Home and Away legend Ray Meagher discusses his retirement plans

He’s the Home and Away icon who has been playing Alf Stewart on the soap for over three decades.

And on Wednesday, Ray Meagher, 76, discussed the possibility of potentially retiring during an interview with Fitzy and Wippa, after undergoing two life-saving surgeries over the past two years. 

Luckily for fans, Ray admitted that while the thought had crossed his mind, he won’t be saying goodbye to Summer Bay any time soon.

‘Well Fitzy, my mind is wondering a bit at the moment, occasionally it wanders into retirement but then quickly turns around and thinks well what are you going to do there!’ he said.

Ray underwent a triple bypass surgery in 2019, and had another vital heart procedure just six months later.

In the same interview, Ray admitted that his triple bypass surgery came as quite the surprise at the time.   

‘Well they opened me up but I thought I’d have a double bypass, the doctor came in a couple of nights later, splattered in blood, he’d had a crack in a few other people,’ he said.

‘I said “how’d it go, are both in tubes tied up alright?” He said “what do you mean both, you had a triple!”

‘While he was in there he saw something that looked a bit ordinary so we thought why not, by two get one free!’

Ray remains lighthearted about the procedure, telling Fitzy – also known as Ryan Fitzgerald – that he expects to have another in in the next six months.

Last November, it was reported that Ray was forced to get a stent in order to fix a blockage in his heart, six months after a life-saving triple bypass surgery the year before.

A stent is a small tube inserted into a blocked artery or duct to keep the passageway open.

Ray told New Idea magazine after the procedure that he got the stent after suffering symptoms following the bypass.

‘I was on one of those walks, going up a very steep hill, when I did feel a little bit of shortness of breath and just a twinge,’ he explained.

But the actor insisted that he has never felt better after getting the stent.

‘I’ve never been fitter and have been working long days on Home and Away,’ Ray told the publication at the time.