PENNY'S BIG COMEBACK

Good friends and happy me mories see her return to Summer Bay

- Josie Rozenberg-Clarke

Penny McNamee spent six years of her life playing doctor Tori Morgan in Home And Away, so when she was asked to return for Leah and Justin's wedding, she leapt at the chance.

"It had to be something big to pull Tori back because she moved on from Summer Bay to have this fabulous life in London with her new husband, their little girl and a great job," tells Penny, 41. "Justin's wedding is a big enough reason. They have such a close relationship, it made sense she came back for it."

The actress says the show's fans - as well as her real-life friendship with actor James, who plays Tori's brother Justin - made her want to return after three years away.

"I felt I owed it to the fans because that wedding would have felt inauthentic if Tori wasn't there," Penny explains. "I felt loyalty to James and to the storylines I played for six years. It was a no-brainer."

Despite her years absent from the Home And Away set, Penny says it felt like she'd never left.