Michael Ross
Michael Ross was a main character from October 1990 to April 1996. He married Pippa Fletcher in 1991 and became the main "dad" on Home and Away. In 1996 he died in a drowning accident. 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, deceased) |
| Occupation: | Owner of Norfolk Boatshed |
| Played By: | Dennis Coard |
Backstory[]
Until the late 1980's Michael lived in the city with his wife Cynthia and children Haydn and Kate. He ran a successful boating marina and the family family lived an affluent lifestyle. The business began to falter and when it finally failed, Cynthia left Michael. The acrimonious divorce which followed 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...
Michael was unaware that Fred had shaken hands on a deal with Carly and Ben Lucini and that he had unwittingly gazumped them with his higher bid. At first Ben was furious and when Michael offered him a job at the boat shed, was unceremoniously told where to stick it. When the truth came out and Ben calmed down, he took a job working as a mechanic with Michael. Meanwhile, Michael had started renting a caravan from Pippa and it quickly became obvious that the two were attracted to each other. However, Pippa's husband Tom had died just 6 months before this, so it took her a while to accept it was OK to move on. Michael's son Haydn reluctantly came to live with him. Haydn had become estranged from his father and was unimpressed with having to leave an expensive boarding school to move into a poky caravan with his old man. Things improved between the two of them after a while. Michael's daughter Kate, on the other hand, cut all contact with him because she blamed him for her parents' divorce.
Just before Christmas 1990 Michael finally managed to move his friendship with Pippa to something more after they kissed under the mistletoe in Episode 678. Their fledging relationship hit an early stumbling block when Sally Fletcher made her dislike of Michael clear to all and sundry. Despite this, they finally got around to going on a proper first date and their hitherto slow-moving relationship finally seemed to be going somewhere. Then, Michael's ex-wife Cynthia showed up unexpectedly and manipulated Pippa into breaking up with him. Cynthia's efforts to reconcile with Michael failed and she went back to the city. Michael was in love with Pippa by now and wasted no time in resuming his relationship with her. After he survived a near-fatal accident at the Boat Shed shortly afterwards, he proposed to her. Pippa turned him down because she was afraid she'd get hurt again and promptly dumped him. A heartbroken Michael soldiered on for a little while before he snapped and finally got through to Pippa. They got engaged (Episode 728) and married just a month later (Episode 757). He and Haydn finally moved into Pippa's house after giving up on caravan life.
Michael tests out his new anti-snoring pillow (left)
Michael and Pippa were mostly very happy, though he was a bit upset when Pippa pressured him into agreeing to foster Tracey Turner not long after their wedding. That first foray into fostering didn't end well for anybody but she was the first of a series of youngsters who would live under his roof. Michael's relationship with Haydn soured when he paid too much attention to conniving school headmistress Lois Crawford. Fuelled by her words, he tried to stop Haydn from hanging out with Blake Dean. He firmly believed that keeping the two apart would improve Haydn's grades. Instead it backfired and he was devastated when Haydn left and moved back in 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 his foster daughter Sophie Simpson. Michael was furious when Sophie fell in love with David Croft who was a decade older than her. When David was killed in a car accident, he decided not to tell Sophie who had been sent away to stay with Pippa's mum for a couple of weeks. This decision didn't go down well but more drama was to come. Sophie learned she was pregnant with David's child and later gave birth to a baby girl. Michael ended up helping Sophie get through her labour in the hospital.
In July 1992, Pippa discovered that she was pregnant. She later gave birth to a baby boy called Dale but this joy turned to tragedy. Little Dale died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in April 1993 (Episode 1222). In the aftermath, their marriage came under strain. Pippa shut Michael out to some extent and he felt that he was walking on eggshells. He confided in Alf that he feared for their marriage. They managed to patch things up again as best they could.
In 1994, Haydn unexpectedly returned to Summer Bay. He convinced Michael that he wanted set up a surf shop and needed financial help to get started. This turned out to be a cynical ploy by Haydn who had racked up significant gambling debts. Michael still felt guilty about his shortcomings as a father and was only too eager to help his son out. With help from Donald Fisher, Michael took out a large bank loan on behalf of Haydn. As soon as the money came through, Haydn cleared out the bank account and shot through. Michael managed to track his son down and had to deal with the horrible reality of his son's addiction and the financial hole he now found himself in. The reputational damage done to the Boat Shed forced Michael to put it up for auction. It failed to sell on the day but Alf Stewart decided to buy into the business as a silent partner.
Michael & Pippa have a counselling session
In the latter half of 1994, Pippa and Michael's marriage ran into serious difficulties. The stress of running multiple businesses and looking after six kids (Damian, Jack, Sally, Shannon, Sam and Christopher) became too much for him. Things 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 told Pippa he needed to move out before the pair of them began to hate each other. He and Damian tidied up the grim storeroom in the boatshed and he set up home in there. He had a miserable Christmas Day which only got worse when he paid an awkward visit to Pippa's house. Later on that day, Sally ran away and wasn't seen for some weeks. With no sign of a reconciliation on the horizon, Irene Roberts suggested to Michael that he and Pippa should try marriage counselling. It worked, though not without some stumbling blocks along the way. Pippa was delighted when Michael decided it was time to move home, and that they'd be better off working on their problems under the same roof.
A few months later, Michael rescued a little Yugoslav girl called Maja Krajacek from the site of a light aircraft crash. At the time (1995) the Yugoslav Wars were still raging and Maya was an orphaned refugee. Michael quickly became quite attached to her and hoped he could foster her. He was heartbroken when the authorities located some of her relatives back home and took her away. She had been the first child he had brought into the family by himself. Now he understood what Pippa went through any time any of them went away. On a happier note, he acted as MC when Shane Parrish and Angel Brooks got married.
Also in 1995, Michael decided to sell the Boat Shed to Rob Storey, bringing an end to that era. Infamously, Rob and the Boat Shed soon vanished without a trace but that's another story. Michael worked full-time maintaining the Caravan Park, then hired Shane Parrish to help out as a handyman. Michael briefly fell out with Alf and Ailsa when they decided to buy into a timeshare development in the area. This would've put the Caravan Park at risk. He also volunteered with the local fire service when a bush fire broke out and helped save Summer Bay from being incinerated.
Michael's death.
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)
Famously, Michael is married to Pippa in real life. Dennis Coard and Debra Lawrance became a couple a few months after they began working together on Home and Away. They married on 29th February 1992 and when Debra became pregnant with their first child, Pippa's pregnancy was written into the show.
Very little was ever mentioned about Michael's background but in late 1994 there were a couple of nods to Dennis Coard's Northern Irish roots. If you look at any of the scenes set in the boat shed's store room, an old car number plate with a Belfast registration can be seen hanging on the wall. Michael was also mocked by Jack for owning a cassette compilation called 100 Irish Songs.
Michael's daughter Kate was mentioned a number of times in the early months of his time on Home and Away but she never made an appearance in person. Not even for his funeral. Was this a deliberate omission or is Kate the 1990's version of Debra Stewart?
Spouse Cynthia Ross (1974-1989), Pippa Fletcher (1991-1996)
Children Haydn Ross, Kate Ross, Dale Ross