Angie Russell

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Angela Russell
Home and Away character
Angie Russell.jpg
Portrayed by Laurie Foell
Duration2002–2004
First appearance26 September 2002
Last appearance24 May 2004
ClassificationFormer; recurring

Angie Russell is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away , played by Laurie Foell. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 September 2002. Foell departed on 21 March 2003, but her character subsequently appeared as a ghost in her daughter's dreams on 24 May 2004.

Contents

Storylines

Angie arrives in Summer Bay to take on the position of Deputy Principal and meets her former flame Rhys Sutherland (Michael Beckley). Her son, Dylan (Brett Hicks-Maitland) immediately takes a shine to Rhys' daughter Kirsty (Christie Hayes). Angie later drops a massive bombshell, revealing that Dylan is Rhys' son from a one-night stand during his marriage, sending shockwaves through the Sutherland family. Rhys' marriage to Shelley (Paula Forrest) gradually breaks down. In the midst of this, Angie begins a relationship with recently released Jesse McGregor (Ben Unwin) and even lies to Detective Mike Carter (Stephen Leeder) about Jesse's whereabouts on the night of a murder.

Angie begins playing mind games with Nick when she catches him fighting with Dylan. Angie uses her feminine wiles to seduce Nick and then rejects him. When Nick confronts her in a classroom one day, Angie starts screaming and tearing at her clothing, and Nick is framed for sexual assault as a result. Even after she dropped the charges, the police still pursue Nick. Justice Morag Bellingham (Cornelia Frances), has prior information about a scandal Angie had been involved in at her nephew Duncan's (Brendan McKensy) school in the city where Angie had taught and seduced one of her students, Stephen Ross (Oliver Ackland) but it backfires when Angie takes a defamation of character suit against Morag and Stephen lies on the stand in the belief that he and Angie will be together. Nick is then tried and found guilty of and sentenced to community service at a retirement home.

The Bay then turns on Angie, resulting in her becoming more and more unstable. She torches Scott Hunter's boatshed and blackmails Josh West (Daniel Collopy) over his dealing with a local councillor. Toward the end of Angie's reign of terror over Summer Bay, Angie discovers Dylan is not Rhys' son and worse was to come when Nick with the help of Kirsty, her sister Jade (Kate Garven) and Seb Miller (Mitch Firth) and gains a measure of revenge by videoing Angie threatening Nick. Following this, Angie's employment is terminated by Principal Paris Burnett (Rhett Giles)

Several weeks later, Angie's body is found and the suspect list includes Dylan, the Sutherlands, Nick, Josh, Jesse, Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) and Irene Roberts (Lynne McGranger). They are all questioned and the police are convinced Rhys is the murderer, but as they are about to formally charge him with Angie's murder Dylan confesses to arguing with Angie then pushing her, resulting in her death when her head struck the edge of a table. Dylan stands trial in the city and is acquitted. Angie later appears in her daughter Tasha Andrews' (Isabel Lucas) dream as a ghost.

Reception

Writer David Dale for The Age described Angie as a "Supreme Super-bitch" in his article about the serial. He also opined the decision to kill her was a tactic to help Channel 7 gain ratings against the impending return of Network Ten's Big Brother. and likened Angie's killing off to the axing of Geoff Hill, the then-managing director of Sydney's branch of seven. Dale added "Angie's sin, by contrast, was that she was too interesting. Knocking her off was the most powerful way to hang on to Home and Away viewers who might have been getting a bit jaded after 15 years of sun, surf and teenage angst." [1] The ratings for the serial rose to 1.7 million viewers for the episode where Angie's body was discovered. [1]

The revelation of Angie's killer and the aftermath raised audience figures in Australia to 1.5 million viewers, beating Network Ten's Big Brother. [2] A writer for What's on TV included Angie on their list of "The 50 most evil soap villains of all time". [3] The writer stated "Actress Laurie Foell caused chaos not once but TWICE in Home and Away as evil Angela Russell and, later, as Angie's twisted cousin Josie." [3] A writer from the Sunday Mercury described Angie as a "crackpot" and opined that the serial should "take lessons from British soaps about how to milk storylines", before adding "They won't be dragging this one out for months, as the killer confesses next week!" [4]

Related Research Articles

Laurie Foell is an Argentinian-born Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayal of both Angela "Angie" Russell and her cousin Josie, in the successful Australian television soap opera Home and Away. Foell also starred as Dr. Justine Jones in the long running New Zealand hospital soap Shortland Street.

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Morag Buckton QC is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Cornelia Frances. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 7 June 1988. She appeared until 1989 and briefly appeared in 1993. She returned yearly from 2001 until 2009, again from 2011 to 2013 and again from 2016 to 2017. Before she died, Frances had expressed her desire to once again become a permanent cast member. Morag has been described as an antagonistic, independent and cold character. Morag is portrayed as a tough lawyer. She has been involved in storylines such as adopting out her illegitimate daughter Bobby Simpson, being widowed, helping her brother Alf Stewart through his many legal battles and a friendship with troubled teen Aden Jefferies. She has been well received by certain critics for her feisty persona, whilst others have criticised her professional skills.

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Eric "Ric" Dalby is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Mark Furze. He appeared in the series from 15 September 2004 until 24 July 2008. Furze was cast into the role after an audition and a screen test impressed producers. Furze said he was attracted to the role because of Ric's characterisation. Ric was initially portrayed as a bully of vulnerable people and held no respect for authority. Through his storylines, Ric transforms into one of the serial's "good guys" but his violent temper remained. Both Furze and interested media noted that Ric getting involved in fights became a dominant feature throughout his tenure.

References

  1. 1 2 Dale, David (26 April 2003). "Why the Bitch had to die". The Age . Fairfax Media. p. 7. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Dale, David (3 May 2003). "Superbitch's demise spells trouble for Brother". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax Media. p. 48. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 "The 50 most evil soap villains of all time". What's on TV . IPC Media. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "The Box: Soap Box". Sunday Mercury . Trinity Mirror. 11 January 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
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