| Rhys Sutherland | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Home and Away character | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Michael Beckley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2000–2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 19 June 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 28 September 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | John Holmes | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book appearances | Dani on Trial | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rhys Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away , portrayed by actor Michael Beckley from 2000 to late 2004.
In June 2000, producers introduced the five-strong Sutherland family to take over the Summer Bay Caravan Park. [1] Michael Beckley was cast as patriarch Rhys Sutherland. He had spent twenty years as a theatre actor before he joined Home and Away. He told Joanne McCarthy of the Newcastle Herald that he approached his agent about finding a television role as he wanted "some stability". [2] He joked that he "basically fell into Home and Away" and was grateful that he did. [2] The Sutherland family is headed up by Rhys, who was billed as a former football player with "a habit of losing his temper", and his wife Shelley (Paula Forrest), who is always prepared to step in and "smooth things over." [1] They have three teenage daughters; Dani Sutherland (Tammin Sursok), Jade Sutherland (Kate Garven), and Kirsty Sutherland (Christie Hayes). [1] Beckley believed the best thing about the Sutherlands was that they were not connected to any of the show's established characters, explaining "I think they will open up all sorts of possibilities for the show. Because they don't know anybody else, these characters could go in so many different directions." [1]
Beckley described Summer Bay as a "deadly little place" and said "You've really got to watch your step. And, of course, no one does. We've often joked that you'd only survive living in Summer Bay for about three hours if it actually existed." [2] Talking about production, Beckley said "You do try to be a one-take wonder because we don't have a lot of resources. You've got to grab the stuff and make it work, but that's what being a professional is about. I think people would be surprised, but we don't have a lot of out-takes where people fall about laughing. I can think of only one time in four years when that's happened. The rest of the time if you make a mistake you say, 'Oops, sorry', and you do it again and get it right." [2]
Rhys, his wife Shelley and their three teenage daughters Dani, Kirsty and Jade relocate to Summer Bay after purchasing Summer Bay House and the adjoining Caravan Park from Pippa Ross (Debra Lawrence). Rhys takes over the running of the surf club kiosk. When Shelley brings home Brodie Hanson (Susie Rugg) from the local drop-in centre, Rhys has reservations at first but they foster her.
Rhys is enraged when he learns Dani has been raped by Kane Phillips (Sam Atwell) and this causes friction within the family. Matters are made worse when Kane is found not guilty and Rhys tries to drive him out of town. Kane eventually leaves of his own accord. Rhys' brother, Pete (Christopher Mayer) and his son Max (Sebastian Elmaloglou), arrive for a visit. It soon becomes apparent that Pete is on the run facing gambling debts and he flees leaving Max in Rhys and Shelley's care.
Kirsty's rebellion begins to test Rhy's patience and matters are not helped when she begins seeing Kane, who had saved her and Shelley's lives on a cruise. Rhys forces Kirsty to choose between the family and Kane. Kirsty initially choose's the family but runs away with Kane for a while. Kane eventually dumps Kirsty leaving her to return to the family.
Angie Russell (Laurie Foell), a former flame of Rhys, arrives in the bay for their 40th birthday and causes havoc by alleging that Rhys is the father of her son, Dylan (Brett Hicks-Maitland). This news threatens to tear the Sutherland's apart. It's later revealed to the shock of Angie and the Sutherlands, that Rhys is not Dylan's father but the damage to Rhys and Shelley's marriage is done and Shelley moves to the city, leaving Rhys and the girls Heartbroken. Kane later returns and gets back together with Kirsty provoking Rhys' anger even further. Dani is later jailed for running over Kane and Rhys struggles to forgive Kirsty for siding with Kane over her sister.
Rhys begins a new relationship with Beth Hunter (Clarissa House) and they later become engaged despite the arguments between their respective broods. On Rhys and Beth's wedding day, everybody is present except for Kirsty who has eloped with Kane. After Dani slowly warms to Kane, Rhys drops his hostilities with Kane. After Kirsty is diagnosed with a kidney problem and miscarries, Shelley returns to donate her kidney. The Sutherlands later discover Jade was switched at birth with another baby, Laura DeGroot (also played by Hayes). Shelley and Rhys began to spend a great deal of time together and eventually fall in love again. Rhys breaks Beth's heart and reunites with Shelley in the city and they remarry a year later.
Sacha Molitorisz of The Sydney Morning Herald said that the episode featuring Rhys and Beth's wedding was better suited to "die hard fans". They criticised the plot for being "unengaging" and opined that the music, performances and dialogue were "painful" and "patchy". [3]
Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Hunter is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Clarissa House. She made her first on-screen appearance on 17 April 2003 and departed on 30 January 2007. The character died from injuries sustained in a car crash on 23 April 2007.
