Home and Away casts new character for Mali and Abigail crisis

 Deb Fowler makes her first appearance.

Home and Away fans get their first glimpse of Eden, Levi and Abigail Fowler's mother Deb next week – and it's not long before she's at the centre of trouble.

Show bosses have cast All Saints and Wentworth star Tammy MacIntosh in the guest role of Deb, who makes her first appearance as part of Eden and Cash Newman's engagement storyline.

In romantic scenes, Cash takes Eden on a trip to his foster father Gary Morrow's house, where various friends and family have gathered.

These include Deb, who's overjoyed to be part of the celebrations as Cash pops the question to Eden.

Amid the celebrations, Deb also gets her chance to quiz her youngest daughter Abigail on her recent life changes.

"Deb knows nothing about the drug problems that Abigail had when she first came to the Bay," our Home and Away source explains.

"Abigail wants to keep it that way, so she ends up having to distract Deb by mentioning her new relationship with Mali.

"She hopes this will be enough to prevent Deb from prying into anything else, but is horrified when her mum immediately vows to visit Summer Bay to meet Mali for the first time."

Abigail can't deal with the prospect of her mum and boyfriend meeting, so she calls ahead and leaves Mali a frantic message – urging him to get out of town for a while.

Mali is insulted by the suggestion that he's not trusted to meet Abigail's mother, so he insists on staying put.

When Deb turns up at the surf club, Mali turns on the charm and makes a positive first impression. Mali's trusty friend John Palmer also gets involved, stepping in to give him a glowing review in front of Deb.

Sadly, Mali soon slips up by mentioning that Abigail is doing really well "now".

Immediately noticing the strange choice of phrasing, Deb asks awkward questions and ultimately gets to the truth over Abigail's drug problem.

"Deb is upset that Abigail didn't reach out to her for support at the time," our source adds. "She doesn't judge her daughter but wishes that she'd been there to help.

"Abigail agrees to stay with Deb for a few nights so they can talk things through more. Although there's been a positive outcome, Abigail's frosty towards Mali for spilling her secrets and the young couple are left in crisis mode again…"

Home and Away airs these scenes on Tuesday 24 June and Wednesday 25 June on Channel 5.