As the saying goes, life imitates art.
Certainly for Ada Nicodemou and James Stewart, their storyline seems to be mirroring part of the plot dreamt up by the writers of the long-running hit series Home And Away.
Nicodemou and Stewart’s characters on the show, Leah Patterson and Justin Morgan, walked down the aisle almost two years ago — about the same time as the two actors began dating.
Now the real-life couple are engaged, after Stewart got down on bended knee on Valentine’s Day — a happy moment that is sure to draw plenty of congratulations when they arrive in Perth for Crab Fest next weekend.
In an exclusive interview with STM, Nicodemou shares that she had an inkling that Stewart would propose, but when he popped the question in front of family and friends, she was still “very surprised”.
“I knew it was coming, but didn’t know when,” she says.
“We were already going to dinner for Valentine’s Day and Jimmy suggested that we should go for a little walk first, to our favourite spot and have a kiss — and that’s where he surprised me by going down on one knee.
“It was very special.”
While Nicodemou is hesitant to go into more detail — the couple are keeping their upcoming wedding plans a secret for now, too — it’s clear they are very much in love, and can’t wait to spread the joy.
The couple, who are ambassadors for Crab Fest, are fully expecting to be on the receiving end of well-wishes galore when they land in the west.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of ‘Congrats, can I have a look at the ring?’” Nicodemou laughs.
“But I don’t mind that at all,” she says sweetly.
Crab Fest will feature live music, including performances by Thelma Plum, Havana Brown and Gisella Colletti, fireworks, live cooking demonstrations and pop-up food stalls. It’s designed to celebrate Mandurah and the blue manna crab, which makes it a perfect fit for long-time fan Nicodemou.
“Crabs are like my favourite thing to eat in the world,’” she says.
“I can’t believe I am being flown over to Western Australia, which I love coming to, and I get to eat crabs for two days — amazing.
“Jimmy loves crabs, but he’s more into meat and ribs, so he can have all of that, and I will have his portion of crab as well.”
Nicodemou and Stewart are no strangers to the cross-country flight; they were in Perth in December for the Christmas Pageant, and have attended many Telethons over the years.
“I love WA,” Nicodemou says. “It’s not as fast-paced as Sydney and I really like that. Every time I’ve come over it has always been so rushed though, and in all honesty, I would love to come over and do the State properly at some point — have a big holiday.”
The duo missed out when Home And Away recently filmed episodes in Western Australia for a planned ‘special event’ to air soon. Leah and Justin remained in Summer Bay while Brax and Ricky (Stephen Peacocke and Bonnie Sveen) drove the storylines shot in Perth and along the stunning Coral Coast.
“I would have loved to have been there,” Nicodemou says. “It looks amazing from what I have seen of the promos; just stunning.
“The crew and the cast that went over there and have not stopped talking about it, and I cannot wait to watch it on TV.”
And Nicodemou says the fact she hasn’t filmed episodes here is not for a lack of trying.
“Back when Justin and Leah were getting married and they came to us with the idea, I said to the producer, ‘Can we get married on Cable Beach?’” Nicodemou laughs.
“I actually pitched that idea! I thought it would be such an unusual spot to do a wedding.”
Perhaps they could now make it happen for real?
“Who knows?” she muses. “Western Australia is beautiful. And I haven’t been to Margaret River as well, which is definitely on my list, and Ningaloo Reef.
“When I was a lot younger, I did a TAFE course in travel and tourism and I studied the Kimberley. So I have always wanted to go to the Kimberley since I was 21, which was when I first started on Home And Away, so a long time ago.”
It’s been 25 big years since Nicodemou first stepped into the skin of her popular character, and in that time her life and Leah’s life have evolved in tandem.
“When I first started on the show, Ada was a baby, and so was Leah,” she says.
“So you do evolve and change, and Leah really has been through a lot of ups and a lot of downs — maybe more downs.”
That’s especially true recently: the usually sunnily disposed Leah has had a run of hard luck, including marital problems, but seems to be coming out the other side.
“She’s had a hard year,” Nicodemou.
“There’s been a lot of turmoil and to finally come out the other end, it’s nice to see her happy again, and doing some light storylines, and having a bit of joy in their life.
“It was really dark for six months with (the death of Leah’s nephew) Theo and everything going on with that, and her marriage breaking down — they were really hard storylines to film”
Nicodemous says it can be “tricky” to film emotionally difficult scenes with her real-life partner, but “you just have to shake it off”.
“I don’t mean to sound like an actor here, but I like to get into the character, do the work, and then get out of the character,” she says.
“When I was doing all my really emotional stuff, when I was doing my storylines, I had a ‘grief soundtrack’ I was playing to help me get into it. Then, I had another soundtrack for my drive home; happy stuff, to get out of it. Because otherwise you take your work home.”
As Nicodemou points out, it can also be handy having her co-star on hand at home to run lines.
“I am also very lucky that I go home to my scene partner, so we can talk out anything we need to talk out as well, do our lines,” she says. “But we can also forget about it all, and just be with each other.
“It’s good. But as well as that, we have kids, and homework, and all that sort of stuff when we come home, so you don’t actually have a lot of time to think about yourself.”
But in the months ahead, that family time is going up a notch. In April they will head off on a European holiday with their two children, Nicodemou’s son Johnas (from her marriage to Chrys Xipolitas) and Stewart’s daughter Scout, whom he shares with WA actor Jessica Marais.
“We are really busy organising that,” Nicodemou says. “That is going to be a lot of fun and the kids are really excited. We went over for the Christmas holidays, and we were over there for New Years’, and we had a white Christmas and it was lovely.”
It was the holiday that kickstarted their magical 2026, and they’re determined to keep the good vibes flowing.
“It still won’t be hot yet, but it won’t be as cold as it was when we were over there — it snowed in London. Everyone said it never does that,” Nicodemou remembers.
“We were walking around and it started snowing, and it was insane. We went to Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and it was the most romantic thing in the world.”