It has been a nightmare couple of weeks for Alf following the recent disaster, which has left Martha and then Marilyn in perilous danger.
The Home and Away legend has been left with an impossible choice over where to focus his attention and he has the absolute terror that someone he loves won’t make it.
We caught up with the iconic Ray Meagher, where he discusses how Martha may be worse than Alf realises, how he would feel to lose Martha and, of course, what his favourite disaster is.
After all, there are plenty to choose from!
What has been your favourite disaster over the years?
The sinkhole is the one – this was before the return of Roo’s mother Martha, and Georgie and I had a lot of laughs whilst we were down there for an intense day and a half filming those scenes
How much danger is Martha in?
She’s in incredibly danger, nobody knew what was happening in SALT for a long time, so some time had passed before the toxin was identified. Martha is in hospital and the toxin has damaged her lungs and kidneys. She is really, really ill and its touch and go as to whether she is going to make it. It’s a life and death situation for Martha.
How do you think Alf will be impacted if Martha weren’t to make it?
He would be devastated. He lost her once all of those years ago and he never thought she would come back into his life. He has been overjoyed since Martha returned, he was skeptical to start with but ever since he has been so happy. They have had their hiccups along the way, like Martha forgetting to mention the small fact that she had a son! But look, now that everything is settled, Alf and Martha should be enjoying themselves, and this new hurdle with Martha’s health is now hanging over them.
Do you like Alf and Martha together as a couple?
Absolutely, I think it’s been wonderful to play as well! I loved it especially when Martha first arrived, and the writers had them finishing each other’s’ sentences – they know each other backwards and it was a fun, old romantic storyline. I really enjoyed that, and I would be delighted if we could get back to that if Martha pulls through.
Things get even worse when Marilyn is in a bad way – extra stress for Alf, how is he coping by this point?
The whole time at the hospital – the stress is enormous, for both his wife and with Marilyn, a woman Alf sees as his other daughter. He is at the hospital at times for 24 hours a day and splits his time between Alf’s room and Martha’s room, just to be with them. If either of them wakes up he wants to be there and reassure them that everything will be okay. He’s coping but he is under a lot of stress with very little sleep.
He seems to feel that Martha is in less danger than Marilyn at this stage – but could he be wrong?
Absolutely he could. Martha’s problems are both lung and kidney related at this stage (or at least those are the ones that we are acutely aware of at this point in time). Marilyn is still in a coma and we later find out that she has a lot of problems. However, the Doctors can’t diagnose everything instantly or figure out why the toxin has affected Marilyn in the way it has done, so Marilyn is a huge worry for Alf.
Are you still loving playing Alf after all these years – can you ever see yourself leaving or is that out of the question?
Nothing is out of the question, but I am going to be around for a bit longer yet! I am enjoying playing Alf still, I have enjoyed this job in excess of 90% of the 34 years I have been playing Alf and I feel very blessed and lucky to be able to say that as I don’t think many people in their jobs can.
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