Pippa Ross
| Pippa Ross | |||||||||||||||||
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Debra Lawrence as Pippa Ross
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| Home and Away character | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by |
Vanessa Downing (1988–90) Debra Lawrance (1990–2009) |
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| Duration | 1988–98 (regular), 2000–09 (guest), | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 17 January 1988 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 8 May 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||
| Other names | Pippa King (maiden name) Pippa Fletcher (married name) |
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| Occupation | Nurse Foster mother Caravan Park owner |
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| Home | Carrington Ranges | ||||||||||||||||
 Pippa Fletcher as originally portrayed by Vanessa Downing
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| Father | Bert King |
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| Mother | Coral King |
| Brothers | Danny King |
| Husband |
Tom Fletcher (1975–90) Michael Ross (1991–96) Ian Routledge (1999–) |
| Sons |
Christopher Fletcher Dale Ross |
| Adoptive daughters | Sally Fletcher |
| Stepsons | Haydn Ross |
| Granddaughters | Pippa Saunders |
Phillipa "Pippa" Ross OAM (fictitious recipient) (née King, previously Fletcher) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Actress Vanessa Downing originated the role from 1988 to 1990, then Debra Lawrance took over from 1990 to 1998. Pippa made her official departure on 18 March 1998. The character has made numerous returns played by Lawrance between 2000 and 2009.
Carol Willesee was initially hired for the "pivotal role of foster mother, and earth mother" Pippa Fletcher. In his book Super Aussie Soaps, Andrew Mercado opined that casting the then wife of current affairs show host, Mike Willesee, was a publicity dream. Of Willesee's casting, producer John Holmes said "She had just started acting and was pretty raw, but she had a warmth about her." When filming began, the Seven Network became worried because Willesee had not signed a contract. The actress later revealed she had a verbal agreement that she could have time off during the school holidays, as well as later starts and early finishes, so she could spend time with her family. The network realised that that situation would not work for a show scheduled to film five episodes per week and they decided to recast the character and reshoot the footage Willesee had already filmed. Holmes explained that it would have been "irresponsible" to allow an unsigned actress to keep filming when she could walk out at any time.
The pivotal role of Pippa was then given to Vanessa Downing at very short notice and the actress had to juggle a theatre production in which she was appearing along with the filming of the pilot episode of Home and Away. Downing appeared as Pippa until 1990, when she suddenly quit the series, apparently due to missing working with her former co-star Roger Oakley, who played her on screen husband Tom. Producers did not want to kill off the character, as she was crucial to the storyline, so they recast the part instead. Auditions were held and it came down to two actresses; Jackie Woodburne and Debra Lawrance. Lawrance commented "We were, and still are, very dear friends. She and I were short-listed together and after our call back audition we caught up for coffee. We both genuinely agreed that we didn't mind if the other got it." Lawrance won the role and immediately took over from Downing in July 1990; there was no break in the storyline for the character, when Downing departed, Lawrance appeared as Pippa in the following episode with no attempt to explain the sudden change of appearance. Lawrance remained in the role until 1998 and has subsequently returned to guest star.
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