Home and Away films in the Whitsundays

Ziggy and Dean are back for a special Home and Away event with Mack and Levi making a surprise visit to the Whitsundays. PREVIEW

Sophie Dillman, Patrick O’Connor, Emily Weir, and Tristan Gorey filming Home and Away in Bowen. Photo: Jeremy Greive

Home and Away favourites Ziggy (Sophie Dillman) and Dean (Patrick O’Connor) are making their much anticipated return to Home and Away with fans getting a glimpse into their beautiful life in the Whitsundays.

The special Queensland event was filmed on location across the Whitsundays with cast and crew getting the chance to explore Airlie Beach, Daydream Island, Bowen and Proserpine.

Sophie Dillman who plays Ziggy said it was a real honour to be asked to come back and work with some of their best friends again.

“We love Ziggy and Dean so much as characters, and we also thought it was really exciting to be able to see a snapshot of their world outside of the bay,” she said.

“The icing on the cake is that their snapshot outside of the bay is in the most incredibly beautiful part of Australia.

“To go up there to work, it was a dream.”

The cast got the chance to explore the Whitsundays for work. Photo: Jeremy Greive

She said since we last saw them in Summer Bay, Ziggy and Dean had moved into a beautiful house in Bowen and had been busy raising baby Izzy and just living life.

“They’ve been having the best time with their family, with Dean’s mum, and they’ve been looking after River, his other son, and honestly, just creating a little world, a little bubble for themselves,”

Sophie said she couldn’t believe it was her first time visiting the Whitsundays.

“I love the ocean, I love snorkelling, I love all the animals, if I could be a mermaid, I would be, so I can’t believe it’s taken me that long to get up there,” she said.

“Everyone was so lovely, every scenery that we saw was incredible, all the food was incredible.

“The people, the energy, the sunrises and sunsets, we got perfect weather the entire time, it was honestly a dream.”

She said one of the highlights was getting the chance to take the ferry over to Daydream Island.

“We got to swim with all the sea creatures underwater and it was so beautiful, I highly recommend that,” she said.

Home and Away series producer, Lucy Addario, said heading to the Whitsundays was almost written in the stars.

“The Home and Away writing and production team had Queensland in their sights for a long time,” Ms Addario said.

“We always knew we wanted to catch up with Ziggy and Dean again, and so what better way than to go and visit them in their own backyard in Queensland … and the Whitsundays provided the perfect backdrop for this exciting storyline to play out.

Fans will have the chance to see what Ziggy and Dean have been up to since their big move in 2023. Photo: Jeremy Greive

So what can fans expect from the special episodes? Sophie said there was never a day that goes by in Summer Bay without some sort of drama and that wouldn’t change in the Whitsundays.

“Even though we have seen a snapshot into their beautiful life up in North Queensland with all the incredible ocean and landscape and sugarcane fields and the sunsets and sunrises, they have some drama when Mack and Levi come to visit,” she said.

Dean and Ziggy’s dramatic return will air Monday 10 March, on Seven and 7Plus with special event episodes airing over the next two weeks.