Pippa Ross

Two pippas — Pippa, as played by Vanessa Downing from 1988-1990 (L) and Debra Lawrance 1990-1998 (R)

Phillipa "Pippa" Ross (previously Fletcher) [1]OAM was a main character from January 1988 (Pilot Episode) until March 1998 (Episode 2343). She made returned as a guest between 2000 and 2009. Her final appearance was in April 2009. An iconic figure in the first decade of Home and Away, Pippa was foster mum to many of Summer Bay's young residents. She was also widowed twice during her time in Summer Bay.

Pippa was played by Vanessa Downing from 1988-1990, then by Debra Lawrance from 1990-2009. The recasting of Pippa has become legendary because neither Vanessa nor Debra resemble each other in any way.

Biography[]

Pippa Ross
Character Profile
Birthday:	30 September 1950
Birthplace:	Sydney
Father:	Bert King
Mother:	Coral King
Siblings:	Danny King
Spouse:	Tom Fletcher (1969-1990) Michael Ross (1991-1996) Ian Routledge (1999-)
Children:	Christopher Fletcher (1986) Sally Fletcher (adoptive, 1989) Dale Ross (deceased, 1993) Unnamed daughter (2000)
Occupation:	Manager of Summer Bay Caravan Park, School Secretary
Played By:	Vanessa Downing (1988-1990) Debra Lawrance (1990-2009)

Backstory[]

Pippa King was born in 30 September 1950 in Sydney, the youngest child of Bert and Coral King. Pippa had a brother called Danny who was 4 years older than her. Danny was a former champion cricketer who was left wheelchair-bound after sustaining injuries during the Vietnam War. Pippa met her first husband Tom Fletcher through Danny. Although Pippa thought Tom would never see her as anything other than Danny's kid sister, they fell in love and married in 1969. Pippa trained as a nurse but by 1988, she was no longer working as one. She was advised not to have children of her own for medical reasons. Because of this, she and Tom decided to foster children instead. Their first foster child was Frank Morgan, who came to live with them in 1978. Over the coming years they added more foster children to the family.

1988-1990[]

Pippa 1 — Vanessa Downing as Pippa (1988)

In January 1988 Tom was made redundant but had no luck finding a new job. Because of this, the Fletcher family came under threat of being split up. Tom and Pippa decided to sell their house in The City and relocate to Summer Bay. They bought Summer Bay House and the adjoining Caravan Park from Alf Stewart. By now, their family had expanded to include not just Frank but Sally Keating, Steven Matheson, Lynn Davenport and Carly Morris. Shortly after their move, they fostered local tearaway Bobby Simpson. In 1989 they fostered Bryan Forbes (Dodge) but he was a rare failure. Then again it isn't every day that someone is given a soon-to-be convicted murderer to foster.

Pippa became pregnant in early 1988 and despite the risks, she decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. She gave birth to a son called Christopher in August 1988 (Episode 156). In 1990 Pippa and Tom fostered Sophie Simpson, Bobby's adoptive sister. They also decided to formally adopt Sally, though for a time her head was turned by her wealthy aunt and uncle.

Pippa and Tom had a long and happy marriage, though it did have its ups and downs. In 1989 Tom got a job working with the Macklin Group. The stress and long hours of that job possibly contributed to the stroke he suffered. That hospitalised him for a time and left Pippa holding the fort at home. Several months later, a devious shark-hunter called Zac Burgess led some of the locals to believe that he was having an affair with Pippa. This put a strain on the Fletcher's marriage but the truth came out in the end.

In April 1990, Pippa was widowed when Tom died suddenly from a heart attack while at the wheel of the family car (Episode 525) . Luckily, his passengers Stephen, Bobby and Sophie were uninjured in the crash. Unsurprisingly Pippa was devastated but had to move on with her life. Things became uncomfortable for her when Donald Fisher revealed that he had developed feelings for her. She didn't feel the same way and let him down gently. They managed to return to being friends again.

