Next week on Home and Away in the UK, as Harper goes into labour during a bushwalk with Eliza, she and her baby face a battle for survival.
If the drama of a last-minute wedding cancellation wasn’t enough, next week sees Harper (Jessica Redmayne) unexpectedly go into labour at the worst possible time—stuck in the middle of nowhere with only 14-year-old Eliza (Martha Kate Morgan) for company.
After previously undergoing risky surgery on her unborn child to remove a cyst from his lung, Harper was advised to have a caesarean section, which is booked in for just a few days’ time.
But in true Summer Bay style, baby Archie clearly has other ideas.
It’s only been a matter of days since Harper had been preparing to marry Tane (Ethan Browne), the baby’s father. However, it had become increasingly clear that Tane wasn’t fully committed to the relationship and was only going through with the wedding for the sake of their child.
On the eve of the ceremony, Harper confronted Tane, who admitted that while he cared for her, he wasn’t in love. Harper subsequently called off the wedding.
Although Tane made it clear that he still intended to co-parent, Harper was devastated by his admission and, later that day, told him she wanted to raise Archie on her own.
Meanwhile, Roo (Georgie Parker) has been struggling with how to manage foster child Eliza, whose troubling behaviour has already led Marilyn (Emily Symons) to temporarily move out to the Beach House.
When Alf (Ray Meagher) returned from a trip to Merimbula and learned that Eliza had stolen one of his fishing knives, he decided to put her to work in the bait shop as punishment.
An unhappy Eliza walked out on the job, with Roo backing her by telling Alf that the punishment was too harsh. Roo instead decided to reach out to social worker Harper, who Eliza had formed a strange fascination with after seeing her pregnant belly in the surf club and placing her hand on it.
After Roo recently discovered the cache of unusual items in Eliza’s jewellery box, Harper agreed to meet with Eliza to try and get to the bottom of her behaviour. But Eliza kept steering the conversation back to Harper’s baby.
When Tane walked in as Harper allowed Eliza to feel the baby kicking, he was concerned, having been forced to ban Eliza from the youth programme after she threatened another student with a broken bottle.
Tane convinced Harper to cut ties with Eliza, leading a bitter Eliza to burn a teddy bear that she had bought for the baby when told she could no longer see her. But with Tane no longer in the picture, Harper has again agreed to talk with Eliza.
A frustrated Tane expressed concern for Harper’s safety when he saw Harper taking a walk with Eliza, but she firmly reminded him that it wasn’t his place to interfere—they’re no longer together.