Home and Away spoilers follow for UK-pace episodes on Channel 5.
Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou has spoken to Digital Spy about the real-life reason behind Leah Patterson-Baker's disappearance.
Leah is about to take centre stage in a huge storyline, as viewers see her being held captive by a dangerous man called Douglas.
The popular character's reappearance on screen comes after she went missing for several weeks, leaving her loved ones in Summer Bay frantic with worry.
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Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy about the real story behind her on-screen break, Ada explained: "My brother was getting married in Greece, so we all came over to Europe, which was lovely.
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"We were overseas for three weeks, although I had a bit longer than that off work. I was off for seven weeks in total.
"I was pleased that the writers came up with this big story to explain why I wasn't there. It was so nice to get back to work and sink my teeth into something like this.
"A lot of the time you have time off from the show and they'll just say 'Leah's gone to visit VJ!' But it was nice to know that I'd come back and have this massive storyline to do."
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She continued: "It is also a shock to the system when you've just had seven weeks off! You're having this great time overseas – my brother getting married was a joyous occasion – and then my first day back at work involved filming all of the scenes with Douglas in the house.
"It was a shock to the body. I was quite jet-lagged and hadn't slept much the night before. It was quite challenging to get into that headspace. I found that I really had to stay in character. I wasn't my usual bubbly self, so I wasn't joking around in between scenes like I usually am. I really wanted to do this story justice."
Ada also gave a jokey shout-out to Home and Away fans who felt Leah's loved ones weren't concerned enough over her disappearance. In the early days of the storyline, Leah's mystery was overshadowed by the hospital siege and the deaths of Mason and Robbo.
Ada laughed: "I guess for a while on air, Leah disappeared and no-one talked about it! I was getting a lot of comments on Instagram saying: 'Why is nobody worried that Leah is missing? Does she have no friends?' I guess the Bay had other things to worry about for a while!
"I don't think anyone would have expected this storyline, so all credit to the writing department because they did an amazing job with it.
"You'll see that Leah has been physically and mentally abused by this man. Douglas has it in for Leah, because his wife left him after reading Leah's blog and being inspired by it.
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"Douglas kidnapped Leah after tricking her into meeting up with him and no-one knew where she was. She was there for six weeks before anyone realised, so you can only imagine what she's been going through. She has bruises and a cut lip. Douglas has put her through hell."
Asked whether it was tricky to explore the story in Home and Away's early timeslot, Ada replied: "The director and I both wanted to do this storyline justice, so we did go for it. I found it really uncomfortable and it was quite scary.
"We tried to give it as much truth as possible. I was petrified filming it. The actor who played Douglas was amazing. Then, of course, the censor has a look at it and has to cut around stuff because of the timeslot.
"But there's no use doing a story like that if you can't explore it properly. Unfortunately there a lot of people around the world who have this as their reality. We couldn't cheat, we had to do it properly."
Home and Away currently airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1.15pm on Channel 5.
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