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Character Profiles > Sky Mangel Miranda Fryer, Stephanie McIntosh

Sky Mangel (née Bishop) 1989-1991, 2003-2007, 2015
Lived: 22, 24, 32 Ramsay Street
Born: 1987
Parents: Kerry Bishop and Eric Jensen; Joe Mangel (adoptive)
Siblings: Toby (adoptive)
Children: Kerry, Scotty and 'Sky's Third Child'
Family Tree: Bishop/Mangel
Occupation: Student, Artist, Cartoonist, Coffee Shop Assistant, Waitress at Grease Monkeys, General Store Assistant, University Disc Jockey, Telemarketer, Graphic Designer

Blonde haired and blue-eyed Sky Bishop was born to the rather unconventional Kerry Bishop and Eric Jensen in 1987. Eric left Kerry to raise Sky alone, however, after deciding he wasn't ready for the commitment of a family, and wanted to continue living his life as a hippy. Kerry, on the other hand, was looking more towards settling down now that she was a mother - at least for Sky's formative years.

When Sky was two years of age, Kerry decided to bring her to meet her grandfather, Harold, who was living in Erinsborough. Kerry had been estranged from her more conservative and stuffy father since her teenage years, and had a lot of fences to mend with Harold by the time she arrived in Erinsborough. Harold was shocked when Kerry appeared in his Coffee Shop one day, with Sky - the granddaughter he never knew existed - in tow. Despite an initial frosty reconciliation with Kerry, and outrage that she had had a child out of wedlock, Harold was thrilled to have such a beautiful granddaughter, and he invited Kerry and Sky to move in with him and his new wife, Madge, at No. 24 Ramsay Street. Harold doted on Sky, and Madge, too, was pleased to have a stab at playing grandma.

Sky was also blessed with a father and brother a few months after arriving in Erinsborough when Kerry married fellow single parent Joe Mangel from across the street, and moved in with him and his son, Toby, at No. 32. Joe and Kerry completed their family officially by adopting both Toby and Sky.

Despite her young age, Sky experienced her fair share of drama as she grew up in Ramsay Street. Whilst on a picnic with Harold and Kerry one day, Sky was bitten by a red backed spider, and was rushed to hospital, where she luckily survived. She courted more danger when she locked herself into the bathroom while Harold and Madge were babysitting her one night, and they feared she would get at the medicine cabinet. And on another occasion, Madge was knocked unconscious whilst babysitting Sky at No. 32, just as the chip pan went on fire. Sky and Madge were only saved by the family's pet dog, Bouncer, who managed to alert the outside world of what was happening by answering the telephone and barking hysterically into it.

By far the biggest tragedy of Sky's life was the shocking death of Kerry in 1990. While out protesting against off season duck hunting with Joe and old friend Amber Martin, Kerry was accidentally shot, killing her and her unborn child. While Joe and the rest of the family were devastated by Kerry's sudden death, Sky was too young to realise exactly what had happened. But her world received a further massive shake-up when her father, Eric, showed up in Erinsborough wanting custody of Sky in the wake of Kerry's death. Joe was determined to fight Eric, but the odds were stacked against him given that Eric was Sky's natural father, and also had a wife, and thus, a willing mother to raise Sky. The custody battle was fought out in court, with a devastated Joe losing Sky to Eric. But in a last ditch attempt at holding onto the little girl who was, to all intents and purposes, his daughter, Joe went on the run with Sky and Toby. With the police searching for him, Joe was forced to hide out at his old friend Mary Crombie's farm in the countryside. Although Mary was willing to support and protect Joe and the kids, she did make Joe realise that he could never live a normal life by constantly looking over his shoulder, and he decided to return to Erinsborough and let go of Sky.

However, Sky was never happy with the Jensens, and when Joe visited her, he immediately sensed her unhappiness. Eric was always at work, and his wife had become more interested in the baby she was expecting. Eric eventually decided to do the right thing and let Sky return to Joe and Toby, since they were her proper family, and she quickly settled back into the happy home she had on Ramsay Street.

When Melanie Pearson moved in to lodge with Joe and the kids at No. 32, Sky and Toby were blessed with a new mother figure. Melanie was an eccentric, fun and happy-go-lucky person, who never tired of telling stories and playing games with the kids, especially Sky. And when Joe and Melanie fell in love and married, Sky was delighted to be flower girl and welcome her new mum. Just after Joe and Melanie returned from their honeymoon, Joe was forced to put No. 32 on the market after his mum, Mrs. Mangel, took ill in England, and needed the money to pay for her medical expenses. Joe and Melanie decided to travel to England, with Sky, but opted to leave Toby behind to continue with his schooling. After a few months in England, and once Mrs. Mangel was on the mend, Joe, Melanie and Sky returned to Australia, and set up home in the countryside near Mary Crombie. And Sky's family unit was complete again when she was joined by her brother a few months later, after Toby had managed to transfer schools.

