Also being greeted with new beginnings was Trixie. Following a disastrous night at the pub when Lou tried to get her to sing a final ‘goodbye’ song, Trixie admitted she would have loved to have gone out on a high note – to end her career with something people would remember for years to come. Bemused by the unexpected arrival of a property valuer to No.22 caused the new bride to assume Lou was in dire financial straits and she set about creating herself a budget and working out what assets to sell. However, she needn’t have worried as Lou arrived home to announce that he was financing the Asian production of ‘Hello Dolly’ to enable Trixie to have the starring role and end her career on a high. Although Tom Oliver is remaining in Neighbours as Lou, it is known that Wendy Stapleton’s contract has come to an end, and so it remains to be seen how the newly married couple will be separated in a few weeks time.

The biggest stories of the week involved the Bishops at No.24. Harold, fed up of life in hospital and the endless visits by well meaning neighbours discharged himself by stealing another patient’s clothes. A frantic search of the neighbourhood ensued and Sky caught up with her grandfather boarding a bus. He was returned home and made to rest, despite David’s reservations about him being away from medical care. The following day saw Harold become fed up of being waited on and fussed over and thus he took off again. This time the events could have proven serious as Harold was found by a worried David and Liljana, wandering the streets and walking in a daze into traffic. He broke down when he realised how helpless and lost he was. Thankfully it was to be a couple of days before he ventured out again, this time to work at the Coffee Shop. However the day turned into a nightmare for Izzy and his customers as he insulted anyone who dared approach the counter and in a fit of anger he resigned from the Salvation Army when one of its directors insisted on speaking to him over the phone. Izzy had to firmly explain to David that there was more than just a physical consequence of Harold’s stroke - it appeared as it his entire character had changed. Seeing Ian Smith act out Harold in complete contrast to how the character has been portrayed since 1987 is both comical by its nature and disturbing to watch. The danger of course lies in the fact that a similar character change with Susan in 2002 caused a huge backlash by viewers who couldn’t identify with the logic behind the story at all. However, this particular outing has been blessed with several dramatic devices which have been better integrated into the show’s stories that anything with Susan’s amnesia was. An example being Harold’s revelation that he preferred Sky to Serena, disliking the latter’s materialistic outlook on life as he does. The gem came from Harold’s inability to see why such a statement would cause offence, despite its obvious truth.

As if Harold’s illness wasn’t enough to deal with, Liljana and David were rocked to discover the photos of a scantily clad Serena, taken by Creepy Chris. Serena, however, exclaimed that she would continue seeing Chris on both a professional and personal level, fuelling outrage from her mother at the suggestion that Serena was in love at fifteen years old! David and Sky tried to warn Chris off, but he insulted them both and ordered them to get out of his studio before he called the police, choosing to ignore the obvious legal upper hand that they would have over him! Serena was further embarrassed when Liljana bumped into an unsuspecting Chris at the Coffee Shop and landed him with a fantastically delivered slap across the face. A great scene, and this week has certainly seen the gear change in this story by involving the parents and some rather risqué imaging by Neighbours’ standards giving this story some real relevance in today’s society driven by fear of teenage modelling and paedophilia.

And finally, two comical stories added a little much-needed light heartedness to the proceedings, this week. Summer and Declan’s love hate relationship continued at their boxing lesson. Despite their bickering at the class, Declan was still prepared to try and land Summer a smacker on the lips afterwards, but she refused and promptly got into the car leaving Declan even more confused! Meanwhile, lust was definitely in the air when Connor and Carmella took advantage of Rocco’s supposed absence from the house when they took a sauna together. Little did they expect him to arrive at the house when he did catching them both red handed and red faced! Connor was dragged outside with little more than blindfold to cover his modesty and locked in the boot of a car, before being taken to the pub the following morning to receive his final warning from pseudo-gangster Rocco. Carmella, meanwhile, was ordered to Italy immediately, out of Connor’s reach forever…

Notes: Malcolm’s name was still wrongly credited as ‘Malcom’ on Monday’s episode.

Clare Renton-Power resumed her role as Nurse Evanovich again this week.

Rocco’s cronies were credited as “Henchman Pete” and “Henchman Ric” – a nod to Neighbours’ producer Peter Dodds, and his executive, Ric Pellizzeri.

The scene in which Connor was locked in the boot of the car was edited out of the BBC broadcasts as it was deemed unsuitable for any children watching!