(Tuesday 26^th May – Monday 1st June 2020)

The Kennedys found Sheila in their back garden, grieving for Gary the Pigeon but once they got hold of Kyle (and she accused them of killing Gary all over again, they realised that he wasn’t dead, just drunk on fermented berries and he was soon restored back to life.  But sadly, things between Sheila and Susan were not restored.

When Claudia brought Aster to see Elly, she let slip her long terms plans for custody, prompting Elly to suggest to Chloe that she did indeed sell her The Island and agree to work with her in order to find out what she was really up to.  Just as an aside, Elly seems to be living it up in jail!  In one day, she saw Claudia and Aster, then Chloe and then Susan.  I mean, that’s more people than most of us have seen in months recently!  Aaron immediately caught Chloe snooping on Claudia but ever the innocent, approached the monster directly about what his sister had found, meaning she was able to easily explain it away rather than allowing Chloe it gather it as evidence!

With The Island plan going ahead, Aaron set up a focus group of Harlow, Hendrix and Mackenzie to help them with ideas going forward.  While the kids were happy to help out, especially for some cash ahead of Mackenzie’s 18^th birthday, Susan was not happy to see them spending time with new nemesis, Claudia.  Meanwhile, things at home between Karl and Susan were not improving.  In fact, they seem to be getting worse!  After a row, Karl stormed out, resulting in him staying out all night and chatting to former fling, Olivia Bell from days gone by (and exchanging numbers), although not before asking Dee to go and support Susan at home.  He then suggested that Dee move in with them, which Susan readily agreed to.  Just as an aside, if Karl cheats on Susan again, I will not be in a forgiving mood!

Dipi was just as unhappy as I was about Dee wading in on Sonya’s turf with Toadie and the kids, as if Sonya never existed.  She was also worried about being pushed out herself, when she has been so involved in the kids’ lives for so long.  But there’s a really sweet moment with Nell, which makes her thaw, alongside Dee assuring her that she isn’t trying to take Sonya’s place.  When Toadie and Dee visited Elly and were informed of Andrea’s plans to get custody of Hugo, Dipi was actually the first person to comfort Dee who felt guilty about letting Andrea back into their orbits.  I’m still not sold on Dee myself but it was sweet moment of friendship.

Elly’s life behind bars got somewhat more intense when she realised that her warning for Toadie and Dee had put her firmly on the wrong side of Andrea and that is not where she wants to be!  Andrea began consistently bullying Elly, including having her beaten up, although she knew better than to tell anyone the truth about her injuries.  Not that the Kennedys believed her lies anyway.

With Sheila’s obsession with Gary the Pigeon spiralling out of control, Kyle made an urgent call for help and within moments, who should waltz through the door but Naomi?!  I am so excited!  I adore Naomi!  I was so sad when she left and I hope she is back for a good long while.  She is like a breath of fresh air to the show from the moment she appears.

Thankfully, Naomi does not hold Susan responsible for Gary’s death, which is a good place to start in healing her mother’s pain.  Kyle hasn’t been able to make any progress really because a) he is in too much pain himself and b) he blames Susan at least in part for what has happened.  Naomi’s argument is that it wasn’t just Susan who was responsible for ‘rehabilitating’ Finn and Toadie agrees – if Susan is to blame then everyone is.  She talked to Susan directly and was concerned that she blamed herself as much as Sheila blamed her.  Then she did some most excellent plotting with Paul and Terese, locking Sheila and Susan up in the Willis house together and forcing them to talk.  When Karl got wind of it, he immediately objected but by the time he arrived, the two women were genuinely connecting.  They finally achieve peace!

With that resolved, Naomi was immediately distracted by Party Boy Pierce.  She rushed home to tell Kyle that she thought she had met the one, a guy she clearly has a complex history with.  While swooning over and old picture of ‘Party Boy Pierce’, Naomi then had a meeting with Chloe, with whom she has just scored a job, taking over her duties temporary at Lassiters while she works on The Island project with Claudia.  I mean, that’s not going to be awkward at all…  Thankfully, at least Naomi didn’t reveal all her cards before Pierce turned up to the meeting.  Kyle begged Naomi not to be responsible for Chloe getting her heart broken.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie was freaking out about her birthday party, which Kyle and Roxy had been thrown together to organise.  However, all went well, including a big romantic gesture from boyfriend, Ritchie.  It even survived Kyle ditching to go and get the cake but thinking he was going to see Jess, Roxy ditched the party as well.  Aware that Mackenzie was upset over her Dad’s neglect of her birthday, Shane called him on her behalf.

Neighbours has returns to filming, while observing social distancing

Episodes air on Channel 5, Monday – Friday, 1:45pm and 6pm