1990-1998[]

H&a pippa 1993 — Debra Lawrance as Pippa (1993)

One night, Pippa went to bed and her physical appearance changed overnight for some weird reason. She came downstairs in the morning with a different physique, voice and burgundy hair. Perhaps this was as a reaction to her learning about Donald's feelings for her. Pippa continued to look after her family, which now consisted of Christopher, Stephen, Sophie and Sally. Carly had married Ben Lucini in the meantime. The newlyweds moved into Summer Bay House after their wedding.

In October 1990, Michael Ross bought the Norfolk Boatshed and moved to Summer Bay. He rented a caravan from Pippa and it quickly became evident that the two were attracted to each other. At first, Pippa struggled with the guilt of moving on from Tom but after a kiss under the mistletoe, she admitted to Michael that she liked him too. They became a couple, though they briefly broke up when Michael's ex-wife Cynthia showed up and manipulated Pippa into ending things. That proved to be just a bump in the road. In April 1991 (Episode 757), Pippa married Michael and became stepmother to his teenage son Haydn.

The Rosses carried on the tradition of fostering wayward teens, taking in Finlay Roberts, Damian Roberts, Shannon Reed, Sam Marshall and Jack Wilson. They briefly fostered the scheming Tracey Turner in 1991 but she asked to leave when she was caught red-handed plotting against Sophie.

In June 1992 Pippa became a foster grandmother when Sophie gave birth to a baby girl called Tamara. Tamara's father David had died in a car accident in August of the previous year. Although Pippa tried her best to support Sophie, she struggled with being a young single mother. She was horrified when Sophie eventually decided that the only solution was to give Tamara up for adoption by David's mother Mary. When Sophie had last minute regrets about giving Tamara up to Mary, Pippa came up with an agreement which suited everyone. Sophie and Tamara departed for Perth to live with Mary.

Meanwhile, Pippa herself had become pregnant. She and Michael were overjoyed because they hadn't actively been trying to have a baby. When she overdid things at home and suffered from pregnancy complications, Michael packed her off to stay with her mother. Pippa's mother was probably the only person on earth who could confine her to bed, just as the doctor had ordered. In February 1993 (Episode 1176) Pippa gave birth to a baby boy called Dale. The couple's joy turned to heartbreak just two months later (Episode 1221) when little Dale died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

In 1994, Michael's estranged son Haydn returned to the Bay unexpectedly and ripped him off. This saddled the Rosses with a sizeable debt. Michael almost lost his boat shed business because of the reputational damage. By now, there were six kids under Pippa and Michael's roof: Damian Roberts, Sally, Jack Wilson, Shannon Reed, Sam Marshall and Christopher. The financial and family pressures helped drive her and Michael apart. Their marriage slowly but steadily deteriorated to the point where they could barely have a conversation without arguing. In a last-ditch attempt to try and fix things at home, Pippa went away to stay with her mother for a while. It didn't work and towards the end of the year, Michael moved out of home in an attempt to save their marriage. Pippa was devastated and noted with bitter irony that just like her foster kids, she now had a broken home all of her own. To make things even worse, Sally ran away on Christmas Day after the family meal ended disastrously. In the new year, she and Michael went for marriage counselling and they got back together again.

In 1995, Pippa and Michael almost fostered an orphaned Yugoslavian girl called Maja Krajacek. However, she returned to Yugoslavia when the authorities found some relatives there. Pippa was delighted when her foster son Steven, last seen in early 1991, returned to the Bay to take up a teaching job in the school. Both were unpleasantly surprised when Dodge (last seen in police custody in 1989) unexpectedly re-entered their lives and wasted no time stirring up trouble. She and Michael also fell out with their friends Alf and Ailsa Stewart for a time over a timeshare.

In April 1996 (Episode 1912) Pippa was widowed for the second time in just six years. Michael drowned in a flooded river while saving Sam from the raging waters. As with when she had lost Tom, she initially acted as if nothing had happened and that it was all a horrible mistake. Inevitably the grief overcame her.

Pippa continued fostering as a single mother. Liam Tanner had only just arrived when Michael died but she assured him that she still wanted him to stay. She later fostered Justine Wells and Tiegan Brook. In 1997, Shannon's abusive boyfriend Kye Lyons shoved Pippa and the fall put her into a coma. When she came around, she was suffering from memory loss and for a time it looked like her foster kids would have to go elsewhere. One of the things Pippa had to deal with all over again was her grief over Michael's death. Later in 1997, Pippa was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her years of service as a foster parent.

