Neighbours returns! Stars including Alan Fletcher and Mischa Barton reveal all about the shocks in store – and the not-so-final farewell
Well, it turns out everybody needs good Neighbours after all – the long-running soap is back just over a year after what we thought was the final farewell to Ramsay Street.
Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce – even Margot Robbie on Zoom! – were among the famous former stars who returned to Erinsborough to say goodbye after the Australian soap was axed by British broadcaster Channel 5, after 37 years on screen, in 2022.
But, almost as if Bouncer had conjured it up in a dream, earlier this year it was announced that streamer Amazon Freevee would be bringing Neighbours back. The first episode airs on Monday, with some familiar faces – Hi Dr Karl and Susan! – as well as a mysterious new arrival played by Mischa Barton, star of glamorous noughties US teen drama The OC.
As we enter the era of Neighbours 2.0, Sky News spoke to some of the stars about the big return.
Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl Kennedy): ‘I was nervous coming back’
Everywhere you go in the UK, people just want to talk Neighbours, talk excitement levels about Neighbours coming back. It’s quite a phenomenon. In the script there’s been a two-year break, so the writing team have very cleverly been able to craft a story that teases out what happens in those two years.
I was quite nervous going back because, you know, Neighbours was kind of like wearing old clothes for most of us – a very familiar work environment, you go to work, you know everybody, it was very relaxed and we had a great time making our TV show. Coming back, the stakes are suddenly way up here because the show has been saved and we really needed to pay homage to that.
There’s some delicious comedy to come. We’ve got wonderful returnees like Harold coming in to be a guest character. We’ve got these fabulous new characters as well. So there’s a lot going on… and it has been revealed that there’s something going on with [Karl’s wife] Susan, some sort of secret she’s holding on to. And that plays out really interestingly. It’s a bit of a shock to Karl.
Mischa Barton (Reece Sinclair): ‘I was grateful to Neighbours veterans’
Neighbours was surprisingly different to other shows I’ve worked on. All of these sets function very differently. This one, it was wild. I have a lot of respect for them; it’s multi-camera and they work so fast and the amount of content that they shoot, like five episodes in a week and probably 20 scenes a day, and they don’t get multiple takes. I was really grateful to veterans like Stefan [Dennis, who plays Paul Robinson] to take me under his wing and show me how it functions, because it’s a well-oiled machine.
Reece Sinclair, I just really like her as a character. I thought she was something that I would enjoy playing and was kind of written with me in mind. And the writers were very open to trying to Americanise it a little bit and make sure she was like, you know, appropriately outsider but also had her place in this world… Reece will definitely find a way to irritate Paul, which is good. She’s very mysterious. You don’t really know why she’s there at first and then it turns out there is a lot more to her being there than originally meets the eye. So it’s not quite straightforward.
I’ve done my piece, but I mean, it’s left so that the character can come back. In true Neighbours style, there’s always the option there and anything can really happen with. She leaves things behind in Australia so it’s definitely a possibility. It’s not wrapped up.
Georgie Stone (Mackenzie Hargreaves): ‘Neighbours allowed a trans character to exist as a person’
I remember vividly saying goodbye to everyone, goodbye to the show and goodbye to the building, which was like our home through COVID. And that was really emotional. So to be back in that building with some familiar faces and with some new people as well was so cool. It’s like the ultimate bonus round – we thought we were done and now we’re back again. I think we all just feel really lucky and grateful because we know what the world is like without Neighbours and without it in our lives. So we’re just holding on to that feeling.
Neighbours was an incredible opportunity for me to tell a story that was very close to my heart, you know, aligned with my own experience, with Mackenzie being a trans woman. I’m a trans woman and Neighbours was an incredible opportunity to tell a story that isn’t told often on screen. And when it is told, it’s kind of riddled with stereotypes and tropes that aren’t helpful. Working with the writers on the show to make sure Mackenzie’s experience was honest and respectful just made it such a fun and rewarding experience. And then we were able to go beyond that and have Mackenzie exist outside her gender identity and just be, in Erinsborough and part of the drama like everyone else.
I think that’s radical in and of itself, to allow a trans character just to exist as a person, because so often we’re reduced to that one aspect of our experience. Neighbours will always mean a lot to me because of that and in whatever projects in the future I do, Neighbours will always be that one that changed everything for me, and offered to other shows an example, a way to tell the story in a way that’s really helpful and respectful. I think Neighbours has paved the way.
Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson): ‘It was one of the saddest things I ever heard’
Nostalgically I’m going to say the ’80s is my favourite era of Neighbours, but in absolute honesty it’s now. Right now. Seriously… let’s be honest about this, we’re still making a soap – we’re not making Shakespeare, we’re making a soap, but we’re making a damn good soap. I’m privileged to be working on one of the greatest soaps on the planet, which is really, really well filmed and well written. So now is my favourite era. But nostalgically, the ’80s, obviously, is when it all began and was a huge phenomenon, particularly in the UK.
