Have you stopped crying yet? Only just? We’ve barely recovered from the emotions of last night as we watched the tragic death of Josh Willis in the widely publicised Hotel Death Trap. We’ll talk more about the heartbreaking moment and the tearjerking performances later in the week but we wanted to write a little goodbye to Josh.
We’ve gone back and forth with Josh over the years – the full spectrum of emotions. From loathing to loving but after all that we’re very sad to see him die. Josh made some bad decisions in his time on Ramsay Street but he was a guy with a big heart. Sure there were times we might have wished death on him – when he was obsessed with swimming, when he was with Amber, when he sided with awful dad Brad, when he sleazily tried to win Amber back with catfishing etc etc… BUT he’s had his good moments and Harley Bonner brought a lot of warmth to the role. Here’s a look at a few best bits.
His sibling relationship with Imogen
Everyone knows that off screen Harley Bonner and Ariel Kaplan are the world’s cutest couple, or certainly we can’t help but feel a little bit romantic every time we see their insta pics, but on screen Josh and Imogen’s relationship was just as enjoyable. Sure they fell out, got involved in a messy love square, but ultimately they made for a believable pair of siblings (although, twins – really?). We’ll miss their friendship and the love they had for each other and their scenes as Josh lay dying broke us. Heartbreaking. We’ll miss their relationship a lot.
Josh and Naomi’s saucy fling
Let’s face it, everything Naomi touched was gold, but the Josh and Naomi fling was a surprising hit for us. Before then we’d been bored of Jamber and his swimming plots, but after the way Danber had treated him he deserved some fun. Step forward Naomi! Their casual affair started with a romp in a lift and then the fun continued as they began sneaking around for some secret fun. There was a natural chemistry between the pair and it was a welcome change to see a carefree and flirty Josh. One of the best bits of the plot was seeing Josh be forced to escape Sheila’s without a single item of clothing and only a gnome to hide his crown jewels. Classic.
The coward punch story
Although at times the coward punch story bordered on an after-school special, it was a really strong plot for all the actors involved. After Josh had a bad reaction to being dumped by Naomi and learnt Danber had got engaged, he got drunk (a bad move for someone who is allergic to alcohol) and delivered a dangerous punch to Chris. Chris suffered badly and the case ended up going to court. With Josh’s life in tatters, Harley Bonner really shone in showing a sympathetic side to Josh’s plight. It was his strongest dramatic material on the show and during this storyline Josh actually showed remorse and maturity – he was actually one of our favourites for a long while!
His fatherhood struggles
We won’t talk about Jamber. We won’t talk about Josh sleeping with Amber after she believed she was jilted. We won’t talk about Josh’s creepy attempts to reunite with Amber. We won’t even talk about the catfishing. But what we will say is that we admired Neighbours for taking a new route in a new parent plot by having Josh really struggle with fatherhood. He was tired, unfocused and he really struggled to bond with his daughter. Sadly Matilda will have to grow up without her father now, but who could fail to be moved by Josh’s final scenes as gave Amber a message for Matilda’s future. TEARS EVERYWHERE. No matter how bad Josh’s previous behaviour was, Josh still had a big heart so we’ll try and overlook the dodgy plots and remember him fondly. To be honest, we’d have left Daniel to die.
Another week, another series of glorious Naomi moments. He relationship with Paul is really beginning to heat up and we’re really beginning to enjoy the bond between the two. Naomi challenges Paul in a really good way and we enjoy the playful battles for power in their relationship as Noami coaxes stuck-in-the-mud Paul to bend to her will. But even better this week was Naomi seeking to prove herself to Paul as a businesswoman with her ‘Lassiter’s hotel room in a box’ idea. The scene itself was fantastic as Morgana O’Reilly delivered what quickly became a long-winded, convoluted ramble to perfection and what made the scene brilliant was Rebekah Elmaloglou and Stefan Dennis trying, and failing, to keep a straight face. Just as good was Naomi thinking on her feet as she locked Nate and Aaron in the box and made the most of her situation by schmoozing clients and getting giddy at hashtags and panicked over retweets from Graham Norton. Naomi is in many ways the star of the show at the moment and long may she reign.