Unfortunately, Joe and Melanie ended up divorcing after only a couple of years, and Sky grew up without a mother figure. However, by the time she was a teenager, Sky had developed many of the same traits as her mum, and despite the fact that she never really knew Kerry or heard much about her from Joe who found it too painful to talk about her, Sky adopted the same dress sense, and overall attitude to life as Kerry. She also carried a picture of her mum in her bag wherever she went, and dyed her blonde locks dark, with a hint of blue, making her look even more like Kerry.

When Joe found a new girlfriend Celia, and they became engaged after she discovered she was pregnant, Sky found it difficult to cope with the additions to her family. And so, when Joe and Toby were away from the farm for a few days cattle mustering, Sky decided to make her way back to Erinsborough to visit Harold. Sky’s arrival on Ramsay Street came as a huge surprise to her grandfather, especially since he barely recognised her now that she was a 15-year-old teenager. In fact, when Sky let herself in the back door as Harold and his good friend Lou Carpenter were preparing dinner, Harold initially thought she was a burglar and went to call the police, until Sky revealed her true identity to her delighted granddad. Harold was instantly doting on his granddaughter and marvelling at how alike she was to her mother, but he became slightly concerned when he smelt what he thought was dope coming from her bedroom. Sky laughed off Harold’s suggestion that she was smoking pot and insisted she had just been burning incense sticks. But her granddad's suspicions had actually hurt Sky and his attempts of making it up to her by playing the same kids tricks he played with her when she was a toddler failed to won Sky over. Realising that there was clearly something troubling Sky, Harold tried to get her to open up to him, and asked her if it was Joe’s remarriage that was bothering her. But Sky refused to confide in him, and Harold decided to engineer a meeting between Sky and a boy of her age, Boyd Hoyland, who was living in Sky’s old house across the street with his father Max and little sister Summer. Harold hoped that speaking to someone her own age might help Sky, but she was initially unimpressed with Boyd and Harold’s great plan seemed to have been in vain.

However, when Sky next met Boyd while hanging out at Harold’s Coffee Shop, they bonded and started hanging out together. In the meantime, Lou encouraged Harold to go through Sky’s bags to make sure she wasn’t taking drugs, but he was caught in the act by Sky who stormed off in disgust. Boyd comforted Sky as she poured her heart out to him about her various problems, and they realised they had a lot in common when they discovered that they had both lost their mothers. Harold, meanwhile, pleaded with Sky to stay and admitted he was simply finding it difficult relating to a teenage girl again. Sky accepted Harold’s apology for looking in her bag, but after Harold began to express concerns about the amount of time she was spending with Boyd, Sky decided there was no way she could continue putting up with the pressure from Harold and left him a note early one morning to say she had left. While Harold was searching all over town for her, Sky was saying goodbye to Boyd at No.32 and she showed signs of not wanting to leave when she kissed Boyd goodbye. Luckily, Harold found Sky at the bus stop later that day, and after a heart to heart in which Sky admitted she didn’t know much about her mother, Harold persuaded her to stay for the rest of her holidays so that they could get to know each other better, as well as giving Harold the chance to tell Sky more about Kerry.

As Sky settled more comfortably into the area, she was delighted when Harold arranged for her to stay on permanently with him, and she enrolled at Erinsborough High. However, Sky found it tough to adapt to the new school for a variety of reasons. Sky’s unorthodox dress sense and hairstyle meant she wasn’t the typical Erinsborough High pupil and as a result, she found herself being ostracised and bullied by several girls in her year, most notably Erin Perry. The friendship Sky had developed with Boyd appeared to be a source of embarrassment for him at school and he acted different around her. This infuriated Sky, especially since she knew how Boyd felt about her. He had given her a letter when he thought she was leaving some weeks before, and although Sky handed it back to him unopened when it was confirmed she was staying in Ramsay Street, she had actually steamed the envelope open and had been chuffed to find Boyd fancied her. His sudden coolness with her now that they were at the same school upset Sky, and she was shattered when she overheard Boyd deny being friends with her when Susan Kennedy asked him how she was settling in. Sky confronted Boyd about what he had said in the yard later, and pulled him into a disused part of the school to have it out. Boyd realised he had been horrible to her, and after Sky told him she really liked him, and was actually ready to be his girlfriend, Boyd apologised and proved he wasn’t afraid to be seen with her in public by kissing Sky in the middle of the yard in front of a disgusted Erin and all the other kids.

