Home and Away favourite Sophie Dillman has shared with whattowatch.com that Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson (Patrick O’Connor) are about to confront a new challenge now that Dean is on the road to recovery.
The surf instructor was seriously injured in a horror car crash last summer but out of the tragedy came happiness, when he was reunited with former love Ziggy.
“Since the accident, Ziggy has been thrown off the deep end as she’s become a stay at home nurse! It’s been a big journey for both of them,” revealed Sophie.
“She’s constantly afraid of whether she’s doing the right thing and whether Dean will get better. She’s just putting one foot in front of the other trying to keep things going.”
The BIG elephant in the room is that since their reunion Dean’s recovery has meant there’s definitely no action in the bedroom! It’s quietly frustrating both of them, commented Sophie:
"The best bit about when you first start a relationship is all that can’t keep your hands off each other but right now she can’t touch him without him groaning in pain! It’s really tough for them."
Dean first broaches the subject with Dr Logan Bennett (Harley Bonner) as he wants to know when he’ll be medically fit enough to be intimate.
Their chat uses a cheeky quote from 2003 romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson, where his character asks the same question.
“Logan tells Dean, ‘If you can walk up a flight of stairs you can have sex’!” Sophie laughed.
“Something’s Gotta Give is one of my favourite movies and when I read the script I realised it was a nod to the film.”
After Logan’s advice, Ziggy catches Dean struggling to walk up some steps and they finally have an honest conversation.
“Dean found it really hard to chat about anything before so it’s really good to see him open up,” Sophie points out.
“They do eventually take things further and they are eventually able to get the deed done! It’s really nice and it cements that they’re really in love and want to be there for each other.
“Once the initial recovery is done, then Dean has to think about whether he can surf again and if he can still have his business.
“There’s a long road ahead of very challenging, hard and big decisions and big revelations.”
Sophie appreciates that the writers have tried to give a realistic view of what it’s like to recover from a major accident, rather than fast-track Dean back to wellness.
“We wanted to really show how tough this sort of stuff can be and it’s not just a quick fix, you don’t just magically start doing things again,” she insisted.
“It's a really long slog and it‘s really hard but you can make it through and you can get to the end and it will be worth it.
“I hope that once they get to a proper healed place in their relationship from this accident that they get to have some fun.
“Maybe not be a couple that would necessarily get married or have more kids but I think they really live the moment. I really hope they have adventures!”
Sophie and Patrick are a couple in real life and while Sophie loves Ziggy and Dean storylines, she also hinted that Ziggy will also have her own thing going on, mainly with her garage co-workers Justin Morgan (James ‘Jimmy’ Stewart) and Theo Poulos (Matt Evans).
“The audience definitely is very invested in Ziggy and Dean being a couple together and we really appreciate that. We love working together and we really want to do them justice,” she revealed.
“But also Ziggy has a great storyline ahead, a lot of really fun garage stuff and a lot of really fun car stuff to look forward to.
“I really love working with Jimmy, he’s a phenomenal actor and a phenomenal friend to be around. And Matt is such an eager worker and a great fresh face, he’s got such a great sense of humour.
“We all get along really well so the three of us are like the Three Amigos in the garage!”
Home and Away airs weekdays at 1:15 pm on Channel 5 and 6:00 pm on 5Star followed by a 'first look' episode on 5Star at 6:30 pm.
