Home and Away is known for its fast-paced storylines, but the tragic deaths that we see almost every year are probably the most memorable. Here are ten that made us want to break down crying!
[CAUTION: Spoilers ahead for the Home and Away 2019 season finale]
Ah, yes. The world of soap operas. No matter how trashy some storylines are, yon can’t go past the tragic deaths that occur on an annual basis. Look at Australia’s Home and Away for example. Sure, the series which is set in New South Wales is well-known for its alumni ending in up in Hollywood, but there is much more to this soapie than you might realise.
Over the years, the show has bought about some of tear-jerking deaths that we’ve never really gotten over.
10. Casey Braxton
He’s the youngest Braxton brother who had a number of notable romances, but it’s the death of Casey Braxton that tore us up. After discovering that Johnny Barrett is his father, the youngest Braxton struggles with this revelation. This meant that Josh was his paternal half-brother while his half-brother Kyle isn’t actually related to him. He was also angry at Brax for keeping his true paternity a secret.
When Josh is held hostage by Jake Pirovic, the guy who killed Brax’s girlfriend Charlie Buckton, all hell breaks loose. Driven by revenge, Pirovic escapes prison and orders Andy to deal drugs for him. In a desperate attempt to protect his brother, Casey is shot in the process. He dies in Brax’s arms much to the devastation of his family and friends.
Andy ends up avenging Casey’s murder by pulling the plug on Jake’s life support machine. Later, Brax and his partner Ricky named their son, Casey after the uncle he would never know.
Fact: Ricky discovered her pregnancy the night older Casey died.
9. Kat Chapman And Her Baby
These two tragic deaths happened only a couple of years ago. The death of Policewoman Kat Chapman caused a great deal of grief for Martin “Ash” Ashford and Ryan “Robbo” Shaw.
With bad men on their tails, Kat springs Robbo from his prison cell after he hands himself in for kidnapping and then releasing Tori Morgan. They plan on leaving the Bay to start a new life on the run.
Kat, who is pregnant with Ash’s son, has fake IDs created for herself and Robbo to get them to safety. Unfortunately, they get into a car accident, smashing into newcomer Jasmine Delaney’s car as she arrives in the Bay to escape her abusive ex.
The policewoman is rushed to hospital but dies on the table. An emergency C-Section is performed in an effort to save her baby, but the child cannot be saved. Ash and Tori later visit the pair’s bodies in the morgue and the distraught father carries his son’s coffin out of the church where he and his mother are laid to rest.
Ash grieves their tragic deaths and pins the blame on Robbo for allowing them to be killed. What made it more tragic is he was still grieving the loss of Billie who had died of cancer not long after the birth of her daughter, Luc.
Eventually, Ash left town to join Luc and her adoptive father and Billie’s not-legal husband, VJ in Cyprus.
8. Billie Ashford
Billie Ashford’s time in Summer Bay wasn’t exactly smooth. She did a load of irresponsible things that got her into a world of trouble. However, that didn’t stop her from becoming a character with one of the most tragic deaths.
While closing up the gym on night, Billie is raped by an intruder wearing a balaclava. She confides in Phoebe who tells her that she needs to tell someone. Later, she tells VJ she’s pregnant and the baby is his. She later confesses on the day of their botched wedding that she’d been raped and the baby isn’t his.
Phoebe and Ash compare notes on the rape. Billie insists she doesn’t know who her rapist is. She later tells Phoebe it’s Mick, Irene’s estranged son. Later, VJ questions her as to whether Mick is her rapist and she denies it. Billie confesses she told Nate to keep quiet and that she altered the computer records at the hospital.
After delivering her baby, she and VJ name the infant Lucinda Leah or Luc for short. Tragedy strikes when Billie begins coughing up blood at Luc’s blessing ceremony. Scans reveals an inoperable tumour and she has days to live. She asks VJ take her and Luc to the beach where she dies peacefully in his arms.
It comes to light that despite marrying a second time, Billie and VJ’s marriage isn’t legal meaning VJ doesn’t have legal custody of Luc. The grief causes a rift between VJ and Ash over who should care for the baby. However, the pair work together when Mick returns and wants custody of his daughter.