The Kennedys prove time and time again that no matter what plot you throw at them they always manage to make warm and funny scenes as enjoyable as possible. The great thing with having such a long running couple that viewers know like their own family, is that every story is crammed full of inside jokes and nods to the past, but they still manage to surprise too. We have to address one of the biggest soap twists in history: Karl did not write his infamous ‘hit’ Free as a River! He stole the lyrics from a poem a friend wrote. We’re still reeling. Susan being Susan knew all this of course but Karl was not happy at the thought he might not know all her sordid secrets and made us giggle as he tried to work out what Suse was hiding. Scenes like that where they reveal unseen Kennedy histories remain some of our favourites – so in-character that Karl and Susan just feel like real people. We love them so much, if only they were our real parents. (Just don’t mention the Blue Box)
Now, make no mistake, we were fans of Nate’s relationship with Chris but it’s far to say, as per usual with Chris, it was a very angsty relationship with Chris’s highly-strung nature meaning there was little fun between the pair. So the growing bond between Nate and Aaron has been a much welcome change in that regard and we got to enjoy more of their ‘odd couple’ dynamic this week when Naomi locked them in a box and they had to confront the issues between themselves. While we way be waiting to see more from Aaron beyond happy go lucky, family oriented gay stripper (although his happiness is a welcome trait from the usually miserable Brennans), we do enjoy his teasing of Nate and even funnier was Nate perving on Aaron and clearly enjoying that racy (by Neighbours’ standards) kiss. Meyne Wyatt has become such a charming, funny presence on the show and if ‘Naaron’ proves to be that most rare of soap creations – a happy, gay couple – we can’t wait.
We were really enjoying Jimmy and his mum Amy and their involvement with Kyle and the Rebecchis and then it went a little bit pear shaped. We’ve suffered through some pretty awful kids in Neighbours’ history but Jimmy was shaping up nicely until he started being a little…brat. We weren’t all that keen on Jimmy blackmailing the residents of Ramsay Street just because he wanted some sweets and chocolate and we hated seeing Sheila accused and rattled. Amy came across as quite stroppy and defensive even when given evidence of his bad behaviour. Now that his sweet tooth villainy has been exposed we hope he gets back to being a nice kid again!
This week we experienced the end to one of the longest, most drawn out sagas in recent Neighbours history – just a shame it’s not been a good story. Yes, this week finally saw the end to the Dimato plot and not a moment too soon. It’s a shame we can’t say that the finale justified the months-long build-up because sadly, it was the opposite. It didn’t help that Dimato was an unconvincing villain, it didn’t help that the much better Michelle wasn’t given much to do, it didn’t help that it felt like we saw the same Tyler and Paige scenes over and over, and it certainly didn’t help that Miss Mark Marple himself was involved throughout. It’s the type of action related plot that has never been Neighbours’ strongest point and a perfect example in how the show fails in traditional ‘gangster’ villains of other soaps and excels in the more manipulative, devious characters like Izzy Hoyland. So this week as Tyler got ‘roughed up’, Mark endangered everyone and Dimato swore revenge like some second-rate Scooby-Doo villain, we can only hope the sorry saga is never mentioned again.
In another week of high emotion, we witnessed Matt Turner’s funeral and although far from an iconic character, we were really impressed by the effort made with the character’s farewell. Having seemingly learnt a lesson from the mistakes made with Kate’s and Priya’s funerals (rushed, and non-existent respectively) it was great to see Matt get a traditional Neighbours send-off. There was some wonderful emotional moments with Lauren and Bailey, played fantastically by Kate and Calen, and even better it was great to see a proper turn-out at the service. As Neighbours fans we’re used to seeing notable absences at weddings and funerals but instead everyone who would’ve been there was there – and that makes a huge difference in terms of believability. He may have been far from our favourite character but it’s great to see a regular given the respect and emotion they needed with such a shock exit.
It’s been a tough time for poor Nate lately with the end of his relationship with Chris and we were worried that Chris’s departure would leave Nate in a precarious position – it’s no secret that Nate hasn’t been quite as well integrated as some of the other new cast. However we were wrong to be worried as it seems Nate is finally beginning to develop a really natural and fun friendship with fellow newbie Tyler. In comparison to boring Brennan, it’s refreshing to see two of the younger cast having fun instead of getting hung up on their jobs or romance difficulties. It helps that the actors have a really natural and fun chemistry together and we’re pleased to see it bring out a whole new side of Nate. More of this bromance please!
Who wouldn’t love a very glam and entertaining woman like Naomi as their PA and secret keeper? She’s been an amazing assistant and friend to Paul this week as he suffers through Nick’s scheme and we can’t help but fall more and more in love with her as the weeks go on. No wonder Paul wants her around she’s the perfect pick me up, ever when Paul chucked his guts up over her dress (yuck!). We’re hoping that it’s not long before Naomi realises what Dr Nick is up to because seeing Paul so ill and fragile is hard going, but his scenes with Naomi have been so enjoyable.
