Real-life Home and Away couple surprise fans as they share secret wedding news

 Congratulations are in order!

Home and Away stars Sophie Dillman and Patrick O'Connor have revealed they secretly tied the knot over the summer. The real-life couple, who played Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson in the Australian soap, shared gorgeous snaps from their intimate day on Instagram.

They posted a series of pictures posing outdoors, with Patrick in a simple black suit and Sophie in a white, strapless dress with a scalloped hem stopping just above the ankles.

She wore a white veil with a large bow on top of her hair, worn down and lightly curled for the occasion.

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The snaps showed the small number of guests they had gathered for their special day, gathering outside to watch their nuptials.

They captioned the post "01.08.2026 - Lovers", with several fans flocking to the comment section to share their congratulations.

Their former co-star Lynne McGranger said: "Oh my stars!! Just brilliant!! Thrilled for you both. Wishing you a lifetime of love, laughter and happiness you gorgeous things."

Tristan Gorey wrote, "Woohoo!! Congrats you two!!", while Rodger Corser posted, "Congrats you crazy kids."

Sarah Roberts added: "Congratulations love birds can’t wait to celebrate xxx."

In 2023, when speaking to New Idea, the couple joked that they would elope when it came time to tie the knot.

"I’ve recently had a few girlfriends wed and seeing them go through all the stress of planning big days… maybe we’ll just elope in Vegas!" Sophie said. "The full Las Vegas Elvis drive-through wedding experience!"

Patrick, however, said he "didn't think their families would ever forgive them".

Sophie opened up about planning their wedding to TV Week, explaining there were "non-negotiable" elements when it came to their big day.

"We are blessed to have grandparents on both sides that we want to attend," she shared.

"We aren’t interested in a traditional kind of ceremony and instead, we want to create a relaxed atmosphere where our guests, and more importantly Paddy and I, feel at ease and ready to have a good time."

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Home and Away star Sarah Roberts reveals disappointment over Willow's exit

 "I didn’t want to go."

Former Home and Away star Sarah Roberts has opened up on her exit from the soap five years ago, revealing she "didn’t want to leave at all". Roberts played Willow Harris from 2017 to 2021, before the character departed Summer Bay for Queensland.

Speaking on her Cracking On podcast with fellow Home and Away alum Sam Frost, Roberts revealed that it was the soap's producers who decided her time was up.

I was told there was nowhere for my character to go," she revealed. "At the time, I was pretty Debbie Downer about it. [The] honest truth was I didn’t want to go, but hindsight is a gift, and I’m not just saying that."

Roberts said playing Willow "wasn't just a job" for her, adding: "A lot was tied up in those four years that I was on the show.

You know, I got married, I raised a stepdaughter who I called my own daughter. Home and Away did become my family

The actress married her co-star James Stewart, who plays Justin, in 2019, with the couple splitting in 2024. During that time, Roberts had also lost her brother Karl to brain cancer and experienced two miscarriages.

Roberts said she was left "grieving" everything she'd lost, explaining: "All these things were kind of just dropping off, you know. So, I guess when I think about, 'Did I want to leave Home and Away or did I want to stay?' For me, that question is so loaded.

"Because when I think of the show, I think of everything that I went through during that period that I was on the show as well as behind the scenes."

She continued: "And no, a lot of the stuff that happened to me during that time, I didn’t want to happen."

Roberts described the period as "like the end of an era and a huge closing of a chapter” when her time on-screen was done.

However, Roberts said she is now "glad" that her Home and Away exit happened when it did because it's allowed her to explore new opportunities.

I get to challenge myself, I get to play new characters, work with different actors, I get to film like real stunt scenes and play complex characters that have these great arcs," she went on.

"[I'm] not saying that the characters on Home and Away didn’t - and I loved my time on the show - but [now] I’m challenged, and I’m growing.

"I love to grow, and I get to do this podcast… and go after new opportunities all around the world. So you know, it all worked out for the best, I guess."

Since exiting Home and Away, Roberts has appeared in Wolf Like Me, Scrublands, Colin from Accounts and Return to Paradise.

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Home and Away receives criticism for leaving out LGBTQ+ characters in 2026

 "There’s lots and lots of ways to do it."

Home And Away has recently received criticism for not featuring LGBTQ+ characters in its episodes.

In an interview with TV Tonight, TV historian Andrew Mercado said he feels soaps have a responsibility to reflect current times and issues, including LGBTQ+ stories.

Home and Away doesn't currently have any LGBTQ+ characters in the show, while representation in the past – with characters like Willow Harris, Alex Neilson and Ty Anderson – has only been brief.

Mercado reasoned that if a programme airs five nights a week, production has a responsibility to include elements of everyday life such as the LGBTQ+ community.

He hopes that this would give viewers a wider education on life – mirroring how reality TV allowed fans to see homosexuality in real life, aiding acceptance from society.

Taking a stance against Home and Away, he told the publication that he wished one of the "surfies" would be "gay" to just see the response within the Summer Bay community.

Mercado added: "There’s lots and lots of ways to do it. I just don’t think they’re using their imagination, and they just sometimes put us in just to tick a box.

“To me, you can take a lot more chances because, as (Number 96 creator) David Sale says, ‘the audience is always far more sophisticated and clever than you give them credit for.’"

He went on: "Even I have a really good relationship with Channel 7 these days, but someone at Channel 7 is looking at Home and Away….. now the last running regular Australian drama, and someone is going, ‘Don’t put a gay character in. It might upset someone in the audience. We can’t afford to lose anything.’

"And to me, the show would be a lot more interesting if there were some gays in it."

Mercado accused the soap of "churning out the same boring stories year after year", and accused producers of not "using their imagination" when it comes to representation on screen.