Sky was delighted when her Uncle David, Kerry’s brother, arrived in Erinsborough along with wife Liljana and daughter Serena to stay with Harold while their new home in Eden Hills was being built. Although Serena was a total opposite to Sky, the two cousins got on quite well and Sky was thrilled to have her Auntie Lil around, because she was hugely interested in Liljana’s Serbian traditions. Above all else, Sky loved having her family around her and Liljana provided her with the maternal figure she so longed for.

While Sky loved having her Auntie Lil in Ramsay Street, she wasn’t so keen on the arrival of Boyd’s aunt - Izzy Hoyland, who also bought a 20 per cent share in Harold‘s Coffee Shop. Sky immediately saw through Izzy’s sweetness and smiles and recognised a devious, crafty woman was at work behind the innocent exterior. So when Sky overheard Izzy on the phone referring to the caller as ‘Doctor Love’, she began to suspect she was having an affair with Dr. Karl Kennedy. Seeing Karl arrive home suspiciously in a taxi before spraying his breath with mouth freshener one night added to Sky’s suspicions. Feeling sorry for Susan, Sky slipped an anonymous note under the Kennedys door asking Susan if she knew what her husband was up to. When Susan - already suspicious of Izzy -confronted Karl and Izzy about the letter, Izzy revealed she had an idea who it was, and Sky was exposed as the culprit. A mortified Harold had to apologise to the Kennedys and Izzy for his granddaughter’s behaviour, but Sky refused to apologise, insisting that Izzy couldn’t be trusted. Harold was outraged at Sky’s attitude, and grounded her, insisting he wouldn’t tolerate anymore such behaviour while she was living under his roof. But Sky knew Izzy couldn’t be trusted, and she was proved right the following day when Izzy caught her alone and warned her she would regret taking her on...

When Serena insisted on sneaking out to an Over 18s nite club in order to try and impress Taj Coppin, Sky tried to talk her cousin out of the idea. But Serena was adamant that she would go, such was her determination to win over Taj. Sky, however, knew Taj had no romantic interest in Serena, especially since she was only fifteen and he was eighteen. But fearful for her cousin’s safety, Sky followed Serena to the club in order so she could keep an eye on her. However, a bouncer spotted the two girls were under age and threw them out. Sky was delighted by this development because it meant they could go home. But Serena insisted on sticking around outside to wait for Taj. Sky lost her cool with Serena and stormed off home. But while Serena was lucky enough to be brought home to Ramsay Street by Taj shortly afterwards, Sky was followed by a creep who wanted to try it on with her. Panicking, Sky started to run and hid in the grounds of a factory, losing her mobile phone in the process. When she finally got home late that night. Serena was waiting up for her, thinking something had happened. Sky was furious with Serena when she realised all she had been worried about was getting caught out by her parents, and as an argument erupted, Harold woke up and was horrified to find Sky all dressed up in the middle of the night. Having already been grounded over her clash with Izzy, Sky found herself in even deeper trouble with Harold now, and when David and Liljana arrived in the door from their night out, Sky was furious when they, too, had a go at her - especially since Serena was innocently standing by and letting her take all the wrap.

Sky’s relationship with Serena worsened when Serena stood idly by on the night of the school formal and let Erin and her mates knock over the portable loo Sky was in. And Sky was also left covering for Serena when she started sneaking out to meet with sleazy photographer, Chris Cousens, who had convinced her he was going to make her a famous model. Sky tried to persuade Serena the guy was only after one thing but her cousin refused to listen, and when David and Liljana found out about it, Serena infuriated Sky by instantly accusing her of telling them. The strain of her problems with Serena, plus Harold suffering a stroke which altered his personality and made him grumpy and abusive, led to Sky seeking solace over at the Hoyland house. Max reluctantly agreed to let her spend the night on the sofa so she could get a break from her problems at home, but he was convinced she and Boyd were trying to have sex. However, neither were ready to take things that far yet and although Boyd did sneak out of his room to join Sky on the couch in the middle of the night, it was simply to watch a movie with her.

