Home and Away star Lynne McGranger shares memories of Summer Bay in Acting Up memoir

Lynne McGranger has a bout of food poisoning to thank for snaring a role on Home and Away. While long-time viewers of the soap couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the affable Irene Roberts, the actor reveals that a particularly rough few days put her in character for her audition way back in 1992. McGranger became violently ill for three days after celebrating her brother-in-law’s 40th birthday. She blames a spring roll. “I could barely string a sentence together but I had an audition for the mini-series Seven Deadly Sins so I went in and got it done,” McGranger recalls. Mustering all of her strength, she made it through her lines but her appearance sparked an idea for the casting director — she would be perfect for a role that had just opened up on the television drama Home and Away, which at that point had been running for five years. The brief for Irene was: “thin, wasted alcoholic”. This is one of the anecdotes the actor hilariously recalls in her newly released memoir, Acting Up, which lifts the lid on her life and career. For those wondering, she did also secure the role on the mini-series. “It was one of those wonderful serendipitous moments in life,” McGranger laughs when thinking of how her sickness helped her embody the rough-and-tough Irene. “She was a thin, wasted alcoholic on the wagon and would basically gargle crushed glass with a gin for breakfast,” is how she recalls her initial thoughts of her iconic role. McGranger took over from Jacqy Phillips, and was initially only contracted for a 13-week stint but proved so popular with viewers, she was brought back six months later. But when she started on set, McGranger admits she’d never even watched an episode. “Look I did try to do some catch-up but it was so overwhelming and I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” she laughs. “There were so many people and so much happening and I watched it for a few weeks just to get a feel for it.” Although she may now be the longest-serving female cast member — clocking up 28 years in the role this year — she was shocked when approached about writing a memoir. “I was gobsmacked and wondered why they would ask me of all people,” she says. “I used to joke and say that something would go in the memoir but never for a minute did I think it would happen.” Over six months, she delved back in time, recalling the rollercoaster of life experiences, including relationship heartaches, career disasters and difficult choices. “I wanted to be honest and didn’t want it to all be peachy keen and marshmallowy... it needed to be warts and all,” she explains. “I might have been on TV for all of these years but, like most people, I have lived a life of highs and lows.” One of the more sensitive moments she shares in her book is that she had an abortion when she was 17. Though she at first planned to keep the baby and run away to Perth with her partner, her parents decided that was not to be, and booked her an appointment. “I often think ‘What if’, but the other side of the coin is that if I had gone ahead and had that child my life would have been completely different,” she says now. But she doesn’t believe in living life with any sort of regrets. “Of course, there may be things in everyone’s lives and certainly mine I would go back and change because of the outcome or I may have hurt someone or a friendship ended. I would go back, but you can’t so you need to keep on living and learn from your mistakes,” she says. Evidently, life hasn’t always followed a clear-cut path for the 68-year-old. Driven by a desire to avoid having to change a bedpan or be stuck in an office, she enrolled to become a teacher after finishing high school in Sydney. “I wasn’t a member of MENSA by any stretch of the imagination and so the options were very limited at that time — you became a nurse, a teacher, or you worked as a secretary,” she says. “When I was in my late teens going to teacher’s college also seemed like a great thing to do because I thought it would be fun and I would get lots of holidays and get paid well.” At the time McGranger was heavily involved in the theatre scene and having to balance it first with her studies then her relief work. In an interview soon after starting in Summer Bay, McGranger said she “jumped at the chance” of joining the show because being a theatre actor with two years of guaranteed work was “very exciting”. Home and Away’s popularity stretches all over the world and McGranger has built up a loyal international fan base. “Back in the day before 9/11 we used to get our mail delivered directly to us and we used to get gifts and presents all of the time, although these days it’s much more about interacting with people on social media,” she says. In her memoir, she also recalls receiving a letter from former Eagles star Ben Cousins, who once reached out to express his admiration for Irene. “Even though I never really understood his reason for writing, it’s an example of the impact characters on a long-running show can have,” she writes. McGranger has watched on as many of her co-stars have used Home and Away as a launch pad for Hollywood careers. “It’s wonderful and 99 per cent of the time you can spot their talent or dedication before they even leave,” she says. “Of course, Chris Hemsworth comes to mind — he was always very handsome and dedicated and was going to classes for American dialect and always had it in his mind he would go over there. “Isla (Fisher) was always so smart and funny, and then we have other people like Ryan Kwanten and then also Jessica Tovey...so many of them have gone on to do great things ... it is such a great breeding ground.” Over the years the residents of the town have been struck by plenty of drama, or as McGranger lists in her book “lies, deception, unplanned pregnancies, stabbings, comas, shootings, kidnappings and coming back from the dead”. “For a show that only has 22-minute episodes, the writers manage to weave more drama together than a week in State politics,” she writes. At the same time, the series has pushed the boundaries of its 7pm time slot, at times coming under fire from conservatives, addressing myriad issues previously swept under the rug. “I don’t think things like addiction and domestic violence should be hidden in the shadows and it is really important we touch on them and deal with them,” McGranger says. And her biggest takeaways? “I am extremely grateful for the fact people love the character and identify with her and I am so thankful I’ve managed to get these years of work out of it,” she says. “Irene is a rough diamond with a heart of gold and that’s always been her essence, although I would like to think she has become a little bit more refined and has some more fashion sense these days.” Acting Up is out now. Home and Away airs Monday-Thursday at 7pm on Seven/GWN7.

Home and Away star Lynne McGranger shares memories of Summer Bay in Acting Up memoir

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