We know that Brennan’s the good cop and being the good guy isn’t always fun, but we’re just so tired of his grouchy kill joy approach to everything. Granted it hasn’t helped that much of his time has been tied up in the Dimato plot but this week we also had him nagging at his brother and being off with Naomi too. Fine, Tyler is a bit immature and needs a steer in the right direction and Naomi has been letting him down to help Paul but Brennan’s been so uptight lately when you think he’d be happy to be back in blue. We enjoy Brennan scenes when he’s getting ratty over cleaning or he’s having a laugh but he just seems to have lost that fun factor lately.
This week finally saw the end (we hope!) of the Dimato plot and we have to wonder, are we the only ones questioning the point? Setting aside the fact that basing a story around the bland Brennan, Matt and a guest character was never going to be a hit but surely the story should’ve had some long term consequences? It could’ve had led to some really interesting drama for Matt and Lauren’s marriage but with Matt’s death, it no longer mattered. And had Matt’s death been Dimato related, we could understand it but he was coincidentally killed by an unrelated character. So with all that in mind, was it really worth putting us through weeks and weeks of boring threads outside Grease Monkeys? We think not.
This week we waved goodbye to Matt Turner and I think it’s fair to say after the rushed and underplayed response (apart from Paul’s fantastic depression arc) to Kate’s untimely death, we were all wondering how the show would deal with Matt’s death. We were pleased to see Neighbours learn from last year’s mistakes by both giving us a proper response to Matt’s death in the aftermath episodes and not rushing into the funeral and jumping ahead in the timeline, thereby sacrificing dramatic potential. Kate Kendall gave a powerful and raw performance as always and in particular her scenes with Tom Oliver tugged at our heartstrings. Matt’s death also meant that Amber’s self pity over her non wedding was put into perspective and we were really happy to see Calen Mackenzie give his best performance so far as Bailey struggled with his father’s death. With the funeral to come and Sharon still around, we can’t wait to see what developments the next few weeks bring.
The well plot was pretty ridiculous and we spent time last week moaning about it, however our minds were almost changed this week as we found ourselves pretty gripped by the cliffhanger and tension surrounding the drama. Even though we knew there was no possible way Daniel and Imogen wouldn’t make it, as the water started pouring and Imogen began hallucinating we couldn’t help but be gripped. Switching between the scenes in the well (great set!) and over ground where a clueless Josh and Kyle continued with their mission to drain the lake, oblivious to the trapped pair, was a great touch. We think Tim Phillips and Ariel Kaplan did a great job convincing us of their plight. Great scenes.
Space Alice was back this week and completely clueless to Bailey’s grief over his dad’s death as she berated him for not being around on social media. We’ve always been big fans of Bailey and Alice so we were thrilled to see them reunited even in such sad circumstances. As Bailey pretended everything was fine to cope with his pain, Alice carried on in her usual manner only aware of Bailey’s problems when he grew a little hot and heavy. Bailey’s final breakdown was incredibly simple and moving – Calen Mackenzie did a great job and left us feeling genuinely choked up.
This week saw everyone’s favourite injury-prone mechanic Chris Pappas leave Ramsay Street for good to start a new life in New York with baby mama Lucy Robinson. We are pretty sorry to see Chris leave Neighbours as our freckled friend made quite the impact as Neighbours’ first regular gay character, but we were pleased he had a fairly upbeat exit. Sadly Chris leaving meant a disappointing and rather rushed end to the rather touching Chris and Nate relationship which we had grown rather fond of. Chris’s final scenes with his friends were nice (although Josh’s inclusion was a little strange considering the history) although we think the obligatory ‘taxi goodbye’ scene might have been a nice touch.
Now, don’t get us wrong, we know Neighbours has a limited cast for budgetary reasons and that also includes guest cast. Therefore if a recurring or guest cast member pops up, it usually means there’s a proper purpose for them. This was nowhere more evident this week when Danni Ferguson popped out of the Erinsborough black hole of guest cast to promptly run Matt over. We are big fans of Danni and at one point suggested she be made a regular and while it is great to see her get her biggest story so far (and potentially her final story), we would’ve liked to have seen her establish a bit more of a regular presence at the garage before the story began. But if having Danni around meant we lost out of the recent influx of returnees then the right decision was made! That said, we’d have happily sacrificed a Dimato appearance or two if it meant some more Danni!
