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Features > Scully Scandals by Edd, Sian and Steve

As it’s 10 years since they arrived in Erinsborough, and with Monday on UK screens marking the beginning of another Scully-related drama, what better time to look back at some of the best Scully scandals on Ramsay Street…

The Scullys' Arrival
Though I recall and loved the Martins, the moment of their departure and the Scullys' subsequent arrival is one of my earliest clear memories of Neighbours. My sister and I (aged 6 and 8) were horrified by this band of loud, outspoken, and (in one case, at least) garishly-dressed Scullys. They rocked up in their removal van and car, just as Ramsay Street was gathered at the bottom of the driveway of no. 26, waving goodbye to Philip, Ruth and Hannah. They spent the rest of the day unpacking, meeting the neighbours, and rubbing people up the wrong way. Steph fell for Drew whilst Flick began making moves on Billy, whilst Lyn (dressed in a baggy blue jumper with leopard print bands and buttons) called Toadie “Bullfrog” and Susan “Sue” – and called her old fashioned and told her she had split ends – as well as insulting the decor of no. 26 in front of Ruth’s son, Lance. It didn’t seem to the best of starts for the Scullys, but there were far worse scandals to come as they settled in to life in Erinsborough...

Steph & Woody
First mentioned in one of the Scully family’s first episodes, it was a more than a year before Steph’s ex, Larry ‘Woody’ Woodhouse, put in an appearance. After Steph visited him in prison, they resumed their relationship as he was released, but then found themselves caught up in more dramas, with Woody set to give evidence against criminal Kev Kelly, the young lovers had to go into witness protection. When one of Kev’s henchmen caught up with them at a service station, Steph could only watch as the car sped off and crashed over the hill. She assumed Woody was dead, but mysterious deposits in her bank account led the viewers to believe otherwise. By the end of the year, Kev Kelly was dead and Woody was back, asking Steph to marry him. But she had moved on. She turned him down and he walked out of her life for good.

Steph & Mitch
With Woody missing, Steph soon found herself a new love interest in the form of Mitch Foster, who, it turned out, had shared a cell with Woody in prison. Despite the strange beginnings, they grew close, until Woody came ‘back from the dead’ and Steph realised that she didn’t need either of them in her life. Six months later, Mitch was back, clearly in trouble again. Steph helped him out, but when he then robbed MOCO, the spare parts company she worked for, it was left looking like she’d been in on it. Mitch disappeared and Steph was arrested, later desperately trying to track him down to clear her name. She eventually found him hiding out in the bush, badly injured, and helped him to hospital, where Steph’s friend Stuart Parker conned Mitch into confessing, having recorded the whole thing.

Flick & Marc
When Steph met Lassiter’s Hotel’s new assistant manager Marc Lambert, they hit it off straight away and, although the rich kid was far removed from Steph’s usual type, it wasn’t long before their wedding was being planned. Unfortunately, Marc was also developing feelings for someone else, new hotel employee Flick. As they’d never met, Marc was unaware that he was falling for Steph’s younger sister, while Flick had no idea she was developing feelings for her sister’s fiancé. When they did find out, they tried to end things, but had fallen in love, and when Marc stumbled over his vows on his wedding day, then Steph caught him glancing over at bridesmaid Flick, she immediately realised what had been going on. Steph went nuts, Flick fled from town and Marc even tried to win her back, but in the end, he was left with nobody, while the Scully sisters took many months to repair their relationship.

Valda Is Lyn's Mum
Lyn’s unforgettable Aunt Valda had often flitted in and out of her life, first appearing in Ramsay Street for Steph and Marc’s doomed wedding in 2002. But the following year, when Lyn’s mum Connie died suddenly, it wasn’t long before the viewers found out that it was actually Connie’s sister, Valda, who’d given birth to little Lynette. Valda struggled over whether to come clean, but in the end Lyn found out after watching some old home movies from just before she was born, and realising that Valda, and not Connie, was pregnant in them. Though Lyn couldn’t quite believe she’d been lied to for so long, she eventually bonded with Valda and met her real father Charlie Cassidy.

Lyn's Pregnancy
As if revelations about her parentage weren’t drama enough, Lyn also spent the first half of 2003 pregnant. The unexpected baby had been a shock for Joe, but the parents soon came to look forward to the arrival of their fifth child. During the pregnancy, Lyn was caught up in dramas with Valda, not to mention ending up in hospital when she caught a burglar at the Kennedy house. When hypnosis caused her to remember that it was Darcy who’d knocked her over, it created a huge rift in her friendship with Darcy’s Aunt Susan. When baby Oscar eventually arrived in the world, it kicked off a battle with post-natal depression for Lyn, who dealt with it by shoplifting.

