All Soaps: Vintage Articles

[DRW50]

I remember Elle - I think she became popular toward the end of her run (were her siblings ever on the show?). So many characters, young characters especially, seem to leave after a few years. I wonder if Pippa Black also left to bigger things, or just wanted out.

Does the woman who played Izzy still have her band?

Izzy sounds like such a complicated character, and the stories they gave her after the reveal about the baby still seem to be interesting.

I know David and his wife died - who was the third? Susan's husband?

[soapgirluk]

Most of Elle's siblings have been on the show, her fellow triplets were actually on after the plane crash. 1 of them actually planted the bomb which was why it happened. He then showed up pretending to be his brother it was quite a long stint, that ended with the 'nice' brother turning up & being killed by a car. Think Max Hoyland was driving & obviously the 'who's who' drama of soap twins went on lol

Elle's half brother Andrew has only just left in Australia after a few years on the show.

Nat Bassingthwaight left her band but released a solo album, she's now a judge on Austalian X Factor. She married 1 of her bandmates & is now having her 2nd baby.

The Crash killed David, Liliana & their daughter Serena. Only David's body was found. Serena was dating Connor & he was so upset that he along with Dylan both faked their deaths. Dylan as he was in trouble with the police & he had a soapy return on the day of his funeral

[DRW50]

Thanks. I remember reading about the story with the brothers. I didn't realize those were the siblings.

Thanks for all the answers. I'm glad Natalie has done well.

I still think it was a mistake to kill off Harold's son.

[Ben]

Izzy was a complicated character, and that continued all the way till the very end.

Elle wasn't that popular when she arrived, as viewers didn't take to the whole hurricane bitch thing that she had going on from the off. Her and Paul did some very campy, panto stuff, like blowing up Carmella's fruit van. It wasn't until the 2007 revamp that they developed the character, and made her Paul's conscience, and paired her with Lucas - they made a great couple. By 2008, Elle had become one of the strongest characters on the show, and it was a big loss when she left. Pippa Black went to LA, and landed a role in that ill fated comedy... I forget what it was called... the call centre one.

Elle is one was triplets. Cameron and Robert were identical. Andrew is her half brother. Amy is her half sister. The triplets appeared on the show together, but Andrew hasn't shared any scenes with the triplets. Amy hasn't been on the show.

It was a big mistake killing off the Bishops. It was short sighted, and one that had a detrimental affect on the show.

[DRW50]

I know Harold was a big guy but you'd think Paul could fight him off, surprise or not.

I'm not sure why they mentioned in the middle of that Paul/Izzy bit that Stefan Booth is the father of two young boys in real life.

Thanks again for the articles. I'm surprised they never at least had Serena come back from the dead.

Is Andrew gone now too?

What did you think of Kerry?

[Ben]

I think Harold is the only one to ever return from the dead (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). Which is why it's kind of weird that they do these presumed dead stories - first Dee Bliss, then Liljanna and Serena Bishop; what's the point if you have no intention of bringing them back? It's too late now, of course, as they don't have any family left in the show, well except for Dee, but the longer she remains dead, the harder it gets to explain her absence.

Andrew has left at Oz pace, and will leave this Friday at UK pace.

I have zero memory of Kerry. I was way too young when she was on the show. They did bring back the actress as part of the 20th anniversary, playing Kerry's doppelgänger. It was seriously weird, as Harold was seeing his daughter, but of course she wasn't, and they ended up kissing at one point!

[Ben]

This is where things got a little bit... odd.

And here comes the Evil Twin drama.

To be continued...

[DRW50]

These stories sound very sensationalistic, but I guess it would depend on how they were done, and the acting. What did you think of them?

[Ben]

They were sensationalistic. This was the OTT era that the show launched into in a vein attempt to capture the "success" that Home & Away was having at the time with its own OTT plots. For the most part, the majority of all the storylines during this period had the potential to be awesome, but they all fell short by being either badly executed (like the evil twin story), or badly climaxed; stories were not thought out with the details in mind. The acting was never the problem, it was always the writing. The guy playing Robert and Cameron done a decent job - Robert was horrible, and you were glad when he was gone, but Cameron was nice, and you wanted him to stay, and a lot of that was down to the actor.

