Home and Away star Sarah Roberts spills on a possible return

Home and Away star Sarah Roberts played popular character Willow Harris from 2017-2021, and fans have been desperate for her to return.

The actress is married to James Stewart who plays Justin Morgan on the soap, so she still has a strong link to Summer Bay.

She opened up to Yahoo Lifestyle about if she would ever return, what she loved about the show and which cast members she’s still close with.

Sarah doesn’t hesitate to say that she would reprise her role as Willow if ‘the storyline was right’.

“I’d love to go back to Home and Away, I loved my time there,” she says. “I became so close with everyone and they became like a family.

"Being on that show feels like a holiday too because you just get to hang out with all your favourite people at work every day.”

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‘I was a bad girl’

The Melbourne actress has Sri Lankan heritage and found herself being put in a box before she landed her role as Willow Harris.

Many auditions that came her way type-casted her as an ‘Indian doctor’, with the character’s personality revolving around her ethnicity.

However, she says that her role on the soap threw those stereotypes out the window.

“Something that I really loved about working on Home and Away was that I was a bad girl. And I was still Sri Lankan, but it wasn’t rammed down anyone’s throat,” she explains.

While her profession and personality didn’t ‘have anything to do’ with her ethnicity, she was still able to share her culture with Aussie fans.

“My father [on the show] sang a Sri Lankan lullaby to me when I was on my deathbed,” she remembers.

“It’s beautiful to integrate culture like that onto screens in Australia because you look around on Australian streets, and people come from all over the world, that’s what’s so beautiful about Australia.”

‘Really close’

Aside from the obvious relationship that she has with husband and former costar James, Sarah lights up when she talks about all the ‘beautiful friendships’ she has kept since the show.

She regularly sees Sophie Dillman (Ziggy Astoni) and Patrick O’Connor (Dean Thompson), and even babysat their puppy while they were on holiday in the UK.

The star also considers Sam Frost (Jasmine Delaney) as one of her ‘best friends’, and makes an effort to see her regularly. Sam recently showed off her new baby bump at the world premiere of Sarah’s new film, Wog Boys Forever in Melbourne.

Zoe Ventura, who played Sarah’s love interest Alex Neilson, is also still close with the actress. While the romance was short onscreen, fans adored the same-sex couple and have always hoped for another reunion.

‘Quite outrageous’

Sarah’s character was introduced to the bay wearing leather and driving a motorbike. It makes sense that she was going to get herself into some sticky situations.

The actress recalls one particular ‘challenging’ scene which was filmed when she hadn’t been on the show for very long.

“I remember being locked in a car boot with Jimmy [James Stewart],” she begins. “We filmed it in a real car boot and I’m claustrophobic.

At this stage, the pair hadn't started dating yet.

“I hadn’t told anyone yet so that was quite challenging for me,” she laughs.

Although it was scary, she says it was still ‘fun’, and thinks the storyline was ‘quite outrageous’.

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