Neighbours: Hurricane Naomi!

(Wednesday 10^th – Friday 12^th June 2020)

Sheila was concerned that Naomi didn’t like Clive so Clive decided to attempt to bond with her by buying wrestling tickets for the two of them. However, not knowing anything about wrestling, Clive took a crash course from Shane. Cue a hilarious physical training scene in the lounge! Clearly Shane never heeded the ‘don’t try this at home’ warnings! But I really did love all the WWE references, including Rick Flair having the best hair! Yes. Yes, he did. Woo! Ahem. Anyway…

Paul connected the dots and discovered that Pierce once pursued Naomi, which he was more than eager to share with oblivious Chloe. Terese was furious with him for letting his feud with Pierce hurt Chloe, who she has always been very protective of. Chloe was understandably upset with both Pierce and Naomi for lying to her and Sheila’s well meaning interference did not help. Funnily enough, it was Toadie of all people who put in a good word for Naomi in the end and Chloe accepted that Naomi had genuinely accepted that Chloe and Pierce were happy and in love and that she just wanted to be friends with both of them. Personally, I think Chloe and Naomi make a better match than Pierce makes with either of them!!!

Chloe and Naomi have bonded…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

And it seemed like Chloe thought the same thing as, determined to make things work, she arranged dinner with Naomi and Pierce and the women got on like a house on fire. Remarking to Paul that he hadn’t succeeded, she told him that Naomi was her type. He then set about winding Pierce up about them. Could he actually have a point about this one?

Unable to stay out of trouble in any area of her life, Naomi got her new project for the Breast Cancer Fundraiser underway by commissioning Ned to create a bust of her… well, bust. Unfortunately, Shane walked in just as he was getting the measurements! Of course, Shane lost it, believing that Ned was cheating on his daughter and charged outside to tell Yashvi what he saw, leaving him utterly confused over the fact that she and Dipi already knew. Dipi was deeply concerned about the level of stress and anger her husband has been carrying around recently, not knowing that he has secretly transferred a lot of money to Grant.

In prison, Andrea was shocked when her mother, Heather turned up in the wing, having passed all her psych tests and been told that she can mingle with other prisoners. When Dee heard about the move, she considered visiting her mother but Toadie, who had already been hassling Karl about her ‘relationship’ with Olivia, persuaded his friend to attend in her place. Karl found Heather to be reasonable and apologetic for her behaviour. And indeed, when she returned to Andrea, she turned her down flat when she attempted to get her involved in her plans to get to Hugo. Has she changed? I mean, it seems unlikely…

Heather was brought back into mainstream prison life…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

Dee then decided to go and see Heather herself and was drawn in by how she seemed to have changed and the brief mention of her father. While Toadie hoped that was the end of it, Dee wanted to visit again, wanting to get to know her mother and find out more about her father. If Dee wants to continue a relationship with Heather, I think this could spell the end of her and Toadie. With a big, massive storyline in between, of course. They clearly haven’t brought these characters back for nothing!

Susan was horrified to find Karl having an intimate conversation with Olivia at Harold’s, prompting a blazing row between them. Well, we all knew this was coming. Awful. Just awful. I mean, at least Karl decided that he couldn’t see Olivia anymore so hopefully he won’t be having an affair. And he did point out to Susan that she wouldn’t talk to him so he had to talk to someone. I do hope they will find a way forward together.

Out of prison, Elly seemed to have created a cell of her own inside the Kennedy house, attached to the baby and refusing to go outside. She seemed quite happy, receiving visitors and enjoying her time with Aster but she didn’t want to go out, even into the garden. The damage done to her goes very deep. Meanwhile, Shaun found a confidant in David regarding his own experiences of loss and confusion regarding Finn and how he can fit into his own life, having been absent from it for so long.

Neighbours has returned to filming

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

Home and Away: Family Affairs

(Wednesday 10^th – Friday 12^th June 2020)

While Ben was away on his surfing trip, Ziggy continued to ignore her mother, even though their broken relationship was clearly hurting her. Colby in turn was also struggling with his new housemate. I can imagine that Dean is messy enough but throwing Ziggy, especially angry, thoughtless Ziggy, into the mix would seriously drive you to distraction! After a lovely afternoon with Jasmine and Grace, Colby decided to take matters into his own hands and threw their stuff out onto the beach, including their mattress! Lugging the items back in, Dean and Ziggy apologised for their behaviour and agreed that Colby had made his point.