But within weeks, the pair had both realised that they wanted to take their relationship further, although it was Boyd who initially took the first steps towards sex. With Lou away and Max looking after his house, Boyd arranged for himself and Sky to spend an evening alone at No.22, with a view to them having sex. But Sky was infuriated when she realised what Boyd had planned, and stormed off. However, she had a change of heart after a talk with Serena and went back to No.22, where she assured Boyd that although the time wasn’t right for her yet, he was the one she wanted to lose her virginity to. After they cuddled up to watch DVDs on Lou’s sofa, sky suddenly realised that, actually, she was ready and the couple had sex for the first time. The significant moment for the couple was shattered, however, when Max walked in on them half undressed, and put two and two together fairly rapidly. But Boyd managed to demonstrate a maturity and responsibility about the issue of sex to his father, and assured him that they had been careful. But the whole episode proved traumatic for Sky, particularly when in the days that followed, all Boyd wanted to do was have sex with her. Events came to a head when Sky told Boyd how underwhelmed she had been by the whole sexual experience, and she voiced her concerns that he was becoming wholly preoccupied with the sexual side of their relationship. After Boyd promised to ease the pressure he had unwittingly been applying to the issue, he also set about restoring Sky’s confidence around Max, which had been shattered after he caught them together at Lou’s, by arranging for Sky to do a school project around Max at the pub.

Sky was rocked to her very core one afternoon while working at the Coffee Shop with a very unpleasant blast from the past. John Swan, the duck hunter who had accidentally shot and killed her mother years before, walked into the shop with his teenage son and chatted casually with an initially unsuspecting Sky as he bought some snacks from her. Sky vaguely recognised the man’s face from somewhere, but it was only when he mentioned that he and his son were off to the wetlands for the start of the duck hunting season that she realised it was the man who killed Kerry. Disgusted that John was still shooting despite killing her mother, an angry Sky was determined to follow him down to the wetlands to confront him. Harold insisted that she was not to go anywhere near him, as he was scared of losing Sky in the same way he had lost Kerry down there. But Sky found an ally in her plan to confront John in the form of David, who unbeknownst to Harold, agreed to take Sky down there the next day. Upon their arrival, there was no duck hunters in sight, and Sky feared she had missed out on her chance of talking to John face to face. But just as she and David were preparing to leave, John emerged from bushes and a furious Sky attacked him, both verbally and physically. But when she was pulled off him by David and calmed down, John explained that he didn’t hunt anymore and actually returned to the wetlands every year to remember and reflect on what he had done. The event led to Sky redirecting her anger towards Kerry for abandoning her as an infant to fight for some cause that ultimately got her killed. Sky even went so far as to change her image, ditching her clothes and reverting back to her blonde hair so as to distance herself as much as possible from Kerry’s values and image. It was only when Sky came across an old journal of Kerry’s that had been in storage at David’s old house in Perth that she made peace with her mother. After reading of how much Kerry loved her and how much she wanted to change the world in order to ensure a better future for her, Sky realised that she had misjudged her mother and gradually, the old Sky began to return – evidenced by plans to start a protest against her science teacher who was mistreating chicks, something which Kerry would have been immensely proud of.

Sky had always had a keen interest in drawing caricatures, and when Libby Kennedy noticed one of her pictures one day, she thought they’d be perfect to accompany her weekly column in the Erinsborough News. Sky was chuffed and soon had some extra cash coming in thanks to Libby. And the cash proved to be particularly useful when Libby gave Sky her old VW Beetle which had been a gift from her late husband Drew. Sky initially refused to accept the car, thinking Libby had gone momentarily mad, but after Libby explained that parting with the car was something she needed to do in order to move on with her life, it wasn’t long before a delighted Sky got out the L plates and began taking lessons.

When 17-year-old Lana Crawford started working part-time at the Coffee Shop, Sky was instantly unimpressed with her when she made fun of Harold to Sky and Serena behind his back – not realising they were his granddaughters. And when Lana started at Erinsborough High the following day and made jibes about Lou Carpenter – who was doing probationary work in the school as a janitor – Sky was again furious with the new arrival. Sky finally had enough when Lana started insinuating that Boyd had been trying to chat her up and events came to a head during a game of netball at school which ended with the two girls in a brawl in the middle of the court. Susan put the two girls on detention together with the job of painting the scenery for the school play. While things were tetchy between Sky and Lana at first, they gradually came to get to know each other better and started to trust each other. And when Lana was invited over to the Bishop house for a sleepover by Serena, Sky began to appreciate her more when Lana revealed that she loved old black and white movies just as much as Sky.

