You’d be forgiven in thinking that after 33 years of playing beloved Irene Roberts on Home and Away that accomplished actor Lynne McGranger planned on resting and slowing down.

The 72-year-old has closed a chapter on her life and television history by exiting the cult soap, but with two coveted statues in hand – the Gold and Silver Logie.

Former winner Rebecca Gibney presented the award to McGranger on Sunday night, August 3, who said she was “thrilled and honoured”.

Five other fierce females were up for the major gong (Sonia Kruger, Julia Morris, Ally Langdon, Lisa Millar, Poh Ling Yeow), and Lego Masters host Hamish Blake.

“I want to acknowledge all the other nominees, all the beautiful, fierce women of all ages. And I am the eldest! If you live as long as I do, it’s fantastic. And of course, lovely Hamish,” McGranger said moments after accepting the award, beaming with emotion.

“This show has been kept afloat because of the wonderful writers and the wonderful production. Yeah, it is a soap but you know what? It gives Australia’s actors and crew so much work, and we are so proud of it. 38 years, the bloody thing has been going for. It just won’t die. Fantastic.”

Earlier in the evening, the star received her first-ever statue for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, jokingly admitted she would follow through on her pre-awards promise to carry the Gold Logie in her bag if she won.

But the departure of Irene is not the end of McGranger’s career.

She is welcoming a whole new and exciting chapter with a return to stage, and will be on tour with The Grandparents Club nation-wide until November.

Just prior to the Logie Awards, she told The Senior after first doing The Grandparents Club in 2024, it “triggered” her thoughts to return to the stage and she just knew it’s where she wanted to be.

“I’ve still got my marbles, and I’m still physically fit. Thank goodness. Touch wood,” she said.

McGranger joked that maybe she should “jump before I’m pushed”, a notion which is highly unlikely given the reaction of staff when she told them she was leaving Summer Bay.

“I went and spoke to the producers and they cried, which was lovely,” she said.

McGranger got her acting chops in theatre – but it’s hard to believe that Australia’s longest-running actress in a soap didn’t embrace acting until her late twenties.

Sydney born and raised, the actor first trained as a primary school teacher in the country NSW town of Wagga Wagga, before working in various teaching gigs.

McGranger decided to do some drama lessons on the side, but relief teaching proved to be the final straw.

“I just went, ‘Oh boy, I’m really bad at this. I really don’t like it, I’ll have a crack at this acting thing’,” she said.

“And my dad, God bless him, said ‘don’t come to me when you’re in the gutter’.

“And then, of course, two days later, he’s ringing me going ‘are you alright for money?’.”

Prior to the Logies, McGranger said she suspected her nomination was because it is her last season on the soap and joked she would have “left years ago” if she knew it meant she’d get the Gold nod.

“I think the silver was probably, in a way, even more surprising,” she said. “If I win that, I really will probably fall head first into my soup.”

The 72-year-old, who would consider working in television again, is open to working in the UK, New Zealand and even Norway (where Home and Away is wildly popular).

And to other late bloomers out there who want to pursue their passion, McGranger gives some solid advice.

“Go for it. Be brave,” she said.

“Never be afraid to fail. Don’t be mediocre.”

McGranger said a past acting teacher told her she would be successful because she wasn’t “afraid to look ugly” – as she always gave her everything – advice she also tells people.

The beloved actor’s final episode on Home and Away, after starting in 1993, is rumoured to air in mid to late August.