Tom Fletcher (Home and Away)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
| Tom Fletcher | |
|---|---|
| Home and Away character | |
Christopher Fletcher | |
| Adoptive daughters | Sally Fletcher |
| Granddaughters | Pippa Saunders |
Thomas Edward Fletcher[1] is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by actor Roger Oakley. He made his first screen appearance in the pilot episode broadcast on 17 January 1988. The character departed on 30 April 1990, but reappeared briefly in 2008 as a ghost in Sally Fletcher's near-death experience following her second stabbing.
Development
The character of Tom was conceived by the creator and then executive producer of Home and Away
Storylines
Tom originally lived in
Shortly after the Fletchers arrive, Tom and Pippa purchase Summer Bay House and the Caravan Park from
After Carly's embarrassment over Tom's job, he feels hurt. However the Macklin family open the Sands Resort and Tom takes a job there. Further good news arrives when Pippa learns she is pregnant despite Tom's vasectomy. The couple worry Pippa may die during childbirth but decide to take risk. Pippa is healthy and they celebrate the birth of their newborn son,
18 years later, Tom reappears as a vision to Sally when she suffers a near-death experience after a second stabbing at the hands of Johnny Cooper (Callan Mulvey). He shows Sally a vision of the Bay if she dies and an alternate reality where her long-lost twin brother Miles Copeland (Josh Quong Tart) is murdered by Johnny instead. Tom also shows Sally a glimpse into future which reveals Cassie Turner (Sharni Vinson) has contracted HIV and tells if she does return someone else will die. This is prophetic as Sally's friend Dan Baker (Tim Campbell) dies shortly after. When Sally recovers, she tells Pippa about the vision and she is sceptical, but she still somewhat believes her. Alf also believes her, as he had been through a similar experience when he saw visions of Ailsa after her death during a brain tumour he was suffering from.
Reception
Robin Oliver of The Sydney Morning Herald thought Oakley and Downing played Tom and Pippa with "honest-to-goodness down-home charm".[3] Oliver's colleague Morris Gleitzman observed that Tom and Pippa were "the sort of parents we'd all like to be" and thought the family were warm and cheerful. He called Tom "a remarkable bloke" for facing his 40th birthday, retrenchment and relocation to Summer Bay with confidence and only minor issues.[4] Ruth Deller of television website Lowculture said "One of the nicest dad characters in soap, ever, has to be Tom Fletcher from Home and Away".[5] The Soap Show called Tom the "first patriarch of Home and Away."[6]
References
- ^ Executive producer: Des Monaghan; Director: Mark Piper; Writer: Dave Worthington (26 October 1989). "Episode 424". Home and Away. Seven Network.
- ^ a b Oram 1989, pp.112–114.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Deller, Ruth (29 July 2008). "Daddy Dearest". Lowculture. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
- ^ "Facts about The Sullivans". The Soap Show. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- Oram, James (1989). Home and Away: Behind the Scenes. ISBN 978-0-207-163159.