As a friendship started to grow between the girls, Sky started to realise that Lana was a somewhat complex character. While one minute she’d be talking to Sky about obscure 1940s cinema classics, the next she’d be chatting to her peers about spunky boys and the latest fashions. When Sky challenged Lana about this, Lana got upset and angry with Sky. This reaction led Sky to do some digging into Lana’s experiences at her previous school, where she found out that Lana had been driven out by severe bullying and ridicule from her fellow students. Feeling sorry for Lana, Sky began to look out for her more and Lana began to grow closer to her. When Sky pulled Lana out of the line of an oncoming car in the nick of time one afternoon, Lana was touched by the concern Sky had shown for her, especially when Sky said she didn’t want to lose her after just getting to know her. That night, Lana stayed over at the Bishops again and having read too much into Sky’s feelings for her, kissed Sky as they were mucking around in the living room. Stunned by what had happened, Sky recoiled in shock – leaving Lana thinking that Sky was repulsed by her. Lana ran from the house in tears, and although Sky chased after her, she was stopped outside by Boyd who was puzzled by what was going on. Sky confided in Boyd about what had happened, but began to regret it when he started telling others at school the next day.

As rumours began to spread around Erinsborough High, Lana started flirting with the school stud Brendan Bond in a bid to prove she was straight, despite Sky trying desperately to persuade Lana to talk to her about her feelings. Although Lana eventually admitted to Sky that she was a lesbian, she begged Sky not to tell anyone else and to help her out with the charade at school that she was straight. Sky was reluctant to go along with this, but felt she owed it to Lana to carry out her wishes given that the reason the rumours had started at school were down to her telling Boyd. But when Lana went along to a party at Brendan’s house with the intention of having sex with him, Sky knew she had to stop her friend from making a terrible mistake and went after her, pleading with her not to go through with it. Lana refused to listen to her, however, and went off to the bedroom with Brendan. But just as Sky was leaving the party in disgust, Lana ran after her and explained that she had just told Brendan that she couldn’t sleep with him as she preferred girls. It was a brave step for Lana, and Sky was extremely proud of her friend, and she then began trying to persuade Lana to come out to her parents. However, while all this was going on, Sky hadn’t noticed the effect her friendship with Lana was having on Boyd, and it looked as if their relationship was in serious danger.

While Sky was delighted when the cartoon strip that she and Lana worked on about Enigma and Freak Girl was sold to an underground gay magazine, Boyd found it difficult to come to terms with his girlfriend’s increasing interest in all things gay. Sky, meanwhile, felt twangs of jealousy when Lana was asked out by the editor of the magazine, Buffy Only. Confused, Sky confided in Libby about the conflicting feelings she was having about Lana, and felt better when Libby assured her it was probably nothing more than deep feelings of friendship. But the news that Lana would be returning to Canada thanks to her father getting a job transfer meant Sky faced losing her Lana forever. She reacted by impulsively kissing Lana one night, before fleeing home in shock. Harold offered Sky a shoulder to cry on, but when he inadvertently told Boyd about the kiss, it was the final straw for Boyd and he dumped Sky.

Sky reacted by deciding to return to Joe and Toby in Western Australia, which initially infuriated Lana. Serena tried to convince Sky to stay and turned to Lana for help, making her realise that it wasn’t worth throwing away such a good friendship. Although Lana and Serena were successful in persuading Sky to stay in Erinsborough, Boyd continued to give her the cold shoulder. Sky hatched a plan to prove her love for him when she created a special issue of Freak Girl and Enigma detailing how much Freak Girl, the Sky character, loved the Boyd character. But leaving it the Hoyland’s mailbox on the morning of one of Boyd’s VCE exams did Sky no favours as it only served to distract him throughout. After the exam went badly, Boyd blamed Sky and she was devastated when he dumped the comic strip in the bin.

Serena finally stepped in and reunited the couple on Christmas Day by dragging them both out onto Ramsay Street to talk. The lovers agreed to put the past behind them and got back together, although Sky was unaware of the fact that Serena and Boyd had shared a kiss only days before. Sky and Lana, meanwhile, worked on a special mural for the community hall to remember Lana by in her final days in Erinsborough. And when the day finally came for Lana to leave, Sky gave Lana a special gift of a pen so that she could start writing the novel she had often talked about penning.

Having only just repaired her relationship with Boyd, Sky found herself doubting whether they had a future together when Boyd was suspected of the murder of Gus Cleary. Gus' body had been found in the pub after the fire, and since Gus was an arch-enemy of the Hoyland family, the police questioned Boyd about his involvement in the death. Sky was put in an awkward position when Boyd admitted to her that, although he hadn't killed Gus, he had gone to Lassiter's to confront Gus on the night of the murder, and asked her to provide him with an alibi so that he wouldn’t be in the frame. Reluctantly, Sky agreed and the couple worked hard at getting their stories straight for the police. But a hole was discovered in their story when the police told them that the film they claimed to have watched on TV the night of the murder had actually been cancelled. Although they both got into trouble with their families for their plot, the police realised they had no evidence on which to pursue Boyd any further as a suspect.