When Dean expressed his concerns about Ziggy and Maggie, Ziggy completely lost it with him, unreasonably so and stormed off, declaring that it wasn’t his place and he was not part of her family. Bit harsh. The poor bloke spent the entire night worrying about her as she refused to come home.

Ben arrived back in the Bay the next morning to continued tension with his wife but thankfully, he persuaded Ziggy to sort things out with her mother (and Dean). Ziggy and Maggie finally talked things through and although Ziggy cannot forgive, she was able to at least let go of her anger in order to begin to move their relationship on. A lot of her anger is clearly built on her own pain over ex-husband, Brody cheating on her and also, understandably, the fact that Ben and Maggie have always been such a solid foundation and if they are broken, what does that mean for everyone else, including her and Dean? When she finally opened up to her boyfriend, he pledged his full commitment to her. And she confirmed that he is indeed part of her family. Too right!

Maggie thanked Ben for his help but things are still not good between them as they try and fail to talk things through. Ben was clearly not looking well, as noticed by Maggie, Ari and John but he continually shrugged it off until he finally collapsed in the kitchen, prompting Maggie to call an ambulance. Is it something to do with his medication, I wonder?

Gemma was disappointed to lose her hours at The Diner…
(photo credit: Digital Spy)

Feeling much stronger, Leah and Justin were definitely back on track, including in the bedroom! She also decided that she was ready to come back to the Diner full time, which is great, apart from it having a knock on effect for Gemma, who had her hours cut, just as she and her family were starting to get back on their feet. Bless Marilyn, she really did try to help but her efforts were not appreciated. She also made it clear that Gemma and Nik were welcome to stay for as long as they liked. To be honest, I think she wants them, even needs them to stay. But all of a sudden, they seem desperate to leave, which feels a bit rude to me after everything. However, Gemma did get a job very quickly at Salt, which is brilliant news.

Roo encouraged John to approach Marilyn, certain that she was ready to finally start talking. However, when he approached, she was having a private chat with Ari so he walked away. Was he jealous? Have we gone back ten steps? Actually, no. Thankfully, he had just decided to give her some space to talk and then later, he was able to give her all the reassurance she needed. Hooray for these two starting to get things back on track.

Ryder got his P plates (I think driving tests work differently in the UK to Australia) so after yet another argument between Nik and Ari, Nik persuaded him to drive him to see his Uncle, Tane, who clearly lives a life of random sex and drinking. Once there, Nik begged to move in with his Uncle. Just as an aside, would a very cautious driver (and person), who had literally just passed his test, such as Ryder, be having a beer, even one, while driving? Just seems odd to me.

Anyway, at first Tane refused to let Nik stay but after he dragged the truth out of Ryder about how things really were in the Bay for his nephew – living in the car until Marilyn took them in, things going south with Belle and the constant tension with Ari – he agreed to one night. Ryder headed home but Nik was confident that he could persuade him to keep him. The next day, back in Summer Bay, Ari was just getting stuck into Ryder, demanding answers about Nik when who should turn up but Tane and Nik? Let’s get ready for the fight!

Ari was NOT happy to see his brother!
*(photo credit: Digital Spy)*

Home and Away has now resumed filming

It currently airs on weekdays a week @ 1:15pm & 6pm on Channel 5 with a sneak peek on 5Star, weekdays @ 6:30pm

These reviews are based on the lunch time episodes

Doctors: Isolation

(Friday 12^th June 2020)

On Friday, Doctors absolutely excelled themselves with a ground breaking episode, all filmed remotely from the actors’ homes. It was a forty five minute episode to round off for their summer break. (I actually don’t know how I am going to cope this summer without it – it’s been the only stable soap!) But wow, they went out in style! I just don’t know how many ways I can compliment this show and this episode. It was absolutely amazing.

It was so well crafted, perfectly paced and had a fantastic blend of humour and drama. One minute, I was howling over Valerie’s dance moves (Sarah Moyle has the best comic timing), to actually weeping at the thought of losing one of our beloved characters to Coivd-19. We had the fantastic story of Jimmi counselling an intensive care Doctor, the hilarity of Emma and Zara and I enjoyed having a look at all their backgrounds, as I have been doing for the past few months during every piece of news!

The Doctors Cast Came Together to Film a Special Isolation Episode
(photo credit: WhatsOnTV)

The episode covered several weeks of lockdown and it did genuinely cover everything that we have all been dealing with every day. It was relatable. It was creative. It was the first time a soap has every attempted such a thing. And if it doesn’t get Best Single Episode at the British Soap Awards, it will be an absolute travesty!

Doctors is now on its summer break.