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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 2713-2717 by Billy

Originally broadcast in 1996. UK Gold: Monday 31st March - Friday 4th April 2003
Writers: Michael O'Rouke, Ian Coughlan, Helen MacWhirter, Jeff Truman, C M Covington. Directors: Nicholas Bufalo, Tony Osicka

Tragedy hit the Stark family last week when Cheryl was killed when hit by a car... or so it initially seemed - Darren soon found out that Cheryl actually died from the injection that Karl administered her when he arrived on the scene. Elsewhere, Toadie's latest scheme is about to end in disaster... as usual.

The Starks and the Kennedys were the main players in this week's batch of episodes - the strongest performances came from Todd MacDonald and Alan Fletcher, who both delivered some fantastic scenes between Darren and Karl. The most noteable from MacDonald was when he threw Karl out of the pub after he tried to ask Marlene to let him pay for the funeral expenses, and naturally his performance at the funeral was particularly moving - he managed to show anger and hurt together, and really did excel himself beyond any expectations.

I was glad that Cheryl, one of the greatest characters in the history of the show, received such a fantastic send off. The actual death, screened the week before, seemed extremely hasty and rushed, so I'm glad that they have compensated for such a shoddy death, by making the following week filled with outstanding performances. On the same note, Angie's eulogy at the funeral was the most moving moment of the week - the line "and not a day will go by when I don't thank God for having known her" was particularly upsetting, and Lesley Baker gave a fantastic memorable performance, with plenty of welcome past references - for instance, the golfing excursions with Judy and when Angie spied on Cheryl's clothes on the washing line.

Brett's return was a welcome event, and was great that a past character would return for Cheryl's funeral. Thankfully his bond with Susan, Helen and Libby was not overlooked, and he shared some touching scenes with them. Unfortunately, Cheryl's daughter Janine didn't return. This was rather frustrating, as Janine was only in Neighbours for a week or so, and could have easily been re-cast without anyone really noticing. The fact she wasn't granted leave from the Navy for her own mother's funeral seems slightly unbelieveable.

On a similar note, Lou returned back to Erinsborough after being axed a month earlier. Now re-instated into the cast again, he arrived completely oblivious to Cheryl's passing, which, whilst unbelieveable, was handled well. Tom Oliver gave a good performance as usual, and it's good to have him back.

A strange performance was given from Marnie Reece Wilmore, when Danni realised that Debbie had sabotaged her clothes. Debbie wanted to get her revenge on Danni after she slapped her at the masquerade ball, and while pretending to be in Perth, Debbie sabotaged the clothes. We never actually saw Debbie do it, so there was an air of "did she or didn't she?" floating around, especially with new arrival Sarah on the scene, who has also been acting suspiciously whenever her past is mentioned.

The loss of Cheryl saw the arrival of Ruth Wilkinson. Ailsa Piper arrived to help Helen through her stroke with physiotherapy. She only appeared in one episode, but we already were given a taste of Ruth's nature in the episode - bossy and stubborn, yet at the same time kind-hearted. Ruth is sort of like a re-worked Julie Martin, so it's only obvious that she eventually gets it together with Phil, and it shall be interesting to document the growth of their relationship from its earliest days.

Toadie, Billy and Hannah were involved in the usual teen storyline involving one of Toadie's infamous scams - this time they set up their own radio station, Shock Waves. Nothing new here, except some of the scenes were genuinely funny, as opposed to being ultra cringe-worthy.

This was a fantastic week for Neighbours - the performances from Todd MacDonald (Darren), Lesley Baker (Angie) and Alan Fletcher (Karl) were all sensational and really did Cheryl's character justice. Cheryl will be sorely missed, but already the new cast members are starting to arrive in dribs and drabs, with Ruth being the first of many.

Notes: The credits were also updated mid-week, removing Cheryl, Angie and Stonie. No new characters were added at this time, but many had had new shots filmed.