The thing about the show ending was, it could have been so easy to just sort of drop the ball in the last couple of weeks and go, ‘Ah, yeah, what’s the point?’ Not put our heart into it. But we did the opposite. One of the most emotional things that I’ve ever heard in my life was Adam Noel, one of our first assistant directors, when he was doing that last scene. And he said: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, that’s a wrap.’ It was one of the saddest things I ever heard.
The way that the world watches television now has evolved greatly. My philosophy was if Neighbours, or any soap, does not get picked up by a mainstream streaming channel, it’ll be the slow demise of soaps around the world, because people are watching free-to-air television for sports news, current affairs and reality television – everything else, they go to streaming. So I was ecstatic that Amazon got behind it.
Rebekah Elmaloglou (Terese Willis): ‘I sold my house’
It was devastating when Neighbours ended… I think in the last six months it was just more about getting to the end and getting the job done and trying to be positive and look ahead, beyond the end of the show, to what was going to be next for all of us in our own personal lives.
As far as the cast and crew go, we were all just trying to get the job done as professionally as we could, but also knowing that, you know, we were all going to be unemployed. I sold my house. We wanted to move up to New South Wales anyway. But then, yeah, then the show got picked up again and it was like, ‘Okay, we’re moving back to Melbourne’. And we got the dogs and the cat and the kid and… got back in the car and drove back down. But it was fantastic. I didn’t think twice about coming back.”
Tim Kano (Leo Tanaka): ‘It starts off with a real bang’
It was definitely a big grieving process when Neighbours ended and a lot of cast and crew sold their houses and moved away to different parts of Australia or wherever they originally lived. Then of course when we got the call that it was coming back, we were just overwhelmed with emotion.
They’ve brought it back in such a great way, it’s really smart. There’s enough of a time gap for a bit of evolution for the characters, but also to bring in awesome new characters as well… I think Mischa’s character Reece brings a really interesting kind of twisty plotline. And I think it starts off with a real bang that has a kind of domino effect in terms of every character gets affected by what happens, even in the first episode. So it’s exciting to see what comes around and also how the fans are going to react to the shock as well.
MasterChef presenter John Torode will no longer work on the show after an allegation he used an “extremely offensive racist term” was upheld, the BBC has said.
His co-host Gregg Wallace was also sacked last week after claims of inappropriate behaviour.
On Monday, Torode said an allegation he used racist language was upheld in a report into the behaviour of Wallace. The report found more than half of 83 allegations against Wallace were substantiated.
Torode, 59, insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident involving him and he “did not believe that it happened,” adding “racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment”.
John Torode and Gregg Wallace in 2008. Pic: PA
In a statement on Tuesday, a BBC spokesperson said the allegation “involves an extremely offensive racist term being used in the workplace”.
The claim was “investigated and substantiated by the independent investigation led by the law firm Lewis Silkin”, they added.
“The BBC takes this upheld finding extremely seriously,” the spokesperson said.
“We will not tolerate racist language of any kind… we told Banijay UK, the makers of MasterChef, that action must be taken.
“John Torode’s contract on MasterChef will not be renewed.”
Australian-born Torode started presenting MasterChef alongside Wallace, 60, in 2005.
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Why Gregg Wallace says he ‘will not go quietly’
A statement from Banijay UK said it “takes this matter incredibly seriously” and Lewis Silkin “substantiated an accusation of highly offensive racist language against John Torode which occurred in 2018”.
“This matter has been formally discussed with John Torode by Banijay UK, and whilst we note that John says he does not recall the incident, Lewis Silkin have upheld the very serious complaint,” the TV production company added.
“Banijay UK and the BBC are agreed that we will not renew his contract on MasterChef.”
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Earlier, as the BBC released its annual report, its director-general Tim Davie addressed MasterChef’s future, saying it can survive as it is “much bigger than individuals”.
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BBC annual report findings
Speaking to BBC News after Torode was sacked, Mr Davie said a decision is yet to be taken over whether an unseen MasterChef series – filmed with both Wallace and Torode last year – will be aired.
“It’s a difficult one because… those amateur chefs gave a lot to take part – it means a lot, it can be an enormous break if you come through the show,” he added.
“I want to just reflect on that with the team and make a decision, and we’ll communicate that in due course.”
Mr Davie refused to say what the “seriously racist term” Torode was alleged to have used but said: “I certainly think we’ve drawn a line in the sand.”
In 2022, Torode was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to food and charity.
Entertainment
BBC gives update on MasterChef’s future after Gregg Wallace allegations – as annual report released
The head of the BBC says MasterChef can survive its current scandal as it is “much bigger than individuals” – but the corporation must “make sure we’re in the right place in terms of the culture of the show”.
Director-general Tim Davie said he “absolutely” thinks the popular cooking contest has a future, with the production’s current deal with the corporation set to run out in 2028, and praised it as “a great programme that’s loved by audiences”.
Speaking as the BBC unveiled its annual report, and following a series of recent controversies, Mr Davie said the corporation’s leadership team will not “tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values”, and confirmed “senior individuals and people involved in these cases are being held to account”.