It was a welcome and surprising return this week for one of Neighbours’ most iconic couples – the legendary Harold and Madge Bishop. Only Neighbours could make Madge’s imaginary return from the dead work so well – it’s warm and funny and touching to have her back, but it also breaks our hearts a bit to realise just how much we miss these two on screen. Harold and Madge being together again is like watching your beloved grandparents and it’s great to see that their dynamic is still as enjoyable as it ever was. Madge and Harold have always balanced each other perfectly and it’s been great to see her catch up on what she’s missed, to see her nag Harold a little (like old times) and pass the judgement on Daniel and Amber that we’ve all been thinking. The only problem is, now they’re back – we don’t want them to go!
In the show’s UK anniversary week celebrations, it seemed fitting that we were treated to some nostalgic references to the past and boy, were we treated. Not only did we have the fantastic return of Madge as stated above, but this week saw the return of Lucas and Vanessa, last seen in 2013, with their ever-growing brood of baby Fitzgeralds. It was quite refreshing to see the return of two characters who got their happy ending and not have it be ruined by Erinsborough’s laws of unhappy relationships! Not only did we get these physical returns but we also got a multitude of past references via the Erinsborough festival. The pause button was made for the boards in the community centre and quiz brought mentions of iconic characters and disasters past, like Helen Daniels and the 2004 Lassiter’s fire. Our personal favourite was the reveal that Mrs Mangel was alive and well giving Naomi an earache down the phone. What a great start to the show’s anniversary celebrations.
It wasn’t only the stars of Neighbours that reunited for the 30th Anniversary this week as viewers old and new, throughout the UK, came back to join Ramsay Street in a big, cosy documentary which saw Neighbours trending all over Twitter. Not only did the show interview some of the biggest names ever to appear in Neighbours (hi Kylie, hi Guy!) but it also took us through clips of some classic moments in the show’s history. We could have watched a four hour show celebrating Neighbours and while it left out a few of our favourites (no Timmins family clips?!) it was great to see some of our favourite moments like the plane crash and Dee’s death. UK viewers were given an even bigger treat as Channel 5 aired Scott and Charlene’s wedding episode in full, followed by the very trippy first ever episode of Neighbours. We loved it so much that we only wish we could watch all thirty years’ worth on TV again.
It’s not secret that this blog are fans of ‘Chrate’ and have just recently praised them for the sweet, comedic plots we’ve had lately. This week looked set to change that dynamic as Lucy Robinson revealed her pregnancy. While we were excited (the Chris and Lucy baby story has been a favourite of ours) it was clear that Nate didn’t share Chris’s, Lucy’s or our enthusiasm for the news. This is great continuity as it was very clear when the idea was discussed that Nate was never into the idea as much as Chris was and only agreed to keep the peace. As the idea becomes reality, we fear it’ll be too much for Nate. While we hope the pair talk it out soon, we fear trouble on the horizon and it will be a shame to see a promising relationship potentially brought to an end.
“It might be a bit out there” Paige said about this week’s insane moment in Neighbours. Her grand idea to sort out Bailey’s problems (exhaustion from pushing himself too much, the weight of the family’s money problems, tempted by alcohol again) was by staging a sock puppet show. Baffling. By the time Bailey was home from the hospital, Lauren, Amber and Paige had knocked up a puppet theatre and stitched faces on some old socks and then staged a bizarre performance using characters from the family. Lauren and Amber’s left us cringing away from the screen and we’re surprised Bailey himself didn’t bolt. But even more bizarre – it seems like it worked. A new Neighbours record for curing someone’s problems! Maybe someone should tell Matt.
When you ask someone to name you a Neighbours character, there are a few immediate choices and the show is lucky to say that a few of those are still in the show today but this week saw the return of one of the most famous of all: Harold Bishop. We were overjoyed to see him this week after what felt like the longest promo campaign in the world and it’s like he never left. Ian Smith stepped right back into Harold’s shoes with ease and simply lit up every scene he appeared in. The character has such a strong history and some wonderful friendships with existing characters, so it’s great to see him catching up with old friends and we smile at every mention of Madge! We hadn’t quite realised just how much we missed him and although Harold may not be having the best time of it at the minute, we’re glad he’s back to seek help from his neighbours.
It’s fair to say Nate hasn’t had the most traditional introduction to the show. When characters who are introduced as immediate love interests it’s usually a bad sign for their long term viability for a character, so many were worried when Nate was dating Chris within in his first week. Similarly whilst characters usually come in with small stories and develop before they’re given the big drama, Nate arrived with a strong and dark PTSD plot. Despite all this, we’ve really taken Nate to our hearts and it’s been fantastic to see the character get some lighter material lately. He’s been the perfect straight man to the comedy of Karl and Susan, and in particular this week – Sheila and Susan. He was an unlikely but much welcome addition to the brilliant underwear thief plot and we hope this is the beginning of more comic moments for the character as Meyne has really excelled and helped bring a new life to Number 28.
