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Renowned for its gorgeous stars and three decades-long history of drama, Home And Away is shocking audiences more than ever.
In a brave move by producers and script-writers, the beloved series is following Brody Morgan (played by Jackson Heywood) and his ice addiction.
The 28-year-old actor, who previously dated Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda while living in Los Angeles, admitted to Newscorp that he has many close friends who have battled with drug addiction.
‘I haven’t had to deal with an addiction problem myself but I really know a lot of addicts,’ he explained to the publication.
‘I felt a huge responsibility to put the work in to tell this story and do the best job I could. At the end of the day these people have been my friends. They’re good people, they’re not all crazy, violent, thieving junkies.’
Jackson revealed he watched a close friend battle heroin addiction.
‘I met him on the back-end of his addiction when he really wanted to shake it,’ Jackson told Newscorp.
‘And I did see him relapse — that was really, really hard. He’s been clean for about two years now which is wonderful and I talk to him regularly.’
The storyline, which has been playing out since the beginning of the year, hits a climatic rock bottom on Monday night when Brody flies into an ice rage in front of his brothers Justin (James Stewart) and Mason (Orpheus Pledger).
Jackson says he researched the affects of ice addiction on individuals as well as wider society to prepare for the storyline.
‘Home And Away is a prime-time television show, it has reach,’ he said.
‘So we felt obligated to keep it as accurate as possible so we could educate people on what (ice addiction) looks like.’
According to series producer Lucy Addario felt, touching on Australia’s ice epidemic is a move to reflect modern day issues on the show.
‘We just felt like we couldn’t ignore it any longer,’ she told Newscorp.
Home And Away airs Monday to Thursday at 7pm on Channel Seven.
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