Home and Away has confirmed that new character Perri will make his debut appearance next week, as part of Tane’s latest storyline.
Cantona Stewart has been cast as new arrival Perri, who will head to Summer Bay as part of Tane Parata’s (Ethan Browne) new initiative for troubled teens.
He will make his first appearance on Australian screens on Wednesday 10th July, and in the UK in late August.
Jeremy Greive
Tane has begun a new programme for troubled teens after he was charged with the kidnap of baby Poppy last month. Tane grew attached to the baby, who he renamed Maia, after discovering her abandoned in a gym bag on the beach.
When it was revealed that he would be unable to foster her, and that an alternative foster family had been found, Tane made the decision to take her away from the bay, hiding out at his cousin Kiri’s (David Wikaira-Paul) house.
Thanks to the hard work of his lawyer Marshall (Nic English), Tane was able to convince the judge that he was an otherwise upstanding member of the community, whose strong desire to start a family of his own saw him make the foolish decision to take Poppy away.
While the judge appreciated that there was no malice behind Tane’s actions, and baby Poppy was never in danger, she explained that the law still applied.
Tane was given a seven year sentence, but was told that he could serve it under an ‘intensive corrections order’, allowing him to serve the time within the community.
“However, strict conditions are in play,” the judge added. “I’m further ordering that you immediately attend a training and counselling programme to equip you with the tools to identify damaging behaviour and avoid repeating it.”
Tane immediately headed to the city to complete his counselling programme, and last week returned to Summer Bay with a renewed vigour and a grand plan.
He explained to Roo (Georgie Parker) and John (Shane Withington) that he had been inspired to launch an initiative for teens who had fallen through the cracks and needed help.
His “gym programme for disadvantaged youth” would see the kids having access to free boot camps and full use of the equipment at Summer Bay Fit.
Roo was immediately keen, and while John simply described the proposals as “interesting”, he assured Tane that the Surf Club committee would be all for it, as the club has always been a safe haven for those who need it.
However, when John read Tane’s proposal in full, he was put off by references to “juvenile criminal re-offenders,” “unlimited access to the gym and surf club,” and talk of the programme’s aim to “curtail violent tendencies via anger management.”
He told Tane that there was no way he would be handing the proposal over to the committee, and it seemed that Tane’s idea was dead in the water.
However, it would appear that John is finally talked around, with Perri set to be the initiative’s first participant when he arrives on Australian screens next week. He has been confirmed as a long-term guest, meaning he’ll be on screens for around six months.
Cantona told the Australian Daily Telegraph that “Perri comes into the bay pretty much solo; he starts off quite vulnerable, he is a troubled teen, a bit of a mystery boy. The challenges seem to keep coming, so there is lots of drama.”
Back to the Bay revealed back in May that Perri would soon be arriving in Summer Bay, after we saw several audition videos posted publicly online for the character earlier in the year.
The dialogue revealed Perri to be a former juvenile offender, and the scene saw him taking part in self-defence classes with Tane.
“Let’s talk about why you want to do it,” Tane asks. “Like I said, it’s not about throwing your weight around and starting fights.”
“I heard you, I just want to protect myself,” Perri assures him.
“For anything in particular? Are you in trouble?”
“You already know the answer to that, you’ve seen my file,” Perri replies.
Perri goes onto claim that whilst everything is okay at home, he’s turning 18 in a few weeks. Any further screw-ups would mean that he’d end up in prison rather than juvie, so he needs to be prepared.
Whilst we must stress that scenes used in auditions often differ from what ends up on-screen, the confirmation that Perri is arriving as part of Tane’s new scheme implies that the audition dialogue won’t be too far away from the final product