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Features > When Good Neighbours... Get Naked by Steve

This week nine years ago saw various male Ramsay Street residents strip off for the Full Monty at Lou’s pub, so here’s a look back at some other incidents of neighbourly nudity.

Strippers
Karl, Toadie, Drew, Joel and Billy weren’t the only Ramsay Streeters to take their clothes off in the name of entertainment – some even managed to make a living from it. One of the original neighbours, Daphne Lawrence, made her first appearance stripping at Des Clarke’s bucks’ night, before moving in with him and eventually settling into more respectable careers in secretarial work, then running her own coffee shop. Teenager Josh Anderson’s secret sideline as a stripper came to crashing halt when he was hired for Helen Daniels’ hens’ night, which ended in his mask being pulled off, leaving several people with red faces. When Lucy Robinson made her Neighbours return in 1995, she was found by Mark Gottlieb working as a go-go dancer, while another blonde, Sindi Watts, also helped make ends meet when she found employment as a lapdancer. And Joel Samuels also attempted to make a new career for himself in the world of stripping, but his audition, as the oddly-named Sir Loin, went badly, though it did result in him scoring a date with bar owner Natalie.

Streakers
One of the most famous acts of nudity in Ramsay Street involved Henry Ramsay, trapped outside the back door of number 30, with his towel trapped, forced to shield himself with various foliage as he made his way home. Also streaking his way into the Erinsborough history books was Stingray Timmins, who made his presence known to cousin Toadie Rebecchi by streaking across the field at a local footy match and getting arrested. A few months later, he caused more controversy by flashing during Stuart Parker’s passing out ceremony. Streaking certainly ran in the Timmins-Rebecchi clan, as Toadie often dragged his comrades from the House of Trouser for a nudie run, most famously when Stu was leaving town and he, Ned, Toadie and Connor stripped off and ran across Lassiter’s. And Toadie’s streaking history dated back to his teenage years when an unfortunately-timed strip outside number 32 was interrupted by his mum, Angie, returning home, causing her to quip, “Well, I've seen it all now. Unfortunately so has everyone else!"

Caught out
A sneaky skinny dip by some of the Ramsay Street couples has generally ended in embarrassment, with the prime culprits being Karl and Susan Kennedy, who, over the years have been caught naked in pools, lakes and spas numerous times, most memorably when they were in number 22’s spa and Karl threw his boxer shorts over his shoulder, only for them to hit house owner Cheryl Stark in the face. Skinny dipping must have been in the Kennedy blood, as son eldest son Mal was getting naked in the same spa with girlfriend Danni when half the neighbourhood turned up for her surprise birthday party, while youngest son, Billy, stripped off for a dip in the ocean with girlfriend Anne during a beach camping holiday, only for a young family and their dog to walk by and catch them. Also, Pam Willis resorted to desperate measures in order to get her husband to take her dancing, by forcing him to take all of his dirty work clothes off in the back garden, then locking him out, just as the Mother Superior was coming over to discuss some building work at the convent, leading to a little blackmail on Pam’s part as Doug was left with only a flowerpot to cover himself up. Also left embarrassed by a surprise visitor was Phil Martin, who ran to answer the phone, dropping his towel en route, just as physiotherapist Ruth Wilkinson called in to visit Phil’s mother-in-law, Helen. And newcomer Ned Parker found himself struggling to explain when he came to visit brother Stu, ended up in the wrong house and took a shower, only to be found wearing only a towel by owner Janelle Timmins, who pretended to be horrified as Ned then dropped said towel, more than once.

Nude models
Many of the neighbours have found themselves posing in the nude over the years, stripping off for art classes, calendars and magazines. Nick Page was stunned to find his girlfriend, Sharon Davies, taking it all off for a still life art class, and years later, Anne Wilkinson convinced her boyfriend Billy Kennedy to pose for a painting, though she saved his blushes at the last minute by painting on some underwear. In recent years, Dylan Timmins posed for artist girlfriend Sky Mangel, while Ned Parker also found himself work as an art class model. Calendars were also a popular choice for the exhibitionists of Ramsay Street, with Joel Samuels finding himself mobbed by female fans after posing for a sports calendar, while several Erinsborough men found themselves half naked for Reverend Rosie Hoyland’s calendar, designed to raise money to fix the fire-damaged church. And who could forget the revelations that Lucy Robinson and Katya Kinski had both posed for saucy Amrosia magazine. Not together, you understand.

Pranks
Numerous Ramsay Street bucks’ nights have ended with men forced to make their way home with little to hide their modesty. In 1989, before his ill-fated wedding to Bronwyn, Henry ended up forced to steal someone’s washing to cover himself up, while Toadie Rebecchi was left tied to a lamppost in his underwear before his 2003 wedding to Dee Bliss, and Kim Timmins was left, naked and tied to a surfboard, in the middle of Ramsay Street on the morning of his re-wedding to Janelle. Back in 1987, a trip the beach ended badly for Scott Robinson and Mike Young when they were dared, by Kelly Morgan and Charlene Mitchell, to skinnydip, only for the girls to run off with their clothes. The boys of number 30, when they weren’t streaking were also involved in numerous naked pranks. When Stuart Parker first arrived in Erinsborough, he’d just split from fiancée Tracey Slattery and it wasn’t long before her brother, Damian, turned up, looking to get back at Stu (despite the fact that Tracey had been the one who cheated). After luring Stu out of the house wearing only a towel, Damian promptly handcuffed him to his car and whipped the towel away. A few years later, Stu, Toadie and Connor agreed to model for young fashion designer Rueben Alecantero, but when he overheard them laughing about his creations in the dressing room, he stole their clothes, leaving them to run home with only a sheet to cover them.

Not forgetting...
* Hoping to clinch a business deal, Lou Carpenter convinced girlfriend Madge Bishop to join him at nudist resort Verity Valley
* Karl Kennedy’s free-spirited girlfriend Jenny McKenna took him along to a nudist day at the pool, only for the pair to find themselves being followed by PI Connor O’Neill
* During a game of strip poker, Josh Anderson and Todd Landers were just removing their last items of clothing when Helen Daniels walked through the door, and quickly stepped outside again
* Mrs Mangel accidentally walked in on Harold Bishop in the shower and, a few years later, Harold did the same thing to Des Clarke
* Whilst trying to seduce Stu in a hotel room, Elle Robinson dropped her robe, leaving him unsure where to look or how to react
* Harold Bishop’s bird-watching led to him being accused of perving on both Melanie Pearson and Lyn Scully in separate incidents
* Karl Kennedy was caught naked in the kitchen by Lori and forced to use Audrey the dog to cover his modesty
* Karl Kennedy was caught naked in his apartment by Rachel Kinski, who was still recovering from finding a naked Toadie in the kitchen of number 30 the day before

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