In September 1997, widower Ian Routledge came to stay in the caravan park. He and Pippa fell for each other and he asked her to come with him when it was time for him to go. She decided against it but by the end of the year it was evident that she was missing him. She was overjoyed when Ian unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep just before Christmas. This time, she didn't say no when he asked her to come with him. In March 1998 she and Christopher went travelling with Ian, intending to return. Her plans changed off-screen when she became pregnant and decided to settle with Ian in the Carrington Ranges. Ian returned to Summer Bay alone in 1999 and tied up some loose ends. Pippa let it known to her foster kids that they'd be welcome to join her and Ian in their new home. Only Tiegan made the move. Pippa gave birth to a baby girl some months later. She cut her last remaining ties to Summer Bay when she sold the house and caravan park.

2000-2009[]

Pippa made several return visits to Summer Bay over the next decade. She came back to attend Sally's (non) wedding to Kieran Fletcher in 2000 and had a nice reunion with some old faces from the past - Carly, Floss, Lance, Martin, Jack, Frank and Steven. She supported Sally in the aftermath of that, when Kieran was shown up to be a cheating liar. She returned in 2003 for Sally's wedding to Flynn Saunders, which did make it over the line!

In 2005 she returned for Alf's 60th Birthday and again, was reunited with some old faces, including Sophie and Sam.

Pippa's final appearances were in 2009 when she came to stay in the Beach House and look after things while Irene Roberts was away.

Memorable info[]

Date of birth: 30 September 1950

Full Name: Philippa "Routledge. (Née King, later Fletcher, then Ross)

First Line "We never thought it would be easy." (to Mr Jarvis)

Last Line "Oh, it's always my pleasure, any time. Bye-bye." (to Leah)

Pippa is 3 weeks younger than her friend Ailsa Stewart who died in 2000.
The late Carol Willesee was originally cast as Pippa and filmed some scenes for the 1987 Pilot episode. When she decided not to commit to the show and quit, Vanessa Downing was quickly cast as Pippa, and the necessary scenes were re-shot. It is not known if the footage from any of Carol's scenes still exist. Jackie Woodburne (aka Susan Kennedy on Neighbours) was shortlisted for the role of Pippa in both 1987 and 1990. In real life, Jackie is close friends with Debra Lawrance. In 2018-2019 Debra played Jackie's on-screen sister on Neighbours.
On one occasion when Vanessa Downing and Debra Lawrance met up, they discussed the fridge in Summer Bay House. Fridges are noisy so this one was never plugged in. It never smelled good when anybody opened the door. Think about that next time you see someone go to the fridge for a nice refreshing cold drink...
Pippa is married to Michael in real life, after having met on H&A. Pippa's second pregnancy (baby Dale) was written into the show when Debra became pregnant in real life. It was agreed with producers that Pippa's baby would die on the show, and that its gender would be the opposite to Debra and Dennis's real life child.
The actors who played all three of Pippa's husbands were born outside of Australia. Roger Oakley (Tom) is from New Zealand, Dennis Coard (Michael) is from Northern Ireland and Patrick Dickson (Ian) is English.
If you look carefully at some of the family photos in Summer Bay House after Debra Lawrance took over the role of Pippa, you might spot her head badly "photoshopped" onto the original Pippa's body.
Pippa was awarded the Order of Australia for services to foster parenting. She is one of the few fictional characters to be awarded such an honour.
Unusually, Pippa is older than either of the actresses who played her.

Personality[]

Pippa is very nurturing and friendly, taking in wayward foster children from Steven Matheson to Jack Wilson. She can also be quite fiery and strong-willed. She sometimes bottles things up and can be quite stubborn. At times her desire to foster kids no matter what caused problems in her marriages. She went behind Tom's back to foster Dodge, and pulled a version of the same stunt with Michael when Tracey Turner needed a home. She is very talented in the kitchen and in particular loves to bake. She supplied the Bayside Diner with a seemingly endless supply of cakes and meatloaves. She is also a whiz with a sewing machine, though some might question some of the outfits she made for herself!