page_title: Sarah Thompson (Home and Away)
section_title: Relationship with Tug O'Neale
hierarchical_section_title: Sarah Thompson (Home and Away) / Character development / Relationship with Tug O'Neale
caption_attribution_description: Actor and writer Tristan Bancks at the Melbourne Writers Festival 2011 - Photography: Carla Gottgens courtesy of MWF 2011
context_page_description: Sarah O'Neale is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Laura Vasquez. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 26 January 1993. Vasquez's screen-test for the role was one of her career highlights. Sarah is characterised as a "real good goody" female who is "very intelligent" and she arrives to study in Summer Bay. Sarah's main romance storyline is with Tug O'Neale. Subsequently Vasquez and Bancks became fixtures in the media, as interest increased about the nature of the actor's off-screen relationship. Mary Fletcher from Woman's Own wrote that Home and Away producers were infuriated by the reports because they felt it discredited the show's image. But the actors later denied any romance occurring off-screen.
  During her tenure, Sarah also dates Nathan Roberts and he attempts to get Sarah to lose her virginity to him. Vasquez has stated that her favourite storyline for Sarah was an asthma attack because it portrayed the seriousness of the condition. Vasquez later left the series and Sarah departed during October 1994, but the actress returned for guest appearances in 1995 and 2005. Lisa Anthony from BIG!
context_section_description: Sarah's first relationship storyline is with Tug O'Neale (Tristan Bancks). Bancks told a writer from Look-in that Sarah is "sweet and innocent" type of character. While Vasquez noted that from the beginning Sarah thought Tug was "pretty cute" and she likes the way he treats her. Tug is characterised as the serial's "troublemaker" but Sarah sees "the softer side of him". In the Home and Away – Official Collector’s Edition a writer said that Tug was "absolutely furious" when he learned that his "archenemy" Shane Parrish (Dieter Brummer), planned to kiss Sarah. But it was later revealed that Sarah did love Tug and "that kiss was only a ploy to make Tug jealous".
  Vasquez told Lisa Anthony from BIG! that she and Bancks "hit it off straight away". While Vasquez and Bancks had formed a friendship due to their characters' romance, journalists became convinced that the actors were in a relationship. Bancks told Ally Oliver from Inside Soap that the media often "pestered" them about the nature of their off-screen relationship. A magazine printed a story that they had admitted they were in a relationship and pictures of Vasquez with her arms around Bancks. Home and Away producers were "furious" with Vasquez and Bancks because they felt it ruined the show's image. But the pair denied the magazines claims. Bancks told Mary Fletcher from Woman's Own that as they were "spending eight hours a day as teenage sweethearts" made them contemplate a relationship, but they decided against it.
  The two characters were involved in many "snogging scenes" and Vasquez said that she was single at the time which made the scenes easier to deal with. Sarah and Tug's first kiss was filmed during the school holidays. Vasquez said that filming the kiss was "quite nerve-racking" because there was a "circle of school kids" surrounding them. The actors were already nervous about the scenes, but having school children watching them made the situation worse. Bancks told Anthony that it was a "nightmare situation" and found the experience of kissing Vasquez in front of "seven hundred thousand people" really "strange". The fans even began to hassle Bancks as they had predicted that his character would be required to kiss Sarah. Vasquez said that working alongside Bancks on the Sarah and Tug romance for six months had resulted in them becoming "best friends". Vasquez later revealed that it was her first on-screen kiss and the "biggest thrill" to kiss Bancks. But Bancks said that it was "awkward" because they kept bumping their heads together.
  The two characters become engaged, but Sarah later decides to hand the ring back to Tug. Vasquez explained that Sarah changes her mind because "Tug's problem is that he's unsure of himself because he hasn't had a good upbringing." But the actress believed that there was still hope for their relationship because Sarah is always there to give him the attention he needs. Sarah offers Tug "understanding and makes him a better person". Vasquez added that Sarah and Tug are "really two different people" but their commonality is that they "get on pretty well together".
  Sarah also begins a relationship with Nathan Roberts (David Dixon). He attempts to convince Sarah to lose her virginity to him. The scenes formed the serial's annual cliffhanger storyline in 1993. Dixon told Richard Galpin from BIG! that Nathan gets her "in the back of my Charger, then I put the hard word on her and go for it". The actor did not entirely enjoy filming the scenes because he was too busy concentrating on his following lines. Like with Bancks, Vasquez took Dixon's first on-screen kiss.
caption: Tristan Bancks (pictured) played Sarah's love interest Tug O'Neale.
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