.
Irene’s singing talents were revealed for the first time towards the end of 1994, as she entered a country and western singing contest with an original song, Picking Up the Pieces.
Her commitment to play Santa at the town’s Christmas barbecue quickly went awry when Rob’s boat broke down, forcing her to make her big entrance by being airlifted by helicopter to the beach.
In 1995, Irene’s love life took a brief turn when builder Mick O’Reilly proposed, only for new housemate Marilyn to discover he was already married to two different women.
We later met some of Irene’s extended family for the first time, when her sister Wendy McFarlane, a country and western singer, came to stay with her son Nelson.
Wendy’s refusal to accept her own career was dwindling initially caused tension between her and Irene, but the two made up before she and Nelson departed.
Nelson returned a few months later but suffered serious burn in the car explosion that led to the Summer Bay bushfire. After he was transferred to the city, neither him nor Wendy were ever seen again.
Soon after, Irene’s estranged husband Murdoch (Mud), who had abandoned the family in 1985, turned up in town. For a short while it looked as though the pair were about to rekindle their marriage, but Irene sent him packing when she caught him trying to make predatory advances on Selina.
When Mud was later found murdered, Irene and Selina were interviewed as suspects, but it later emerged that Dodge, fresh from prison with a message from Nathan, had killed him.
Damian made some brief returns to visit his mum in Summer Bay, impregnating Selina who later lost the baby, and eventually made known his plans to become a priest.
Damian made a final visit to Summer Bay in 1996 following Shane’s death, and was never seen again. In later years we learned that Damian had settled in New Zealand, with Irene making occasional off-screen visits.
Irene was touched when Selina took her surname, and she gained another ward in Chloe Richards. But Selina’s life took a dangerous turn after a near-death experience led her into the orbit of cult leader Saul Bennett.
Later in 1996, Fin then reappeared with an emotional request—she couldn’t have children and wanted Irene to be a surrogate for her and partner Barry.
Irene agreed, travelling to the US for the procedure, only for Fin to later find out she was pregnant herself. Irene also took in Saul’s son Joey, despite initial mistrust.
Irene later gave birth to her grandson Paul, but he was kidnapped from the hospital within hours by grieving mother Wendy Bachelor.
Public appeals backfired when a tabloid sensationalised the surrogacy, and tensions grew between Irene and Fin. Saul later resurfaced to reclaim Selina and Joey—and taunted Irene with claims of knowing Paul’s whereabouts.
Saul apparently died soon after in a fire, with Wendy’s body also found but no sign of the baby. Though Paul remained missing, Irene reconciled with Fin off screen and later supported her through the birth of her second son, Mark.
Irene was contacted by Father Brian Little, who encouraged her to attend church. There, she briefly comforted a baby brought by a young woman named Annie—only to later realise it was her missing grandson, Paul. She later returned to the church only to find Paul had been left for her.
Initially angry that Brian had kept Annie’s confession secret, she learned he had actually engineered their meeting. The two developed a close friendship, sharing mutual affection, but when Brian was called to minister after a nurse’s death, Irene accepted she couldn’t ask him to leave the priesthood for her.
Although Irene and Fin remained close, Fin took her brother’s lead and never returned to Summer Bay over the next 28 years.
Irene helped organise Selina’s wedding to Steven, but Selina was kidnapped by the very-much-alive Saul en route to the ceremony. After her rescue and Saul’s death, Selina broke things off with Steven and went travelling.
With Chloe and Lachie planning to raise baby Olivia together, Irene clashed with Lachie’s manipulative mother Diana.
She then took in Will Smith, who tried to drive a wedge between her and Joey so his younger siblings could move in. His lies were uncovered, and Irene convinced him to stay after learning his siblings were settled in foster care.
In early 1998, when Selina contracted malaria, Irene travelled to the UK to help. Whilst having a brief holiday romance of her own, Irene engineered a reunion between Selina and Steven, finally giving them her blessing.
Irene resigned from the Diner after feeling out of place with it’s new modernised image, and after struggling to find work, bluffed her way into a job as Donald’s secretary at Summer Bay High despite lacking the skills.
When Don discovered the truth, she endured a spell on the dole before he arranged secretarial classes for her, leading to a long tenure as the school’s secretary while she studied part-time for an English Literature degree.
Her feud with Diana eased briefly when Lachie suffered brain damage, and Irene convinced Chloe, now with baby Olivia, to move back in. Will’s sister Hayley also joined the household. Irene joined Diana in matchmaking Chloe with Lachie’s brother James, and supported Joey through a schizophrenia diagnosis.
Irene and Diana’s rivalry reignited during Chloe and James’s relationship, with Diana spiking Irene’s drink and getting her arrested.
2000-2009
With Will and Hayley’s younger brother Nick joining the fold, it wasn’t long before their father Ken, also a recovering alcoholic, came on the scene.
Not long after he and Irene became romantically involved, Irene was confronted in the Beach House by his disturbed ex-wife Eve, wielding a cricket bat, who accused her of trying to steal her family.
Irene and Ken planned to marry, but after Irene had a disturbing premonition, Ken tragically died in a garage accident shortly before the wedding.
The following year, Irene returned to the UK for a short break with Will, Hayley, Nick and Don for the launch of Don’s book, which Hayley had illustrated.
2002 saw Irene’s son Nathan return to Summer Bay following his release from prison. Although things were rocky at first, Nathan came to prove himself when he helped save lives following the Summer Bay High bus crash, which saw Nick temporarily paralysed.
Nathan ended up in a relationship with Nick’s nurse, Grace, and after celebrating his 30th birthday, the pair left for Alice Springs, later marrying.
Irene embarked on an on/off romance with younger school principal Paris Burnett. They survived the Mirigini ferry disaster together, and Paris moving away for a few months, but their relationship came to an eventual end when Paris was forced to leave to look after his orphaned niece and nephew.
