They became one of the most popular characters of Home and Away, but could a return be on the pair’s cards a decade since Hugo Austin (Bernard Curry) and Martha MacKenzie (Jodi Anasta) had been forced to escape Summer Bay from people smuggling gangsters?
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Curry, currently appearing in hit Australian soap Wentworth Prison, who returns on Wednesday, August 5 for an eight-season on 5STAR, focuses on his Home and Away stint and reckons that it’s time to find out what the volatile couple is up to now, especially as Anasta’s co-star has just left her job as Neighbors’ Elly Conway and is again available.
“I keep seeing Jodi every now and then,” he tells us. “It’s always great to come to terms with her. I wonder if after the run our heroes, Hugo and Martha, are still together. They did have a strong bond, definitely.
“He faked his death to go to the safety of police, then came back to meet her and they left together – they shared something very profound. I just like to believe that they’re all healthy!
After his breakout appearance on rival soap Neighbours as Luke Handley in the mid-1990s, Curry has enjoyed a prosperous career and achieved a national audience as sadistic detective Jake Stewart of Wentworth. As the jail-set series moves into a ninth and final season, the star says he ‘s up for a return to either Ramsay Street or the Harbor, but insists he ‘d pick.
“If I had the chance I would probably consider coming back to both series, Neighbors was a long time ago so it was a wonderful experience and a huge path for learning.
“But I had a lot of fun portraying Hugo, for similar reasons that I enjoy playing Jake in Wentworth Prison: he had that double thing to him, and like any actor would tell you, playing the antagonist is still more fascinating – albeit one that gets some salvation and is the hero! Hugo had the story of salvation.’
Anasta told us earlier this year that she would love to return to Home and Away and work with on-screen mum Georgie Parker, who was recast as her character’s mum Roo Stewart just months following Elly Conway ‘s eventual exit in 2010.
“That’s right, on video, Jodi and Georgie never crossed paths,” Curry muses. “We have to get this to happen! That would be terrific.
“I just loved being at home and out shopping. At the time, I was living in Sydney with my wife at Bondi Beach and it was fun to drive to Palm Beach ‘s Summer Bay place, go to the catering truck and have lunch in the heat. It cheered an ordinary working afternoon!
This week, fans of Longtime Home and Away were whipped into a whirlwind when reports that a former fan would soon come back to the series.
Whispers are growing clearer that Dan Ewing, who played Heath Braxton between 2011 and 2014, is going to return to Summer Bay.
A photo shared to a fan-made Instagram page @homeandaway2020 shows the 35-year-old actor standing next to the new Home and Away actors Ethan Browne and Rob Kipa-William, adding steam to the speculation.
The character of Dan Heath was part of the original River Boys which included his brother Daryl “Brax” Braxton (Stephen Peacocke) and Casey (Lincoln Younes).
While the three OGs have long ago left, Dean (Patrick O’Connor) is part of the River Boys gang, while Cop Colby (Tim Franklin) has had connections before.
Both River Girls are Willow (Sarah Roberts), and beginner Amber (Maddy Jevic).
Although nothing formal has yet been reported, Heath and his half-brother Kyle Braxton (Nic Westaway) will reappear in an effort to get Colby out of jail in a future season, claimed fans of Home and Away.
Dan has acknowledged previously that he would be open to the idea of reprising his part.
“I ‘d certainly do it, as long as a strong plot remains,” he told TV Week in 2018. “I just appreciate what they’re doing.
“However, I do cross paths with Nic Westaway – and obviously with Lisa Gormley [Bianca Scott]. We chat often as she has been my best half.
“But Steve [Peacocke] doesn’t have Facebook. It’s easy when we’re in the same country but he ‘s such an old school, you’ve got to send him a messenger pigeon!”
In 2014, Heath departed Summer Bay to start a new life with his wife Bianca.
However, he has returned several times over the years including for two spin-off specials, Home and Away: An Eye for an Eye and Home And Away: All or Nothing in for now-defunct streaming service Presto