David goes rogue as he launches his own search to find Roo. As she sits alone in the bush, will she be found in time?

 This week on Home and Away in Australia

Roo (Georgie Parker) has been missing for weeks now, since she vanished on the way home from Merimbula, where she’d spent the past months staying with mum Martha.

Alf (Ray Meagher) began to worry about his daughter when she didn’t arrive at Summer Bay House as planned, but he was relieved to get a text from her explaining that she was having car trouble and would be back soon.

What he didn’t see was that the message was actually sent by a mysterious man – Phillip Osmond (Michael Sheasby), the same man who would later assist in the search for Roo.

Alf was forced to report his daughter as missing when she failed to return, and David (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) and his colleagues began to scour the area nearby to where Roo was last seen.

It wasn’t long before they found a disturbing sight – Roo’s car burnt out in a remote area, with a body in the boot.

With all signs pointing to the body being Roo’s, her friends and family were forced to confront the fact that she was likely dead.

At a beach vigil surrounded by his friends, Alf finally began to accept what he’d tried so hard to deny, that Roo may be gone for good.

However, when the DNA results eventually came back after an agonising wait, they confirmed that the body wasn’t Roo’s!

Police then began a desperate search for Roo, with Justin (James Stewart) joining the search and rescue teams scouring the remote bushland near to where Roo was last seen.

However, in tonight’s episode, Justin explained to Sonny (Ryan Bown) that police were considering calling off the search, not able to use their limited resources on a woman they already doubt is still alive. 

However, Justin couldn’t bring himself to break the news to Alf.

As the two met at Salt, Alf expressed that he was holding on hope that Roo was out there somewhere, and that he knew the police would find her.

In tomorrow’s episode, David breaks the news to Alf that his superiors have decided to call off the search.

Alf can’t believe it, exclaiming to Leah (Ada Nicodemou) that it seems illogical for the police to stop searching “when the missing person is still missing.”

Unless someone can show me Roo’s cold, dead body, there’s no way I’m giving up on her.”

Alf soon takes his anger out on David, asking him why he’s giving up.

David tells Alf that it wasn’t his decision, but Alf isn’t having it: “Stuff the brass, mate. There’s a time for the rule book, and a time to show a bit of guts.”

I thought you were made of better stuff than this,” he concludes as he storms off.

I thought you were made of better stuff than this,” he concludes as he storms off.

Leah pleads with David too, heading to the police station where she insists that Roo is still out there and that they need answers.

Taking Alf and Leah’s words on board, David heads to the bush to go searching for Roo himself, telling Amelia that if it was one of his own daughters lost out there, he wouldn’t rest until he had answers.

Alf and David have a mutual respect and a genuine friendship,” Jeremy Lindsay Taylor recently told TV Week. “Both are stoic men, hard on the outside but, when it comes to their daughters, they are gentle and loving and devoted.

“As Alf’s fears and frustrations grow, so does his temper towards David and his inability to find his daughter. David understands and sympathises. He feels the pressure of letting down a mate.”

Now, TV Week has confirmed that Roo is still alive – she’s spent the past week alone in the bush, shivering and alone.

As David heads out into the bush in his civvies, desperately scouring the area for any signs, he’s still struggling to find her.

As David heads out into the bush in his civvies, desperately scouring the area for any signs, he’s still struggling to find her.

David] prides himself on being a great cop,” Jeremy explains. “His personality won’t allow this feeling to remain for long.”

Not far away, as night draws in, Roo has made herself a makeshift fire to keep warm. She’s starving, and terrified that her attacker is going to come find her.

Will David find her in time?

Thankfully, teaser spoilers for upcoming episodes have revealed that David’s heroism pays off and he manages to find her alive, but he’s left with a big question – “What is Roo hiding?”

With the body of a woman in the back of Roo’s burnt out car, David recently had to consider the possibility that Roo might not be the victim in this mystery, but rather the perpetrator.

In the second episode of this Thursday’s triple, “Roo is struggling to deal with her trauma.”

Will she be able to explain how the body came to be in her boot, and why her car was burnt out?

And will David finally realise that Phillip was involved?

In next Tuesday’s episode, he re-examines the seemingly helpful neighbour, before making “a disturbing discovery” next Wednesday.

In next Thursday’s triple bill, “Roo’s cornered by a murderer,” and it’ll be a race against time for David to catch the killer before he takes revenge on Roo!

Here’s the full spoilers upcoming Home and Away episodes in Australia:

Wednesday 11th November (Episode 8840)

Mackenzie and Levi share their engagement. Lacey’s been ghosted. David calls off the search.

Thursday 12th November (Episodes 8841-8843)

Jo’s conduct hearing approaches. Alf’s efforts to find Roo hit a roadblock. David’s heroism pays off but what is Roo hiding?

Roo is struggling to deal with her trauma. Amelia delivers a confronting diagnosis. Courtney and Mali navigate new waters.

Richie’s lies are getting harder to sustain. Mali is looking at Courtney through new eyes. Remi uncovers a secret.

Monday 16th November (Episode 8844)

Abigail says the ‘L’ word to Richie. Richie spirals over his lie. Cash and Eden are forced apart.

Tuesday 17th November (Episode 8845)

Eden and Cash are reunited. Jo is overwhelmed with guilt after getting off lightly. David re-examines Phillip.

Wednesday 18th November (Episode 8846)

David makes a disturbing discovery. Lacey supports her sister. Jo starts to spiral.

Thursday 19th November (Episode 8847-8849)

Courtney steps up for Mali. Roo’s cornered by a murderer. David’s hot on the case.

Eden’s isolation is far from lonely. Mali and Courtney question their feelings. Richie’s running out of lies.

Richie comes clean. Eden goes downhill. Cash is locked out.