Jack's Affairs
Jack Scully had a turbulent and rather scandalous love life. When he arrived in the street, he was dating long-term girlfriend, Lori Lee, but he soon began to develop feelings for his co-star in the local play, Nina Tucker, who was herself seeing Jack’s friend Taj. They shared a number of illicit kisses and eventually decided that they wanted to be together and had to break up with their respective partners. Nina ended her relationship with Taj, without explaining why, and Jack planned to wait a few days before breaking up with Lori. But tragedy struck and Lori had an accident that left her paralysed. Jack couldn’t leave her but as time went by the strain began to show and eventually it all came out. Lori moved out and left town (now recovered and pregnant with Connor O’Neill’s baby) but it still wasn’t plain sailing for Jack and Nina. They started going out, but Jack struggled with Nina’s hesitancy about sleeping with him. Though he said he’d wait till she was ready, it all got a bit much and he slept with a woman called Edwina who had been chasing after him. But alas, later that same day, Nina revealed that she was ready to sleep with Jack and, racked with guilt, he put her off. Soon after, Nina went on a tour of Asia with singer Robbie D, whilst Edwina began dating Taj. When Nina returned, she told Jack she’d shared a kiss with Robbie D, to his annoyance, but they made up and finally slept together. But the next day, Taj accidentally revealed that Jack and Edwina had slept together, to Nina’s horror. She broke up with Jack and he moved on... to an affair with older woman Izzy Hoyland.

Upset that Nina was once more getting close to Connor, Jack fell into the arms of the man-eating Izzy, who lured the schoolboy to a hotel room. Their no-strings-attached sex continued for a little while and Jack wanted to get closer. Just as he gave up hope, Izzy took him on a weekend away, but afterwards she drifted away from him again. Jack had a brief reunion with Lori that didn’t last, and also shared a brief kiss with a grieving Izzy, months after the end of their affair, before finally moving to America (where Nina had become a star) to be with the woman that he truly loved.

Jack's Drug Problem
Jack provided even more scandal for the Scully family when (after that affair with Izzy and brief reunion with Lori) he developed an addiction to drugs and clubbing. With Joe having left for Bendigo, leaving Jack to run the family business, it all began to get a bit too much. He met the mysterious Mac who managed to lead him astray, persuading him to go out with her and spend the money for paying the building site’s electrician on drugs and clubs, and then suggesting they get the money back by staging a robbery at Jack’s building site. They framed Darren Stark for the crime, but when he was cleared, Jack panicked and went out clubbing again. But next morning, with drugs still in his system, he crashed into a power pylon on the way to work whilst talking to Mac on the phone. Everything came out into the open (and Stuart turned Mac in) and Jack began to get his life back on track, though his licence was suspended for a year and he had to pay for a new pylon.

Tom & Susan
After an embarrassing attempt to crack on to a man in the supermarket, newly-single Susan Smith was embarrassed to later learn that he was Tom Scully, Lyn's brother-in-law, who happened to be a priest. Though there'd clearly once been feelings between Lyn and Tom, it was Susan who left the man of the cloth feeling hot under the collar. Despite Lyn's best efforts to keep them apart, a shared love of Amnesty International led to Susan and Tom spending a lot of time together, eventually sharing a kiss. After a great deal of soul searching, Tom decided to leave the church and be with Susan, but his attempts to find a new life and career for himself led him to realise how little he truly had in common with Susan, as they had led such different lives, so he left town. Three years after leaving, Tom was back, this time as the new principal of Erinsborough High. As well as being Susan's new boss, he was also determined to win her back, but she was now happily married to ex-husband Karl once more, and after only six weeks, Tom quit and left for Europe.

Steph Charged Over Charlie's Death
Never in the best of health, Lyn’s father Charlie Cassidy arrived in Erinsborough in late 2004, terminally ill and hoping to spend one final Christmas with the daughter he’d only met the previous year. Unfortunately, things took a tragic turn as Steph, who’d beaten cancer earlier that year, was bonding with her grandfather when he passed away. As she moved his pillows to make him more comfortable, Lyn and her half-brother Michael walked in on a scene that looked like Steph had just smothered Charlie. In court, Steph was found guilty of the crime and given a suspended sentence, but later managed to launch an appeal and get the charges overturned.

Lyn's Fling With Andy
Following her split from Joe, Lyn found herself single for the first time in many years and decided to try out a new career, as a life coach. It was through this that she met Andy Tanner. Though he was many years younger than her, and going through marital difficulties, Lyn started dating Andy, who led her to believe that his marriage was over and he would be leaving his wife. He failed to mention that he had two children with Sandy, who found out about the new relationship, went to the salon where Lyn worked and gave her a slap. She later spray-painted the words ‘Lyn Scully Marriage Wrecker’ on the street, but it was only when Lyn found out about the children, with Andy previously lying to her that there were no kids involved, that she ended things.

