She played one of long-running Channel Seven hit Home and Away’s most iconic characters.

And despite being killed off in 2000, Judy Nunn’s portrayal of Ailsa Stewart still looms large in the soap pantheon.

Ailsa, the no-nonsense wife of fellow Home and Away legend Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), was a mainstay on the iconic soap, from its 1988 pilot until her exit in 2000.

And Judy, 79, looked almost identical to the days when her character ran the Summer Bay General Store during a rare TV appearance this week.

The former actress, who now enjoys a thriving career as a novelist, was on The Morning Show on Friday to promote her latest book, Stories From The Otto Bin Empire.

Ailsa’s trademark blonde curls were unmistakable as Judy chatted to hosts Kylie Gillies and Sam Mac.

Speaking to the hosts about her memories of her time on the long-running soap, Judy revealed that she used to write books while on set.

‘It sounds gorgeous, doesn’t it?’ Judy replied when asked to clarify the rumour.

‘When, for instance, we’re burying somebody or when were marrying somebody…if you’re one of the general collectives, you’ve got to smile and nod a lot and at the funeral you’ve got to cry a lot but basically you’re an extra.’

‘Sitting around I found that very boring so that’s when I’d write a book,’ she admitted.

Aside from being a stage and screen actress, Judy has also enjoyed a long and storied career as an author.

She published her first children’s book The Riddle of the Trumpalar in 1981 before moving into adult fiction in 1991 with The Glitter Game.

Since then, Judy has published 19 books with The Glitter Game, as well as Centre Stage and Araluen all becoming best sellers.

Her acting career is no less impressive,  with TV credits including sons and Daughters, Prisoner, and A Country Practice.

In fact, Judy was a pioneer on the small screen, playing a bi𝑠e𝑥ual journalist Vicky Stafford on The Box, a risque soap on Network Ten.

It was there she shared Australian TV’s first lesbian kiss.

However she is best known for her legendarily  Home and Away role, playing Ailsa in an astonishing 1313 episodes.

After Ailsa tragically died of a heart attack in front of Alf in 2000, Judy briefly reprised her role on the soap, this time as an hallucination in Alf’s mind, who was suffering a brain tumour.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph back in 2018, Judy revealed her disdain for the proliferation of reality television in Australia.

She told the publication that she was ‘disgusted’ by shows such as Love Island and Married at First Sight.

‘There’s too much bloody reality TV on. It disgusts me,’ she said. ‘Let the world wallow in it like a pig in a trough,’ Judy said.

Judy also claimed that she resents the fact reality programs leave actors, directors, designers and writers out of work.

Complaining that many reality shows are all about ‘hunks and babes’, she added: ‘The reality producers are laughing all the way to the bank. It’s criminal’.