VJ leaves the Bay with Luc, taking her to Cyprus with Ash’s blessing. After everything with Mick dies down, Ash follows suit and joins VJ and his niece in Greece.
7. Noah Lawson
Noah Lawson was the love of Hayley Smith’s life. He proposed to her on her 21st birthday. They married when Kane and Kirsty Phillips renewed their vows. However, Hayley and Noah’s marriage would end when he is tragically shot dead.
A crazed woman named Sarah Lewis begins to terrorise the small seaside town in search of her boyfriend, Felix’s killer. She ends up storming into Leah’s house where many of the town’s residents had gathered. Out of her mind, Sarah demands that her BF’s killer step forward. Noah attempts to explain to her that she killed him by injecting him with crystal meth.
Kirsty’s sister, Dani arrives but Sarah goes after her. Noah follows the gun wielding woman and is shot dead in an attempt to protect Dani. Lewis then turns the gun on herself.
However, the event was left on a cliffhanger and after an agonising wait, the show returned to a funeral possession on top of a cliff with a grief-stricken Hayley carrying an urn. Everyone who’d been involved in the siege was accounted for – including Noah. It’s later revealed that Noah was in fact the one who’d been shot.
A few years later, Summer Bay ends up with a stalker problem when an equally crazy woman named Eve – going under the name Zoe McCallister arrives in town to get revenge for the death of her former patient and friend, Sarah Lewis. She is later killed in an explosion at Martha and Jack’s wedding reception
6. Charlie Buckton
Charlie Buckton was one of Home and Away‘s most beloved characters especially since she tamed River Boy, Darryl “Brax” Braxton. Though her demise at the hands of Jake Pirovic is one of the show’s most tragic events.
Charlie is shot twice in revenge by Pirovic for the role she played in the death of his brother. She is taken to hospital but there is no hope of her waking up so her daughter Ruby and partner Brax decide to switch her life support machine off.
However, in a semi-twist, Esther Anderson returned to the show for a handful of episodes a year or two later. In this storyline, Brax gets shot by Ricky’s brother, Adam and falls unconscious. Charlie appears to him on a clifftop and tells him he’s in danger and sure enough, Adam tries to poison him.
The late policewoman appears to him a second time and Brax tells her he wants to give up and that his brothers no longer need him to protect them. Charlie then asks about Ricky, telling him she knows he’s in love with her and tells him to let go and be with her.
5. Jack Holden
Jack Holden was a loveable cop who became involved with Alf’s only granddaughter, Martha.
Despite their ups and downs and being framed for murder by his ex-wife, Jack truly was the love of Martha’s life, though his death was one of the tragic ones in recent years.
After supporting Martha through a miscarriage with Roman’s baby and her chemo for breast cancer, Jack discovered there was a development site that was linked to people developing cancer. Jack goes to investigate but is shot twice in the heart. It’s later discovered that Angelo shot him by accident after hearing a noise.
Jack’s father Tony discovers his son’s lifeless body and the news gets back to Martha. At Jack’s memorable service, Martha, who knew Angelo shot Jack is pressured by Tony to tell him what she knows. She reveals the truth and Tony beats his son’s killer up.
4. Oscar MacGuire and Hannah Wilson
Oscar MacGuire was one half of twins alongside his twin sister, Evelyn. In the wake of their mother’s death, their father Ethan has them join a commune at the Sanctuary Lodge. However, Hannah, the twins’ aunt feels something is off and goes to their Uncle Zac for help.
Unlike his father and sister, Oscar isn’t completely swayed by the cult and is beaten for not complying to the rules. Zac gets help from the Braxtons and has the twins ‘kidnapped’ and taken to a hotel.
Oscar and Evie settle into their new home with their aunt and uncle. However, Oscar and Hannah’s tragic deaths in a horror explosion was a terrible blow for Evie and Zac.
During a hospital fundraiser, an explosion occurs when Andy tackles Tank who has been warned to not attend. The explosion was caused after gas canisters are knocked onto live wires. Oscar is declared dead at the scene by new doctor Tori Morgan.