When Boyd started working at the local gym, Sky quickly came to notice a change in his character. He had begun to work out a lot more, obsess over eating the right foods and bulk up his muscles. But as his behaviour also started to alter – with mood swings becoming a regular feature – Sky started to think he was on steroids. It turned out that Boyd had been injecting himself with human growth hormones to beef up, but that wasn't the problem. Even after he had quit taking the hormones and given up the job at the gym, he remained aloof, confused and generally out of sorts. Events came to a head when he took Summer out to meet their dead mother one afternoon, which led doctors to suspect Boyd had become schizophrenic. Sky rushed to his bedside when he was admitted to hospital, but she was shocked when Boyd – thinking she was actually Serena – referred to the illicit kiss he and Serena had shared. Although horrified by the revelation, Sky couldn't do anything because Boyd clearly wasn't in a fit mental state. She did confront Serena, however, and let her know how upset she felt that her own cousin would try to steal her boyfriend. The girls eventually made up, especially after Serena assured Sky that Boyd had remained insistent that he loved her despite kissing Serena. Sky, meanwhile, sought comfort in the arms of Dylan Timmins, who had taken an immediate shine to Sky when he arrived in Erinsborough a few weeks before. Although Dylan had been in a juvenile detention centre, he was a kind and caring young man underneath the tough exterior, and his passion for animals endeared him to Sky. But when she kissed him, she felt terrible for betraying Boyd when he was at such a low ebb.

When Boyd pleaded with Sky to take him away from the hospital for a while, she reluctantly agreed. They ran away together, such was Boyd's fear of returning to the hospital, but he was quickly back in hospital when he suffered a seizure. It was finally discovered that Boyd had a brain tumour and he needed an emergency operation to remove it. However, complications during the operation meant Boyd fell into a coma. A devastated Sky kept a bedside vigil as he lay unconscious for weeks, and there was relief all round when he finally woke up. But Sky found it increasingly hard to pretend everything was fine with their relationship in the wake of Boyd's liaison with Serena and her own kiss with Dylan. She resolved not to say anything to Boyd about it though because she was conscious of the fact that he was just getting over a major operation. But Dylan took matters out of Sky's hands by telling Boyd everything on his first day back at school and in the aftermath of the revelation, Sky and Boyd agreed to break up. They pledged to remain good friends, and Sky promised Boyd – albeit with some reluctance – not to get involved romantically with Dylan.

Sky got the shock of her life when she walked into the General Store – the newly renovated Coffee Shop – and came face to face with Kerry. Almost breaking down in shock thinking her mum was back from the dead somehow, Harold had to quickly intervene and explain to Sky that the woman in question was actually called Gabby Walker, who just happened to bear an uncanny resemblance to Kerry. Gabby had been working at the Store for a few weeks, and Harold had shielded Sky from meeting her because she had had Boyd’s health problems to concern herself with. Sky quickly befriended Gabby, and they shared a few heart to hearts before Gabby left to visit her father in Darwin.

Despite her promise to Boyd upon their break-up, Sky had continued to spend time with Dylan. The future of Erinsborough was under threat from the greedy corporate giant Affirmacon, who wanted to turn the wetlands and surrounding streets into a giant shopping mall, and Sky and Dylan began working together to get to the bottom of what was going on. Sky suspected the recently returned Paul Robinson of involvement, echoing the mistrust her mother had had of Paul years before, but Dylan – who secretly did odd jobs for Paul – insisted he was a decent guy. However, Sky's suspicions were confirmed when they spotted Paul talking with a shady looking character, who Dylan managed to find out was Tony Corbett, an Affirmacon employee.

