Home and Away's Lynne McGranger floored when she discovered pal was married to co-star

Home and Away actress Lynne McGranger revealed she ‘nearly died’ when she discovered her friend and co-star Shane Withington was married to his former on-screen wife in real life

Lynne McGranger, a star of Home and Away, acknowledged that she was astonished to learn that Shan Withington was wed to his former on-screen wife.

Since 1993, the actress, 70, has played Irene Roberts, and in 2009, 64-year-old Shane joined the Australian serial opera’s ensemble as John Palmer.

John had a heart attack after the recent explosion and moved in with Irene while he recovered.

But while John has been driving Irene mad, she returned home from her shift at the diner during Friday’s episode (August 18) to find the surf club worker has cooked her dinner, leaving her gobsmacked

Off-screen, Lynne talked about a conversation that happened a few years after Shane started working on the soap opera and revealed his marriage to Anne Tenney.

She told 7Life, “We were both in the green room about two years after Shane joined the show, and I asked him, ‘You married?'”

He says, “Yeah, I have a partner. At the time, we had been dating for 30 years. I asked, ‘Oh, what’s her name,’ and he replied, “Anne.”

Shane and Anne first met on the hit 80s Australian soap opera A Country Practice, where they played on-screen couple Brendan and Molly Jones.

Lynne confessed she “nearly died” when she discovered their relationship had translated off-screen, adding: “I was like ‘Are you kidding me, are you two together in real life’?

“I suddenly turned into this hopeless soap romantic, I couldn’t believe it and (was) so excited that the real Brendan and the real Molly were actually together in real life. It was the most exciting thing ever!”

Lynne gushed about how she and Shane “always got along and enjoyed working together” at the workplace.

She gushed, “He’s such a sweetie and so fun to work with.

“What I love about Shane is that he actually reminds me of myself,” the author said. “He’s not afraid to really go for it, go over the top, and then let the director pull it back.”