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Soapie fans set for teary funeral

The funeral for Melissa Rafter is set to be another ratings bonanza for Seven next week.

The funeral for Melissa Rafter (Zoe Ventoura) is set to be another ratings bonanza for Seven next week.

Yesterday Seven safely issued an amendment to its episode synopsis for next week now that the mystery was over:

Rest In Peace
Julie and Dave struggle to help their family rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the devastating tragedy as additional support comes from unlikely quarters. Meanwhile, Coby is again confronted by his past and Chel returns to be on hand in her beloved new family’s hour of need.

Hugh Sheridan, who played Ventoura’s on-screen husband Ben Rafter, warned fans there were more tears to come.

“If you thought last night was sad, Tuesday is an absolute ripper and the one after that as well.”

Sheridan, who is the only Rafters actor to operate a Twitter feed, said the reaction to Mel’s death was swift.

“It was completely out of control – within a second I had like thousands of Twitter messages,” he said. “Some were just like ‘s— can’t believe it happened’, then a whole lot of others were like ‘I can’t stop crying’.”

Meanwhile Ray Harding, former script editor for A Country Practice, said the response to Molly’s (Anne Tenney) death was the “most extreme in Australian television history”.

“It wasn’t simply that she was such a popular character — it was largely because we took three months to kill her,” he said.

“We gave her leukaemia. The audience pre-mourned her for all that time, just as they do with a family member who is dying.”

The final two Rafters episodes for 2010 air on November 9 and 16.

Source: news.com.au , NineMSN

13 Responses

  1. @shannon, PTTR it is classed as a “soapie” because it has a permanent cast of actors in key roles and from week-to-week has a continuing storyline that places emphasis on interpersonal relationships, sentimentality and melodrama.

    Nine might think about rescheduling the National IQ Test next Tuesday night. With the bulk of that night’s viewership watching the funeral of the year, the IQ test is going to be a wasted effort.

  2. 7 are really ridiculasly running with this last few eopisodes. tonight on the news in brisbane they are running a story about texting while driving. guess what the footage for story was. the death of one of the characters on this show. it’s embarrassing how flogg stuff

  3. Don’t mean to pur cold water on all this, but Zoe Ventoura’s acting was not the warmest or most cheerful on the show. Please someone tell me what her character contributed to the show this season? Nothing, except wanting to try for a baby and the constant bed scenes and those in the bathroom… Yes she was a main character but if one of the blood Rafters would have died it would have been more up there with the Molly death of Country Practice.

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