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Huge soap star announces exit after 32 years - and will film final scenes next month

Home and Away legend Lynne McGranger is leaving the Australian soap after more than 32 years in the iconic role of Irene Roberts - but fans have more time to say goodbye

Lynne, who holds the record as the longest-serving female actor in an Australian drama series, shared: "After almost 33 years in my dream role and working everyday with people who I love, respect and whom I now consider family, it's bittersweet to be closing the chapter on what has been the best and longest gig of my life." Lynne's character Irene, a reformed alcoholic, made her comeback to Summer Bay in the 1993 series premiere with a new lease on life and a desire to reconnect with her daughter, Fin (Tina Thomsen). She's been at the heart of many of Home and Away's most dramatic plots, including her fight with alcoholism, a breast cancer diagnosis, discovering a long-lost son, surviving a ferry sinking, a bomb blast, a plane crash, and even a wrongful imprisonment for murder.

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