On Monday, it was revealed an independent review into “inappropriate behaviour” by MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace had upheld more than half of the allegations against him.
In response, Wallace said he was “deeply sorry” and never set out to “harm or humiliate”.
A few hours later, MasterChef presenter John Torode said an allegation he used “racial language” was upheld in the report as part of a review.
Torode has said he has “no recollection of the incident” and “did not believe that it happened”.
John Torode and Gregg Wallace in 2019. Pic: Casey Gutteridge/Shutterstock
Mr Davie said the BBC’s leadership team would not “tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values,” while BBC chair Samir Shah acknowledged there were still pockets within the corporation where “powerful individuals” can still “make life for their colleagues unbearable”.
They said several BBC staff members had been dismissed in the last three months following an independent review into workplace culture.
The review found the corporation did not have a toxic culture but there was a minority of people who behaved unacceptably and whose behaviour was not addressed.
Wallace, who was sacked from MasterChef last week, is not included in that count as he was not directly contracted by the corporation, but was employed by independent production company Banijay.
John Torode and Gregg Wallace in 2008. Pic: PA
The BBC has yet to decide if the unseen MasterChef series – filmed with both Wallace and Torode last year – will be aired or not.
‘We will make mistakes’
News of the findings in the Gregg Wallace report came on the same day it was revealed the BBC was deemed to have breached its editorial guidelines over a Gaza documentary that was narrated by the child of a Hamas official.
Media watchdog Ofcom subsequently launched its own investigation into Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which was removed from BBC iPlayer in February.
While the 2024-25 annual report showed a small rise in trust overall for the corporation, Mr Davie said it had been a year which saw the reputation of the BBC damaged by “serious failings” in the making of the documentary.
He said it was important that the BBC “took full responsibility for those failings and apologised for them” and called the documentary “the most challenging editorial issue” he has dealt with.
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BBC under fire over Wallace and Gaza
Mr Davie said the BBC was “taking action to ensure proper accountability and we’re taking immediate steps to stop a failing like this being repeated”.
Despite a series of controversies in recent months – including livestreaming the controversial Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury, when the band led chants of “death to the IDF” – Mr Davie insisted he can “lead” the BBC in the right direction.
When asked if he would resign, he replied: “I simply think I’m in a place where I can work to improve dramatically the BBC and lead it in the right way.
“We will make mistakes, but I think as a leadership and myself, I’ve been very clear, and I think we have been decisive.”
BBC director-general Tim Davie. Pic: PA
After what he called a “tough period,” he said the job of director-general was not one to take on “if you want a quiet life or a stress-free existence”.
Mr Shah backed Mr Davie, saying he had shown “very strong leadership throughout all this period and he has my full support”.
The report showed that Mr Davie, who has been in the role since 2020, has had a 3.8% pay rise, with his salary going up from £527,000 last year to £547,000.
BBC’s top-earning stars revealed
The BBC annual report also revealed its on-screen top earners, which saw former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker top the chart for the eighth year running.
The former Match Of The Day presenter, who left the BBC in May, earned £1.35m in 2024/25, according to the corporation’s annual report.
Last year’s BBC annual review was overshadowed by controversy over flagship show Strictly Come Dancing, while the year before saw disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards named the corporation’s highest-paid news anchor, despite having been suspended for nine months.
Gary Lineker has topped the list of the BBC’s highest-earning stars for the eighth year running.
The former Match Of The Day presenter, who left the BBC in May, earned £1.35m in 2024/25, according to the corporation’s annual report.
Presenter Zoe Ball was the second-highest paid, earning £517,000 for her work on the Radio 2 breakfast show, which she left in December last year.
Her replacement as breakfast show host Scott Mills was just outside the top 10 as the eleventh highest earner – with a salary of between £355,000 and £359,000.
Ball has since returned to a new Saturday afternoon show on Radio 2, which she began hosting in May.
Lineker’s former Match Of The Day colleague Alan Shearer was the third-highest earner, with a salary of between £440,000 and £444,999.
Exact salaries for Lineker and Ball are listed in the BBC’s annual report, but the pay of the rest of the on-air talent is listed in bands.
BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James was fourth on the list, while presenters Fiona Bruce and Nick Robinson were the joint fifth-highest earners.
The list does not include people who are paid through independent production companies or the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Studios.
Read more:
John Torode says claim he used racist language upheld
BBC gives update on MasterChef’s future
BBC broke editorial guidelines with Gaza documentary
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BBC reputation damaged by ‘serious errors’
The BBC’s annual report comes as the organisation has faced criticism for a series of failings.
They have included the airing of a controversial Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury – where the band led chants of “death to the IDF”, and claims of “inappropriate behaviour” by MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.
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BBC under fire over Wallace and Gaza
Speaking after the publication of the report, BBC director-general Tim Davie said MasterChef can survive its current scandal as it is “much bigger than individuals”.
But he stressed that the corporation must “make sure we’re in the right place in terms of the culture of the show”.
They said several BBC staff members had been dismissed in the last three months, following an independent review into workplace culture.
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