Hannah, who had been caught up in the explosion goes into work despite being injured and refuses to be examined. She later collapses with Nate and Tori being unable to revive her.
Oscar and Hannah’s deaths take a toll on Evie who was still mourning older half-sister, Denny after she was accidentally killed during a struggle with Charlotte King.
At Hannah and Oscar’s funeral, Evie collapses in grief at their graves and is comforted by fiancée, Josh. It’s a coincidence that Hannah and Oscar died the same way, Ethan did.
The difference is Ethan died in an indoor explosion that was revenge driven. Meanwhile, the explosion that killed Oscar and Hannah was outside and a total accident.
3. Rocco Scott-Braxton
The arrival of Rocco Scott-Braxton was fraught with issues. The little guy who was the son of Bianca Scott and middle Braxton brother, Heath was a sick little babe. He was born premature after his mother begins to suffer pre-eclampsia. He later suffers has a fit and needs a blood transfusion. Later, he develops meningitis is rushed back to hospital.
When his mother discovers she’s pregnant, it’s believe the infant is Liam Murphy’s, Bianca’s then-husband. However, it is later revealed Heath is the father, leading to Bianca and Liam’s divorce.
Rocco’s death comes out of the blue as Bianca finds him. After this, she moves back with Irene, putting a strain on her relationship with Heath. Her son’s death caused Bianca issues later when Heath’s son, Harley was born to Jess Lockwood, the woman he’d had a one-night stand with on his buck’s night.
After being left to babysit her stepson, Bianca struggled to bond with him. She freaks out when Heath uses one of Rocco’s toys to soothe Harley. When Heath tells her he wants to try for another baby, she says no, given her worry over another child suffering the same fate as Rocco. He accepts her decision, though a few years later when they return to the Bay, Bianca tells Irene she’s pregnant.
2. Belle Taylor
Susan Taylor was adopted by an highly religious couple and rebelled against their views. She arrived in Summer Bay looking for her biological parents.
Ric, Alf’s grandson befriends her after finding her living rough. Preferring to go by the name Belle, she found herself in a load of trouble, but soon found herself facing down the reason she’d come to Summer Bay; to track down her biological mother.
She learns that actress Amanda Vale is her biological mother and she is far from impressed as they’d been feuding. Over time they bury the hatchet. Amanda comes and goes for a few years to see Belle and her son, Ryan who is staying with his dad Dan and stepmother, Leah.
Belle becomes involved with Aden Jefferies and they soon get engaged, However, tragedy hits when Belle is told she has terminal cancer. She keeps this a secret from Aden and when he finds out, he almost cancels their wedding.
They go on their honeymoon before returning home where Belle dies in her sleep, much to her husband’s devastation. Her death sends Aden into a downward spiral of grief. He wouldn’t listen to anyone, especially Nicole and Morag.
1. Mason Morgan
This last death was a shock and it only happened in the 2019 season finale. When thugs target Jasmine at the hospital after months of going after her husband, Robbo, lives are put at risk. With Bella’s life at risk after she swallows pills, Mackenzie takes her to the hospital, but they end up in the middle a siege.
One thug takes the gun of Jasmine’s protector. Every patient, civilian, doctor and nurse on the floor are held hostage. It’s later revealed that the cop protector was in on the siege from the beginning. One of the hostages, Ari comforts a frightened Marilyn while outside, Willow and Dean are desperate for answers. Meanwhile, Colby and the cops try to get a better understanding of the situation while they wait for the riot squad to arrive.
As the minutes (or hours) tick by, some of the hostages look for ways to escape. Outside, a gunshot is heard causing everyone to go silent. Back inside the hospital, we see the faces of the people before we see Alex who looking sadly at the still body of Mason before she covers his body with a sheet.
At the Morgan home, Justin and Tori are the non the wiser, oblivious to their brother’s murder.
Conclusion
While tragic deaths are nothing new on Home and Away, it is hard to say goodbye to a character we’ve rooted for. But if the actor wants to move on, that’s their choice.
Which of these tragic deaths made you cry? Was there one we missed? Let us know in the comments! Be sure to subscribe to the blog and follow us at @cjhawk93 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
