Home and Away: Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger had a guest starring role as bad boy Scott Irwin on long-running soap opera Home and Away (1988-present) in 1997. In this clip Irwin argues with Principal Fisher (played by Norman Coburn) after his plan to covertly change his grades backfires. Kate Ritchie also appears in the clip as Sally Fletcher.

This was the same year he acted in his first movie, Black Rock (Steven Vidler, Australia, 1997). Prior to this he had starred in TV series Roar (1997), Sweat (1996) and Ship to Shore (1993-4).

Ledger went on to act in many high profile roles, both in Australia and the US, including Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, USA, 2005), Candy (Neil Armfield, Australia, 2006) and I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, USA, 2007).

In 2008 Ledger died tragically at the age of 28. He was awarded a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, USA, 2008).

This episode of Home and Away was directed by Philip East.

Notes by Beth Taylor