But the notion that Paul wanted Affirmacon to succeed in bulldozing the area seemed doubtful when he gave Dylan a key card to the company's offices in the city, so that he and Sky could go there to obtain some documents that proved Affirmacon was corrupt. Sky and Dylan were thrilled when they found the incriminating evidence, and caught up in the moment, they kissed. However, Sky felt guilty about going against Boyd's wishes and remained resolute in keeping Dylan at bay. Meanwhile, Sky and Dylan were unable to do anything with the Affirmacon documents because they had been obtained illegally. Paul suggested they pass the documents onto the press, who wouldn't have to reveal their sources, but problems arose when Sky, still determined to prove that Paul was up to no good, followed him around with a camera to try and catch him out. But what she caught him doing was something she hadn't expected to see him doing – kissing Liljana. Horrified by the realisation that her aunt was having an affair with Paul, Sky tried to work out what she should do and sought Dylan's advice. He urged her to speak to Liljana, and Sky broke down when she confronted her about betraying the family in such a way. But in the meantime, Serena had innocently taken Sky's camera to bring to a protest the residents were holding outside the Affirmacon offices. When Sky realised this, she and Dylan raced to the protest to prevent Serena and David from seeing the pictures. But they were too late, and the secret relationship Lil and Paul had been having since Lil and David had separated a few weeks before, became common knowledge.

Although Paul's affair with Liljana had done nothing to enhance his standing in the eyes of Sky, she knew how much he meant to Dylan. So when Paul went missing and his car was found abandoned near the woodlands, Sky accompanied Dylan on a search through the thick bush to try and find Paul. They eventually found him close to drowning in a lake, having plunged off a cliff after being chased by some Affirmacon heavies. Sky and Dylan pulled him to safety, and Sky managed to resuscitate him. Paul was rushed to hospital, and Sky comforted Dylan as he kept a bedside vigil. The ordeal brought them even closer, and Dylan organised a romantic meal at No.26 to win Sky over once and for all. However, when younger brother Stingray and Serena tagged along too, Dylan was furious with his brother and ended up in a messy brawl with him – witnessed by Sky. Her doubts about Dylan's temper increased when Stingray blurted out that Dylan had trashed Sky's house a few months before in a fit of rage against David, who had been bad mouthing the Timmins family. Sky took some time to think about whether or not she could forgive Dylan for violating her home in such a way, but after seeing Dylan's softer side when he played with little Oscar Scully, she realised he was a big softie underneath his tough exterior. When Dylan decided to confess that he had been the vandal to Harold, Sky had a fight on her hands to make her grandfather accept Dylan's remorse. But when Sky pointed out that Harold was quick to preach forgiveness to other people, he realised that he should give Dylan credit for wanting to do right by Sky and own up. However, Harold insisted that as a punishment, Sky and Dylan were not to see each other for a month.

When a host of past Ramsay Street residents returned to town for the screening of a special documentary Annalise Hartman had made about the area, Sky was thrilled when Joe was among them. Thrilled to see her dad, Sky was even happier when Joe gave Dylan his seal of approval and even encouraged Sky to ignore the ban that Harold had imposed. But Sky became suspicious of Joe's motives for returning when he announced that he wanted to stay on permanently at the Bishop household, his relationship with Celia apparently over. Sky pressed her father for the truth behind his break-up with Celia, but he remained vague. So Sky took matters into her own hands and phoned Celia herself. It transpired that she had kicked Joe out after he had become too lazy, which led to Sky giving her dad a stern ticking off. However, she was happy to have him around and the Bishop household was full to the brim with family again, as Lil and David also reconciled.

Sky celebrated her 18th birthday with a fancy dress party at the Bishop house, and she was thrilled when Lana sent her a special comic book from Canada to mark the event. Dylan reacted badly to the discovery that Sky had such a strong bond with some girl overseas, and when Stingray filled him on their history, Dylan refused to go to the party. But the next morning, Dylan realised he had been an idiot and donned an Indian costume – albeit belatedly – and made his way over to Sky to apologise and present her with a list of all the girls he had ever loved. Her name was the only one on it.

Her relationship with Dylan repaired; Sky was then free to turn her attentions to another relationship that was troubling her – the one that had developed between her father and Lyn Scully. Her first objection to her Joe's new romance arose when he took Lyn out on a date on the day of Kerry's birthday. Joe felt terrible when Sky confronted him about it, and pointed out that he always chose to remember Kerry on the anniversary of her death. But he resolved to start marking the birthday each year, too, and also promised to start spending more time with Sky. However, Sky wasn't to be so easily won over, and when Joe and Lyn held a big dinner party at the Scully house to get the two families together, it turned into a disaster. Not only did Sky not approve of Joe's relationship with Lyn, but neither did Lyn's eldest daughter Stephanie, who, to complicate matters further, was now step-mum to Boyd, since her marriage to Max. The dinner finished with a bitter exchange of words between Sky and Steph, and Joe and Lyn feared their kids would never approve of the relationship. Joe attempted to mend the rift with Steph by giving her a gift, which he claimed was from him and Sky. But Steph called his bluff and thanked Sky for the present, leading to Sky insisting that she knew nothing about a present. It finally fell to Boyd to fix the problem by telling everyone how ridiculous they were and Sky and Steph called a truce.

