(Monday 15th June – Tuesday 4th August 2020)
Many apologies for my vanishing act. Personal circumstances! But here is a rough guide to the past few weeks on Neighbours (I’ll spend the next however long doing the other soaps too but please bear with me!)
So, we had utter chaos with Andrea plotting to escape prison and run off with Hugo, which, with the help of a hapless prison guard, she briefly succeeded in doing. However, Heather genuinely proved to have changed by raising the alarm and putting her own daughter back behind bars where she belonged. Now, what she did to Sonya was utterly unforgiveable but I have to admit that I have warmed enormously to Heather over these past few weeks. She is so engaging and of all the bonkers plots Neighbours has thrown at us, this whole Dee/Andrea/Heather story has been absolutely epic. I’ve loved it from start to finish. Madeline West has been amazing at playing the two roles so very differently. And I adore Kerry Armstrong, who plays Heather. Sadly for Toadie though, having put his heart on the line again after the tragic loss of Sonya, his relationship with Dee was not to be as she headed to Alaska to get to know her father. Sad times.
Another fabulous week in Erinsborough was Pride Week with possibly the best cameo ever from Courtney Act. Amazing! I loved every second of it. No soap flies the rainbow flag better than Neighbours (although Hollyoaks makes a gallant effort). That week was a particularly special week for Mackenzie as she reconnected with her Dad and then went through with her gender reassignment surgery. We witnessed some seriously powerful scenes, including the reading of Mackenzie’s diaries as she dealt with the departure of her father from the family home, his rejection of her and how she dealt with transitioning so young. I hold my hands up. I cried. Georgie Stone is an absolute star.
Yashvi completed her police training and started work at the local station, partnered with new cop, Levi Canning (grandson of Sheila). And who was her first arrest? Harlow! Yes, really! The poor girl arranged a party for Hendrix for their 18th birthdays only to find people taking drugs at the party. She tried to get rid of them, not wanting anyone to get into trouble, only for the police to turn up and arrest her. Oops. Then Terese accidentally bribed a policeman to get the charges dropped. Double oops.
It was a lovely day when Aaron and David were approved to be foster parents but they were a little alarmed when they were given an older child than they asked for – a teenage boy called Emmett. It’s been really interesting to watch and I like that they’ve had lots of ups and downs with him, rather than it being all smooth sailing and everything being perfect. But they are really good parents and he is a vulnerable but sweet kid. However, he is struggling at school and acting out and they’ve had to ban him from seeing Louis, the only ‘friend’ he has made. First, Louis got him into trouble by trashing a classroom (resulting in Shaun getting fired from his trial working at the school) and then they borrowed Hendrix’s drone and put Sheila in hospital! When Emmett returned to school after the holidays and a lot of tutoring, he barely lasted five minutes before running off and meeting up with his brother, Brent, prompting him to get suspended. Against their better judgement, David and Aaron brough Brent back to the house. There, they had to explain the reality of the boys’ plan to live together when Brent turns eighteen.
As for Shaun, his new life (no pun intended) in Erinsborough didn’t quite go to plan, what with having lost his job and everything and Elly was feeling more and more out of place, not helped by Karl’s former BFF, Olivia having published a tell-all book all about Finn. When Shaun invited Elly to move to Switzerland with him to start a whole new life, she jumped at the chance, breaking poor Bea’s heart. It was an emotional day as the sisters said their goodbyes and Karl and Susan made a detour on their trip to return briefly and bid Elly farewell too. I’ll be honest, it was time for her to go. There just wasn’t anything left for her to do.
Sheila hasn’t been in the best spirits. Of course, she is still grieving for Gary but now she is furious that Kyle and Roxy are officially and item. I can’t see what her problem is, to be honest. Roxy is awesome and she has been such a support to Kyle in the wake of his Dad’s death. Sheila’s mood darkened further when Levi turned up and moved into the house. Her behaviour has been odd to say the least, being how family oriented she is. She smothers Kyle beyond belief and yet she wants nothing to do with Levi. Clive finally called her on it and we learned that she hurt him in some way or perhaps there was an accident that she feels responsible for.
Meanwhile, Levi began to bond with Bea (there’s definitely going to be a romance there at some point). She witnessed him having an epileptic fit, which he begged her to keep secret, explaining that he had an accident when he was a kid, which caused a head injury and epilepsy. He was sick of being smothered so he convinced everyone he was healed and has never told work. He then offered her his support in the wake of Elly, Shaun and Aster’s departure, especially after she punched a guy who was out of order to her, causing her to lose her job at the hotel.
In yet another attempt to save their floundering marriage, Chloe and Pierce tried and failed to be approved as foster carers. Then Chloe discovered that she was pregnant, having previously been terrified that she was experiencing the beginning of Huntington’s symptoms. It’s lovely to see Terese step in with complete and utter support here. And I am very interested to see what will happen next.
Meanwhile, on their holiday, Karl bumped into tearful Jane, her marriage to Des having already fallen apart. Wanting to follow up on the weddings, Paul struggled to get hold of Jane, although all the other weddings seem to have been successful. Assuming that Karl has blabbed about the split, Jane phoned shocked Terese, ranting about being left alone. Terese offered to be the buffer between Jane and Paul. She also contacted Jane’s daughter, Nicolette, asking for help with Jane. And that’s why she is one of the best characters ever.
Monday – Friday, Channel 5 @ 1:45pm and 5:30pm
The Soap Dish 