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Weekly Reviews > Episodes 2757-2761 by Billy

Originally broadcast in 1996. UK Gold: Monday 2nd June - Friday 6th June 2003
Writers: Marieke Hardy, Kit Oldfield, David Allen, Scott Taylor, Victoria Osborne Directors: Gary Conway, Tony Osicka

A week that saw a resident being caught up in illegal activity at work, and another feeling as if her friends had betrayed her. Emotions were high in Ramsay Street...

Last week saw Mal and Catherine's relationship beginning to develop. This week it was taken to the next level. Catherine and Mal didn't want to hurt Jo's feelings by telling her they were interested in each other, so decided to see each other in secret. As so often is the case in these tricky situations, Jo went out to buy some milk and saw Catherine and Mal embracing outside the coffee shop. Feeling shocked and betrayed, she shut out the pair and gave them a cold reception whenever they were within arm's reach.

I think, for once, Emma Harrison (Jo) actually gave a rather good performance. As an actress she seems to struggle with most big emotional scenes thrown at her, but I think she managed to convey the feeling of betrayal across really well in most of her scenes. I think the storyline was a little out of character for Catherine, who is normally very upfront with people about things -- going around with a friend's ex-boyfriend in secret would not normally be her style. Having said that, the storyline was carried out well and some satisfying scenes were delivered by all the actors involved.

The other big storyline this week was Lance's job at the nursery, and the corrupt goings-on with his supervisor, Ned (who later returned to Neighbours to play Tess Bell's housemate Daniel Fitzgerald). Ned had been shifting plants at the nursery for cash, and when Lance found out about it, he blackmailed him into being a part of it. Lance was snappy, reclusive and irritable for the rest of the week, and when his sister Anne finally found out what was causing his mood swings, she told him to do something about it before it escalated out of control.

I think that this storyline was the first one to indicate the capability of Andrew Bibby (Lance) as an actor. I would go as far as to say that it was this performance which probably gave the storyliners the confidence to give him the gambling storyline later on. He played the part out really well and convincingly, and Brett Tucker as Ned was the perfect villain - smarmy and cocky, the type of character that you know from the first meeting that they will eventually get their comeuppance.

Lou and Madge's relationship was moved up a level this week. After moving in with Harold in Number 24, Harold and Madge soon found out that it wasn't at all what they had expected. They found out they were getting on each other's nerves. Harold with his incessant tuba playing, and Madge with her point blank refusal to be a "housewife". This resulted in Madge leaving Number 24 and confessing her feelings to Lou. Rather unexpectantly, Lou decided to use this moment to try and win Madge back.