Pippa Fletcher/Ross

Pippa came to Summer Bay with her husband Tom and their foster children - Frank, Carly, Steven, Lynn and Sally.
At first their arrival is met with some disapproval from some of the local residents, mostly from Fisher. But they eventually win through and become accepted to the point of fostering one of the local kids, Bobby Simpson, saving her from becoming institutionalised
Pippa and Tom provided a happy, stable home for all their children, with Tom, a caring and loving father, while Pippa is the perfect mother.
The whole family was devastated when Tom suddenly died. Although Pippa seemed to carry on as normal, the death of Tom left her broken hearted.
Michael Ross, after arriving in the Bay, begins to show interest in Pippa, but she feels to guilty about starting a new relationship. But Michael persists and eventually they get married.
Pippa was also devastated by the loss of her second husband. Ian Routledge fell in love with Pippa, and persuades her to go overseas with him. Pippa has left the Bay, with the foster kids under the care of the Nashes.

VANESSA DOWNING

Vanessa was educated at Sydney University and after graduating, she went on to a masters degree in English Literature.

Her first ever television role was in a programme called The Restless Years.

At the age of fourteen, Vanessa joined the Australian Theatre for Young People. She spent every weekend there rehearsing for future productions and claimed that she could not remember a time when she did not want to act!

Vanessa is married to Australian theatre director, Rodney Fisher, whom she met when she worked for a theatre company.

On soap operas, her opinion was that she did not have much time for the endless stream of murders, blackmail and silly love stories on some soap operas. She claims that Home and Away is a slice of real life and that it is a show with real characters and real stories.

Many years ago, Vanessa was out of work for a ten month period. Out of desperation, she joined the Sydney Philharmonic Choir which saved her from depression and was therapeutic for her.

Vanessa was not the first choice for the character of Pippa. Carol Willesse, an ex-model and wife of a popular TV host was selected. Carol lasted two days before she was fired for her lack of experience.

Vanessa's roles in theatre and screen included parts in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Threepenny Opera and Sons and Daughters.

When Vanessa was called by the team for the soap with the news of her part, she was singing in a six piece in a cappella group called The Madrigirls! Even when she took the part of Pippa, she carried on singing, that her working days stretched to twenty-hour days.

The youngest character part she had played was a girl of seventeen, whereas the oldest was a "sixty five year old derelict woman"!

After Home and Away, Vanessa has been keeping busy in Australan theatre. She appeared in Nick Enright's play Good Works.

DEBRA LAWRANCE

When Debra took over from Vanessa Downing as Pippa, she had a varied stage and film career under her belt, and even appeared in a film with Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep in Evil Angels. Her stage roles included a part in The Brothers Karamazov and in Australia, she worked with an Aboriginal theatre company. She performed in three plays by Jack Davis, the Aboriginal playwright, in Melbourne before going to London with his well known play, No Sugar.

Before her role as Pippa, Debra had done a lot of TV acting, but admits that she rarely watched any soaps. She said that it was really daunting being asked to play the character of Pippa when Vanessa left. Because she was not familiar with Pippa, she had to watch a lot of previous episodes. She admits that it is easy to play a character that has been created, but to play one that was played by someone else, it was quite hard.

One of the best things about working in the soap was that she was surrounded by a young cast, as it gave her a sense of confidence. However, the bad side was the long hours. When she did stage work, she was used to having the whole day to herself and working in the evenings, whereas she had to get up early for Home and Away and work long days.