Reasonable, mature, sensitive – those aren’t usually the words we’d have used to describe Kyle and Georgia’s relationship but we saw new sides to them this week as Georgia was forced to reveal she wasn’t ready to start trying for another baby. We made their touching conversation our Scene of the Week but we really admired Kyle’s attitude to the whole situation considering how excited and carried away he was getting (who can forget his amazing face painting) as the pair of them worked on a pre-baby bucketlist. We only hope that any future setbacks are dealt with in a similar way and they don’t revert back to the on/off immaturity that they had when they were rocked by the Kate drama before.
It might have been a quiet week for Daniel and Amber but they still manage to drive everyone up the wall in their brief appearance – their families and us. This week they were trying to get everyone on side again to support their quickie wedding by bringing people into their love bubble. Yep, we’re feeling a bit queasy too. Has there ever been a more self involved Ramsay Street couple? It’s hard to think of one right now. But undeterred from any naysayers Daniel and Amber tried to hold a hippie intervention in the romantic location of Kate’s shooting. We just can’t wait until this bubble bursts!
Every so often, among the gold the show often throws at us, Neighbours decides to give us a local dodgy villain whose sole purpose is to wind up our Ramsay Street residents and make their lives a misery. Recent weeks have introduced us to the latest in this less-than-illustrious line up – Dimato – who seems to have popped up from nowhere as the kingpin of the Erinsborough crime scene. Not a bad idea in theory but is it just us to struggles to keep up with what is actually going on? Or are we zoning out during these scenes? All we know is Matt is angry, Naomi is left to carry scene after scene and Brennan, true to form, is annoyingly obsessed with stamping out crime. To this end, he’s returning to the force – to the joy of absolutely no one. We know this is all leading to the big festival and will surely pay off but we hope the explosive climax is worth the so-so build up.
Erinsborough’s Valentine’s Day hit scenes this week and in classic Neighbours style, offered a great opportunity for some great character driven humour. When Brad revealed his expensive gift for Terese (which of course, we never saw!) four of Ramsay Street’s finest decided to prove their love with tattoos of their partners’ names. Karl, ever the cheapskate, revealed a coupon and tattooed disaster soon ensued. What was on paper a bit of a cliché comedy story was truly funny thanks to some great writing and performances. You can always rely on Karl and Toadie for some humour but it was great to see Chris Milligan stretch his comic skills after a heavier couple of months and to see James Mason offered a rare chance to have some laughs onscreen. We hope the show continues to throw us these smaller comedy plots, especially if they’re as funny as this.
As The Book of Secrets continues to rumble on, a new mystery began this week that was every bit as funny as it was when we discovered Ramsay Street’s resident erotic author – just who was the Ramsay Street knicker thief?! It was the type of story that could only be done on Neighbours and was an absolute pleasure to watch. Sheila was at her best as she pointed accusations at Lou and came up with various schemes to catch their thief whilst Susan, Sonya, Georgia and Terese proved an excellent combination as more of the cast fell victim. What was every bit as good was the reveal of Bossy’s lingerie fetish, Kyle trying to cover for her and Karl’s foray into erotic male undies! A sight we were gratefully spared!
We finally got to see Naomi and Imogen pair up again this week as one of Ramsay Street’s most unlikely friendships reunited. Imogen’s young and straight laced whereas Naomi’s an older wildchild, yet as we’ve said before their friendship just works so well – helped of course by Naomi and Imogen being two of our favourite ladies in the show. We’re more than happy to see them push each other with their very different outlooks on life and hope the show continues to remember how great they are as friends.
We thought the Georgia and Kyle plot about trying for a baby was really well handled this week. In light of the tragedy they faced last year it was sensitive and moving but we were a little disappointed that Georgia wasn’t just honest with Kyle from the start. We all know Kyle is a completely loving guy and she should know by now that he’d support her, but if he finds out she’s kept her pills, things might descend into a horrible Canning row and we don’t want that! Georgia and Kyle are so much better happily married and we don’t want this to change.
Paige’s online dating story took a surprising turn this week as it seems her online lover stole the Turners’ money. It’s not a twist we were expecting and honestly we found the idea that someone as savvy and cynical as Paige could be fooled by something like this. Sure she got caught up in the flirtation but when she went off on her date to meet supposed scammer Bryson she broke every rule in the online dating rulebook. We found it hard to believe Paige would go against all we learnt about meeting people from the internet told to us in about 2004!
Erinsborough 