Lyn & Paul's Failed Marriage
Heads turned when Lyn Scully started working for the Robinson empire, but few would quite believe that Lyn and Paul’s close relationship would develop into something more! Doddery housewife Lyn was perhaps the polar opposite of the type of woman Paul would fall for, but in the boardroom Lyn established an assertive side to her character and managed to back up her views with good business knowledge. As Paul’s respect for Lyn started to grow, it wasn’t just the boardroom where things were getting heated and on several occasions we were treated to some rather raunchy and uncomfortable scenes of Lyn and Paul getting it on. Within a relatively short space of time, Lyn and Paul had got engaged, stunning everyone on Ramsay Street. But it didn’t take long for Paul to return to his bad ways. Young, beautiful, hotshot lawyer Rosetta Cammeniti fell for the amorous advances of bad boy Paul and the couple ended up spending the night together in a wine cellar, the night before Paul’s big day with Lyn. Both of them were understandably wracked with guilt and on the big day, Paul just couldn’t get Rosie out of his head. With some questioning whether a distant-looking Paul would go through with the ceremony, eventually the vows took place and Lyn became a Robinson and Paul’s 4th wife. Fast forward about 10 minutes though and it was all over. Paul’s conscience got the better of him as he revealed to Lyn that he’d cheated on her and that given the opportunity, he’d do it again and again. Lyn was left heartbroken as Paul casually slipped out of the door, leaving his new wife in bits. After being consoled by her friends, Lyn decided to take the plane tickets and go on the honeymoon herself with Oscar. She’d keep well away from Ramsay Street for a while as she struggled to come to terms with the quick end to her marriage - one of the shortest marital unions the street has ever seen.

Steph & Jay
Despite telling him she wasn’t looking to be dating, fireman Jay Duncan remained persistent and eventually managed to charm Steph. It didn’t take long for the couple's relationship to hot up, despite Steph concerning herself about how good friend and ex-lover Toadie might feel about it. Seemingly good Samaritan Jay then planned a clear-up operation in the National Park and got some of the Ramsay Street residents to help him. However, the day was to end in tragedy as a raging bushfire tore through the bush that would eventually kill Marco Silvani and leave Kirsten Gannon with terrible injuries. Toadie suspected Jay of lighting the fire and when Steph and Jay went away together for a romantic weekend in a log cabin, Toadie worried that Steph’s life may be in danger. With evidence pilling up against Jay, he made sure a worried Steph couldn't leave the cabin, but eventually, with the help of Toadie, she managed to escape, only for days later to be stabbed by madman Jay with a pair of scissors. She recovered and Jay was taken away, but it took Steph a lot longer to recover from the mental scars of her ordeal.

Lyn Blackmails Paul
In 2008, Paul Robinson, now in a new relationship with Rebecca Napier, found himself being blackmailed over an affair he was having with hotel employee Kirsten Gannon. It took Paul a while to figure out who was holding him to ransom over his dalliances, but when Kirsten noticed some strange looks from receptionist Yasmine, she admitted that she'd seen some hotel CCTV footage of Paul and Kirsten up to no good and had been responsible. But after paying Yasmine off, the blackmail continued, and they realised that there was someone else involved. When Lyn made a sudden return to town, it quickly became clear that this was her revenge on Paul for their brief marriage, which she claimed had ruined her life. Paul agreed not to involve the police, and Lyn broke down and admitted to Steph that she was desperately unhappy, with a failing business and no friends. The ladies of Ramsay Street, however, soon made her see that life wasn't so bad, and she headed back to Shelley Bay to give things another go.

Steph & Greg
After yet another disaster of a relationship with murderous fireman Jay, Steph took a step back from dating. However, her friends were concerned for her, and managed to persuade her to do some online dating. It was there that Steph met Greg Michaels. The two felt they had an instant connection and continued to meet for real, but Steph was horrified to discover one day that he was still a married man, and to doctor Veronica Olenski of all people! Not wanting to be the bad guy, Steph didn’t hold back in confronting Greg about Veronica. She made her mind up quickly and decided she couldn’t continue a relationship with him. In the process she wanted to put right a few things, so came clean to Veronica about their affair, which earnt her a spectacular slap. However, despite ending things with Greg, the pair both realised they had a strong connection. Libby waded in to warn Greg off, but the move backfired causing a huge falling out between the two best friends. After all that drama, Greg then announced he’d been offered a job up in Darwin and would be away for a few months. It wasn’t until his return that Steph realised he wasn’t right for her, ending their brief, yet controversial fling.

Steph Accused Of Bridget's Death
The most recent Scully scandal followed the death of Ramsay Street teen, wife and mother, Bridget. It was discovered that the crash that caused her death happened as a result of faulty steering, and Steph had just serviced the car. Steph was horrified when she learnt of her mistake, and though most of Ramsay Street stuck behind her, Declan smashed her car windows with a golf club, Harry graffitied her drive way, and Elle sold her out to the West Waratah Star newspaper. Business at the garage almost entirely disappeared and Steph just couldn’t come to turns with being responsible for the death of her young neighbour. Which was good, in the end, as it turned out it wasn’t her fault after all. Her service had been flawless, but the car had been tampered with afterwards by a loan shark who believed the car belonged to Lucas. Relieved, Steph and Declan reconciled, and she tried her best to support Lucas.

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