Now we move on to Izzy's exit. Unfortunately I'm missing the articles about Karl & Izzy's "reunion," detailing the herbal sleeping remedy with Karl hallucinating that Izzy was Susan...

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'm surprised at the names they got for the UK remote. What did you think of it? I had to laugh at the joke about Julian Clary as Mal. Maybe they should have cast him as the new Billy...

Were Paul and Gail really like Den and Angie? How long were they together?

I like that retro photoshoot. You don't see that very often.

Going back to possible cheating stories right after Karl and Susan remarry is an odd choice.

Was it you who said you enjoyed the friendship between Janelle and Susan, and this helped make the Timmons family more popular?

Connor turned out to be living somewhere back in Ireland, didn't he? I remember an episode when he was around where he was running a bikini shop.

As always you kick a lot of ass. I don't thank you enough.

[Ben]

I loved the London episodes. I'm a Londoner, so it was very special to see the show film here. And they were well written, and it was great to see Izzy again after an absence of several months. I think they did justice to Izzy's character by giving her a happily ever after. I think I was handing in an assignment on one of their shooting days, and I tried to track them down (the *only* time I've played stalker!), but this is London, and they could have been anywhere. Turns out I was a couple of streets out, and for some random reason, I chose not to walk up off of Leicester Square, and they were filming down a back street. I wasn't surprised by the celebrity cameos, as the show has been pretty popular over the years, and I think it showed just who were/are fans of the show. Actually, I was surprised by Michael Parkinson - his cameo was so random and funny.

Stefan has always likened Paul & Gail to Den & Angie. They were married from 1987-89... Yeah, not very long! Paul and Gail originally got married for the sake of a business deal, only to fall in love for real. An ex rocked up with Paul's daughter, Amy, which put strain on their relationship, during a time when Gail was undergoing IVF treatment. Paul started to fixate more on work, even when Gail eventually got pregnant with triplets. Gail left town after her father died in a car crash after fleeing from an argument with Paul, whom she blamed for her father's death. She gave birth in Tasmania.

I guess these days magazines don't have the budget to do decent photoshoots. It's a shame.

I thought so too, but then I feel it kind of plays it to the many issues that haunted the Kennedy's relationship. Susan struggled to deal with Karl fathering another child with another woman, and at the time, she struggled with the concept that Karl could have loved another woman. She had a lot of insecurities and trust issues with Karl. They couldn't have done the story with anyone but Tom, but when he returned, he was smugger that originally, and that was really off putting. I think they focused on the wrong angle for the story, and didn't need the whole "it looks like they've kissed, but haven't" thing.

I don't remember saying that. It could have been Edward who said it. I think the Timminses were popular in their own right. Not off the bat they weren't, especially Janelle who was unlikeable. I think her friendship with Susan, Lyn and Liljana softened the character a lot.

Connor's exit was shameful. They didn't think it through at all. He disappeared, but didn't, and he turned out to be living in China, travelling around Asia. He used to own a bikini shop with Toadie. At the time, it wasn't really a fan favourite, but by 2009-2011, a lot of people were wanting those days back.

Thanks for the compliment, Carl. I don't really do much, just scanning a few articles.

Next up: Karl & Susan's history.

[DRW50]

I only have a few magazines. I am just uploading the Family Affairs/Neighbours stuff, to keep with what Ben is doing, as I want him to have first dibs to share anything else first. I only have a few magazines, as I said. This is the first one. It's an All About Soap from July 2003.

[Ben]

Thanks Carl for the articles.

I don't remember that FA story with Matt and Anna. Never seen her before at all. I must have tuned out when this was going on.

[Ben]

More Neighbours: The Kennedy's other stories.

[DRW50]

I remember reading about the memory loss story - they usually don't have that on foreign soaps (although I think they had one with Harold too didn't they?). The Sarah story sounds like it was something fresh for the characters, at least at the time. I didn't know the actress had suggested it herself. I wonder how often that happens.

I'm glad Jackie Woodburne eventually cut her hair - she looks better with the shorter hair.

She looks a little like Lisa Stansfield in that photo on the top left.