For the Bishop family, it was time to pull together when Lil’s recent tiredness was explained in dramatic fashion. Things began when Luka and Serena decided to sleep together and she went to see Karl to go on the pill. When Karl mentioned in passing that he’d spoken to Serena, Liljana demanded to know what was wrong with her daughter and, at the end of the ensuing argument, she collapsed. After being rushed to hospital, tests revealed that Lil’s liver had given up, and her condition was potentially fatal. With a rare blood type, her chances of a transplant were slim, but the use of a live donor would work as the organ is able to regenerate. However, this looked like it could only be a direct blood relative, and Lil was adamant that she would not put the life of a loved one at risk. David secretly got tested, but was not a match, and he was forced to reveal the truth to the rest of the family. Both Serena and Svetlanka agreed without hesitation, and Serena then ran off to share her bad news with boyfriend Luka. With plenty of hints in the script, not to mention Svetlanka’s terrible discomfort at her granddaughter’s new relationship, even slapping Serena when she tried to answer back, it looks like this storyline is going to have very big repercussions in the new year…

Another dangerous relationship began this week across the street at number 30. After spending months bickering with each other, things were beginning to get out of hand between Stuart and Sindi. With Sindi and Toadie’s relationship apparently over, she was desperate to talk to him, but found him asleep on the sofa under a pile of footie scarves. Luckily, Stuart was on hand down at the barbeque for her to take her anger out on, but things took an unexpected twist when the couple ended up sharing a kiss. When Sindi realised that Toadie wanted them to get back together, she tried to avoid Stuart and spend more time with Mr. Rebecchi. But Stuart wanted to talk about things, and went to number 28, where they almost shared another kiss and a guilty Sindi poured her heart out to Libby. However, with Toadie desperately trying to win back Sindi, as well as trying to get her to spend more time with Stuart, it seemed that this was one awkward situation that wasn’t about to go away.

Lana found herself a victim of prejudice at school when rumours began to spread about her sexuality. It seemed that they had stemmed from Serena, who had heard from Stingray, and had decided that her former friend was wrong for having deceived her, and decided to punish this. Sky and Lana managed to repair their friendship, despite Lana’s insistence that her friends help her continue to lie about her sexuality around the school. Although Sky was extremely uncomfortable with this, she felt that she was to blame for the rumours spreading in the first place and went along with it. However, when Lana decided to go along to one of Brendan’s parties, where it was clear that they would be sleeping together, Sky tried to talk her friend out of it, with little success. But after a little chat with Lou, who told Sky to never apologise for being true to herself, Sky decided she had to stop her friend. Sky turned up at the party, but Lana refused to listen to her, and went off to the bedroom with Brendan. Only moments later, Lana ran outside to tell Sky that she had finally bitten the bullet and been true to herself, telling Brendan that she couldn’t sleep with him as she preferred girls. One of the best things about this storyline is the fact that it’s being handled as realistically as all of the other stories Neighbours does. The writers aren’t trying to preach to the viewers, but simply showing what someone like Lana could have to go through. It really highlights how much more mature the writing has become over the last couple of years.

Meanwhile, Lyn was facing up to the reality of leaving Erinsborough for good. With Joe expecting her up in Bendigo in only a few weeks, it seemed that she was really dragging her heels, having not even put the house on the market or given Gino notice at the salon. It was becoming clear to Jack, who himself wanted to stay in Erinsborough, that his mother didn’t want to move, and she finally admitted as much. After a few drinks during a gathering at number 28, Lyn admitted to Susan and the other girls that she didn’t want to move, and had no idea what she was going to do. Jack encouraged her to phone Joe and talk things through, but, as she chickened out of telling him, it looked like the Scully family were going to continue to be divided for some time…

Finally this week, Connor was desperately trying to put Lou off of his new internet girlfriend, ‘Carol’, who was actually Connor. Confused yet? Unfortunately, his attempts had the opposite effect when he claimed that he was married and couldn’t continue to see him. Lou took this as a sign that he and ‘Carol’ were meant to be together and forged ahead in his efforts to meet her. In the Kennedy house, Libby and Susan were shocked to find out that their favourite Brazilian soap opera on Channel 44 had been moved to a lunchtime slot. Both were forced to pretend that they didn’t really mind missing it, before finding excuses to rush off home.