Michelle "Shelley" Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, portrayed by actress Paula Forrest. She first appeared in the episode airing on from 19 June 2000 and departed in the finale of 2002. She made sporadic returns in 2003 and 2004. She made her final appearance on 28 October 2009.
Jade Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Kate Garven. She appeared in the series from 19 June 2000 until 3 June 2004.
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.
Paula Forrest an Australian actress, best known for playing the role of Shelley Sutherland on the long-running Australian soap opera Home and Away
Video Phillips is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Sam Atwell. He made his first appearance in an episode aired on 9 April 2001 and made his final appearance on 5 March 2009.
Robert George "Robbie" Hunter is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Jason Smith. He made his first on screen appearance on 25 November 2003. Robbie's storylines have included adjusting to a new stepfamily, a HIV scare, his relationship and subsequent marriage to Tasha Andrews, standing trial for the murder of his grandfather and becoming a father. Robbie departed on 10 October 2006.
Scott John Hunter is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Kip Gamblin. He made his first on-screen appearance on 23 January 2003. The character was riding a white horse onto the beach, where he was spotted by Dani Sutherland. Scott departed on 25 November 2005.
Sebastian "Seb" Miller is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Mitch Firth. He first appeared on 21 June 2001 and departed on 28 April 2004.
Joshua "Josh" West is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Daniel Collopy. He debuted on-screen on 21 November 2001. West left the series on 30 April 2003 upon departing for two years, but made reappearances before departing on 31 October 2003. He returned on 23 September 2005. He then made his final on-screen appearance on 16 May 2006, when he was killed off.
Brodie Hanson is a fictional character in the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, portrayed by actress Susie Rugg. She made her first appearance on 20 July 2000 and departed on 7 November 2002, she briefly returned in February 2004.
Nicholas Smith is a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. He first appeared during the episode airing on 18 March 1999, played by Matt Juarez in a guest role and then returned as a regular character on 26 April 2000, now played by Chris Egan, and departed on 12 September 2003. Aaron Puckeridge also played Nick in flashbacks in 2003.
Home and Away: Secrets and the City is an exclusive-to-video and DVD special of Australia's most popular soap opera Home and Away. In 2002, it was only released on video and a year later it received a DVD release. It is hosted by Home and Away star Tammin Sursok — in character as Dani Sutherland, not as herself — and contains three episodes, two of which were aired on TV: Shattered Hearts and Broken Dreams, from the fifteenth season of Home and Away, while the third episode, Secrets and the City will never be aired on TV; it is only to be seen on the video and DVD.
Kirsty Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Christie Hayes between 2000 and 2005 and again from 2008 to 2009. Kirsty first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 19 June 2000 and has been involved in one of the serial's most controversial storylines in which she knowingly started a relationship with a man who sexually assaulted her sister. Other notable plots include a baby swap plot, two miscarriages and a string of relationships including one with her supposed half-brother. Actress Hayes began playing the role at age thirteen and has quit the serial on two occasions, she made her original departure on 23 February 2005.
Home and Away: Hearts Divided is an exclusive-to-video and DVD special of Australia's most popular soap opera Home and Away. It was released on 29 October 2003 and is hosted by Home and Away star Rebecca Cartwright. It contains two episodes that aired on TV: "Turn Back the Night" and "Fallout", from the sixteenth season of Home and Away, plus the exclusive episode, Hearts Divided, which will not be aired on TV. It was released in the same format as Secrets and the City, with two aired TV episodes and the special and again follows another terrible situation that the Sutherland family have to face. Kane Phillips, the man who raped Dani Sutherland has returned to Summer Bay and comes between Dani and her sister Kirsty.
Home and Away: Romances is an exclusive-to-DVD special of Australia's most popular soap Home and Away. It was released on 2 November 2005 and unlike it previous two DVD releases, Secrets and the City and Hearts Divided which only contained three episodes each, this release is completely different, this takes a look back at all the classic Home and Away relationships over the past 17 years of the show from 1988 to 2005. It is hosted by Home and Away star Beau Brady and has everything from first meetings to good and bad dates, first kisses to love triangles and proposals to happy endings. The DVD also contains the movie length pilot episode, which is a rare chance for fans to go back to where it all began.
Danielle "Dani" Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Tammin Sursok. The actress successfully auditioned for the role of Dani in 1999 and she called the experience incredible. Sursok considered herself lucky to get the part, as the audition was the first one she had had since acquiring an agent. She made her first screen appearance as Dani during the episode broadcast on 19 June 2000. After four years in the role, Sursok made the decision to leave Home and Away in 2004 to pursue a music career and other acting opportunities and as a result Dani departed the series on 12 November 2004. She later explained that she had also become frustrated with the serial's producers. Sursok was glad that her character was written out of the show without anything bad happening to her.