As Rick Donald admits, playing villain Kieran Baldivis, he can’t wait to take down the role of Ray Meagher.
Ray Meagher has played Home and Away’s most beloved character, Alf Stewart, for the past 3 decades.
But an action-packed trailer for the drama-filled 2020 finale of the show has indicated that one character might not make it through the final episode, and there is one piece of evidence that Alf may be suggesting it.
In an interview on Saturday, the show’s newcomer, Rick Donald – who plays villain Kieran Baldivis – made some telling comments about his on-screen rivalry with Ray’s character.
beloved character, Alf Stewart, but the new trailer suggests he could say farewell to Summer Bay for good.
Donald, who joined the cast three months ago as the abusive, drunken son of Alf’s wife Martha, hinted that when he joined the soap, he couldn’t wait to take down Ray’s character.
‘I knew I was going to go toe-to-toe with Ray, to be honest, and that’s a big part of why I decided to do this… To have a new one torn up by Alf Stewart,’ he said.
He added that as his plot becomes more serious, he expects Alf’s loyal fan base to unleash their wrath at him – but with that he has had plenty of practise, playing crooked prison guard Sean Brody on Wentworth.
‘They have been fierce! ” He said. The letters they would write to me were like, “you don’t deserve to be on this show…” thinking it was true.
‘So yeah, I can imagine that Alf would spur the haters on and see them coming out of the woodwork and lighting it up.’
After years away from his mother (Belinda Giblin), from whom he was estranged, Kieran arrived out of the blue in Summer Bay after being forced to call the police during one of his violent outbursts.
Alf is seen saying in the telling trailer: ‘I can’t help feeling that I’m not getting the whole storey here before Kieran is seen hitting a tree drastically in a furious rage.
The words ‘every day may be their last’ then appear on the television, indicating the imminent death of one of the most beloved stars in Summer Bay.
Back in 1988, Ray, 76, debuted on the iconic Channel Seven soap.
About thirty years later, and with fellow cast member Lynne McGranger coming in second place, Ray has the distinction of becoming the country’s longest-serving soap star.
