Michael Ross
Michael Ross was a regular character from October 1990 until in April 1996. He married Pippa Fletcher in 1991, but 5 years later was drowned in an accident. The obvious chemistry between Pippa and Michael spilled over into real life. The actors who played them have been married in real life since 1992. Michael was played by Dennis Coard.
| Michael Ross | |
|---|---|
Character Profile
| |
| Birthday: | c. 1950 - 29 April 1996 |
| Birthplace: | Australia |
| Father: | Unknown |
| Mother: | Unknown |
| Siblings: | Unknown |
| Spouse: | Cynthia Ross (1974-1989) Pippa Fletcher (1991-1996) |
| Children: | Haydn Ross (1974) Kate Ross Dale Ross (1993) |
| Occupation: | Owner of Norfolk Boatshed |
| Played By: | Dennis Coard |
Backstory[]
Michael was married for 15 years to Cynthia and they had two children - Haydn and Kate. He ran a successful boating marina in the city and the family lived a comfortable, affluent lifestyle. When his business went downhill and finally failed, it brought his faltering marriage to an end. The divorce was acrimonious and was made worse by Cynthia convincing their children that it had all been his fault. In October 1990, Michael bought the Norfolk Boat Shed from Fred Owens and moved to Summer Bay to start a new life.
1990-1996[]
Just good friends...
When Michael bought the Boat Shed, he didn't know that Carly and Ben Lucini had already shaken hands on the deal and believed they were about to take ownership of the business. Ben was furious at being gazumped and was very hostile towards Michael at first. Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Ben came to work for Michael. Michael moved into the caravan park and it quickly became evident that he was attracted to Pippa. It took her longer to admit that she liked him too because her husband Tom was only dead 6 months at this stage. Michael's teenage son Haydn moved to Summer Bay shortly afterwards and at first their relationship was rocky. He was still upset that his parents had split up and blamed Michael for ruining his life.
In Episode 678, Michael kissed Pippa under the mistletoe in Summer Bay House and that finally moved his friendship with her to something more. At first, neither Sally nor Haydn were happy about them getting together and in different ways, caused headaches for them. The morning after their first proper date (and non-mistletoe induced kiss), Michael's ex-wife Cynthia showed up unexpectedly. She wanted to get back with him and managed to manipulate Pippa into breaking up with him. Their attempted reconciliation didn't work out - Michael had long since moved on and was now in love with Pippa. Michael and Pippa resumed their relationship and both admitted that they loved each other. When Michael survived a near-fatal accident at the Boat Shed shortly afterwards, he decided to propose to Pippa. She turned him down and broke up with him, afraid she'd get hurt again. Michael was devastated but had better luck when he asked her again shortly afterwards (Episode 728). They married a month later (Episode 757).
Michael and Pippa test out his new anti-snoring pillow
Michael's relationship with Haydn soured when he paid too much attention to conniving school headmistress Lois Crawford. He tried to stop Haydn from hanging out with Blake Dean, believing it'd improve his grades. Instead, it made Haydn decide it was time to move back to live with his mother. They didn't speak at all for two years after this .
Shortly after Haydn's departure. Michael and Pippa took in Finlay Roberts and in time, they fostered her younger brother Damian. Neither of the Roberts siblings ever caused as many headaches as foster daughter Sophie Simpson. Michael was furious when Sophie fell in love with David Croft who was a decade older than her. Then Sophie discovered she was pregnant with David's child and would be a teenage mum (David had died in a car accident by now). When Sophie unexpectedly went into labour early, Michael stayed in the delivery room with her and helped her through it.
In July 1992, Pippa discovered that she was pregnant with their son Dale. (In real life, Debra Lawrance was expecting her and Dennis's first child). Tragically, Dale died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in April 1993 (Episode 1222). Dale's death had a terrible effect on both his heartbroken parents. It strained their marriage to breaking point but it survived.
In 1994, Haydn unexpectedly returned to Summer Bay. He convinced Michael that he wanted set up a surf shop and needed some help raising capital. In reality, Haydn had racked up significant gambling debts and this was nothing more than a ploy to get his hands on a large sum of money. Michael took out a large bank loan to help Haydn but as soon as the money came through, he cleared out the bank account and shot through. As a result, Michael very nearly lost the Boat Shed and was only saved by Alf Stewart who brought into the business as a silent partner.
Michael and Pippa attend marriage counselling in the boat shed
In the latter half of 1994, Pippa and Michael's marriage ran into difficulties and they temporarily split up. The stress of running multiple businesses and looking after six kids (Damian, Jack, Sally, Shannon, Sam and Christopher.) became too much for him. This wasn't helped by Pippa's tendency to take things over and to treat him like one of the kids. Just before Christmas 1994 (Episode 1596). Michael moved into the grim storeroom in the boatshed and had a miserable Christmas Day. Later on that day, Sally ran away and didn't return for some weeks. With no sign of a reconciliation on the horizon, Irene suggested to Michael that he and Pippa should try marriage counselling. It worked, though not without some stumbling blocks along the way. Michael moved back home and the pair were happy again.
A few months later, Michael rescued a little Yugoslav girl called Maya from a light aircraft which had crashed in the bush. She was an orphaned refugee and he quickly became quite attached to her. He was devastated when the authorities found some of her relatives back home and took her away. She had been the first kid he'd brought into the family and now he understood what Pippa went through any time any of them went away.
In 1995 Michael and Pippa decided to sell the Boat shed to Rob Storey, bringing an end to that era. It had provided employment to quite a few Summer Bay residents, including Ben, Adam Cameron, Revhead, Ryan Lee, Greg Marshall, Alf Stewart(!) and Shane Parrish.
Tragically Michael drowned when trying to rescue Sam from a swollen river in April 1996 (Episode 1912)
Memorable info[]
Birthday: Unknown, about 1950
Died: 29th April 1996 (aged about 45) (drowning)
Full Name: Michael Ross
First Line: "Oh yeah, and all these." (to Alf)
Last Line: "Help me!" (to Jack)
Very little was ever mentioned about Michael's background but in 1994 there were a couple of nods to actor Dennis Coard's Northern Irish roots. When Michael moved into the store-room in the boatshed, an old car number plate with a Belfast registration hung from one of the walls. He also owned a compilation of 100 Irish songs.
Family[]
Spouse Cynthia Ross (1974-1989), Pippa Fletcher (1991-1996)
Children Haydn Ross, Kate Ross, Dale Ross