Nicolle Dickson

I was thinking that today I'd write about a Home and Away actor. I'd like to write about many of them someday. But for now, I'm choosing Nicolle Dickson who plays Bobby Simpson.

When I first started watching the show, I wasn't a big fan of Bobby. I can't remember why. I don't think I was against her. Maybe I just found her irritating.

I like her now. I like her relationship with her biological father Donald Fisher. They used to be enemies—before they knew they were related. Now they're so sweet to each other. I have a soft spot for enemies becoming friends.

My feeling about Bobby is this. She's very zealous about her opinions. If I'm on her side about a particular opinion, then I see her as strong and heroic. If I'm not on her side about something, I see her as being a pain in the ass.

Well, enough about Bobby. I'm going to find out more about the woman who played her.

I haven't read a lot about her, but I've read a few things here and there. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that she didn't like the storyline where she was searching for her biological parents. It was something like she felt it was unfair to her foster parents. Or maybe I'm remembering it wrong. I wonder how she felt about the Donald Fisher storyline. Did she like those days, or did she prefer the days where she was parented by Tom and Pippa?

I'm going to consult Lord Wiki.

He doesn't have a very long entry about Dickson.

She was born on January 1, 1969, in Sydney. That's Federation Day...and New Years, of course. She's 45 now—a few years older than me.

How old is she in the episodes I'm watching now?

I'm in 1990 territory. So, she would have been about 21.

Lord Wiki says she was on the show from 1988-1993, so that would be ages 19-24.

What was I doing at that age?

Well, it was when I was doing college, finishing college, and getting together with my husband. Those days.  Oh, and I was starting a teaching career.

Lord Wiki says Dickson grew up in Paddington.  A few days ago, we saw the trailer for the Paddington Bear movie. It looks pretty good. Jack was highly entertained. He was laughing hysterically. There's a part where Paddington ate his ear wax. I thought of Kevin Rudd.

During her young years, Dickson was part of a group called Keane Kids.

I'm trying to figure out if this is their website.

I think it is. I wasn't sure at first, because their website doesn't have an .au at the end of it. But now I see it is an Aussie thing.

It looks like they offer acting classes, and they're a talent agency.

They have a list of actors they represent. I don't see Nicolle Dickson's name. The only name I recognize is Rebekah Elmaloglou. I think she's Sophie on Home and Away. There are two other people on the list with the same last name. I guess they're siblings?

On this other page, they do mention Dickson. It's on a database of their successes.

They spell Dickson's name different than Lord Wiki. They say Nicole. He says Nicolle. I'm pretty sure Lord Wiki is right, but I'll double check the Home and Away credits.

Yep. Just checked. On the credits, it's spelled Nicolle.

Anyway....

Nicolle Dickson got her Higher School Certificate in 1986. I guess this is the HSC that's often talked about on Home and Away. Bobby Simpson did quite well on hers, which was a surprise because she had been a bit of a troubled kid earlier on. And guess who helped her do well?  Donald Fisher—her father. But back then she didn't know he was her father. She thought he was just her headmaster.

Now that I think of it. It's kind of nice. It's not like Bobby and Donald found out they were related and then put their differences aside. Then it's kind of love out of obligation. But no. They had started to sort of respect each other for other reasons before knowing they were related.

Back to Dickson...,

 She went to the Sydney College of Arts. Lord Wiki says that's now part of the University of Sydney, but back then I guess it wasn't.

According to Lord Wiki, she wasn't pursuing acting. She was doing visual arts—photography. But then in 1987, she auditioned for Home and Away. I wonder if it was a last minute idea or if she had wanted to be an actress all along. Maybe she wanted to act, and photography was her backup plan?

Lord Wiki says Dickson has been on a few shows here and there since leaving Home and Away. But it doesn't look like acting is a big part of her life anymore.

I wonder what she's up to.

Here's a where-are-they-now slideshow that features Dickson. Though I can't find a date on it, so I'm not sure if now is really now.

The most recent update they have about her is from 2006. She was at Channel Seven's birthday party.

So, she's not in the limelight anymore. Is that by choice? Is she trying to stay away? Or would she like to be seen, and people aren't looking?

Here's a Back to the Bay message board with someone wishing Dickson would return to Home and Away. They note that her character is dead, but believe Dickson could come back as a different character. I'm not a big fan of that practice. Aren't there enough good actors out there, struggling to find work, that you don't have to recycle an already used one? And aren't there enough good shows out there, that if an actor is good, they can go do another show?

Anyway, someone on this message board says Dickson went into accounting. Interesting. Photography to acting to accounting.

I wonder if she likes accounting.

The Back to the Bay site itself agrees with the accounting story. They also say that Dickson has two kids. One was born in 1996 and the other in 1998. So right now she'd have two teenage sons.

Oh! Cool. I think I found a recent story about Dickson. It's about a small cast reunion, and it's from just a few weeks ago.

It's a Fisher family reunion, though, I recognize only Dickson and her TV dad. I don't know the other two. But if I keep watching the show, I'm sure I'll get to know them.

The article says she Dickson lives in the Southern Highlands, and though she's an accountant, she still does local theatre. I like knowing that she still has acting as part of her life. It's kind of sad when people are talented at something and then completely give it up. Well...unless they're talented but hate the activity. That happens sometimes.

I saw, in one of the things I've been looking at, that Dickson was on Celebrity Survivor. Now I'm asking Lord Wiki more about that.

It was on in 2006. Dickson was the eleventh person voted out. She did pretty good. Only three people were left when her time ended.

Now I'm watching a video about a 21st birthday party for Home and Away. I don't yet know whether or not Dickson was at the party.

She's there—at about 1:12, and again at about 1:50.

Well, I think I shall stop here.

No. Wait. First I'm curious. Where are the South Highlands?

Lord Wiki says it's a wine region.

Google Maps says it's about 1.5 hours south of Sydney.  It's a bit west of Wollongong.

Okay. Now I'm done.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 




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