Far more serious problems were on the horizon as Sky's world was rocked by a major tragedy for the second time in her young life. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lassiter's, Paul had commissioned Dylan to come up with an idea to mark the milestone. Dylan responded by suggesting a 1940s themed joy flight to Tasmania, and Sky, putting aside her disdain for Paul in order to support Dylan, was on board the flight as it took off from Melbourne – along with David, Liljana, Serena, Susan and a host of other Ramsay Street residents on board. But a bomb had been placed under the plane, and after it caused one of the plane's engines to blow up over the Bass Straits, the plane crashed. While Sky survived the crash relatively unharmed, she was devastated to discover that she had lost practically her entire family and the love of her life, when David, Liljana, Serena and Dylan all failed to turn up in the days that followed the crash. And while Joe was on hand to support his daughter in her hour of need, Harold was despondent and in complete denial about the deaths that had occurred. The final blow came when David's body was found and Harold refused to accept his son was dead, even after Joe had positively identified him.

Feeling increasingly alone, Sky found herself being drawn to Boyd for support and comfort and he proved to be of enormous help to her, even though it irked his jealous girlfriend Janae. Boyd was also instrumental in persuading Sky to stick with her dream of going to art school, as she began to have second thoughts of pursuing her dream in the wake of losing her family. And on the day of the Bishop family's memorial service, during which Sky delivered a touching tribute to her "sister" Serena, Sky and Harold were finally united in their grief and Sky was relieved that her granddad had finally begun to mourn. At the wake that followed, however, Sky was completely caught off guard when Joe and Lyn announced they had decided to get engaged and Sky couldn't bring herself to endorse the union. Once Joe came to recognise that Sky was not happy, he asked her to explain her opposition – and Sky proceeded to tell Joe – and Lyn – that she didn't think it was fair for Joe to be getting engaged again given that in her lifetime alone, she had seen him go through at least four women in this way. Joe was disgusted with Sky for effectively accusing him of being an unreliable womaniser, and eventually admitted to her that he had compared every woman to Kerry since he had lost her. Sky apologised, but the incident had made Joe realise that marrying Lyn wasn't exactly what he wanted, and after Toby asked Joe to help him settle into his new farm in the Kimberleys, he decided to take a break from Ramsay Street and return to the bush.

Meanwhile, Sky was stunned when Dylan turned up alive and well at his memorial service. It transpired that Dylan had been framed for an armed robbery by his arch-enemy Roo Hausman just before the crash and was facing a lengthy stretch in jail, and opted to pretend he was dead after nobody found him in the wake of the crash. Although Sky was relieved that Dylan was safe, her relief quickly turned to disgust over the way he had shown scant regard for her feelings, and those of his family, and after he was arrested, she told him he should have simply kept running. However, Dylan's father Kim had a heart to heart with Sky on the eve of Dylan's trial and managed to persuade her to attend the trial as a show of support. Sky agreed, and after Dylan was sentenced to ten years in prison, she was devastated. Dylan had her name added to his list of visitors, but Sky was initially unsure about whether or not she could visit him and keep waiting for him to be released. But when she eventually decided to go and see him, Sky was stunned by Dylan's declaration that he didn't want her to wait for him or come near him ever again. Luckily, Dylan was cleared after Stuart Parker went undercover in prison to expose Roo's plan to have Dylan framed, and he was released on Christmas Day, reuniting with Sky in the process.

Sky feared for her grandfather's mental wellbeing, meanwhile, when she discovered that he had attempted to murder Paul. It seemed Harold had experienced a moment of madness as he blamed Paul for the deaths of David, Liljana and Serena and had crept up behind Paul with some rope to strangle him. Paul survived, and without having identified his attacker, but Sky pieced things together when she thought about Harold's strange behaviour of late, coupled with cuts on his hands. She confided in Lou about her fears, and when they confronted Harold, he broke down and admitted what he had done. Harold eventually confessed all to Paul, and although Paul was furious with him, he agreed not to go to the police and the secret remained between Sky, Harold, Lou and Paul. But when Dylan accepted a job as manager of Lucinda's, a café Paul set up at Lassiter's to quash the General Store, Sky was not best pleased as her boyfriend was part of a process that was trying to put her grandfather out of business. After several weeks of arguing, Dylan finally decided to resign in order to save his relationship but he was shocked when Paul told him the real reason he was competing against Harold. What really got to Dylan was the fact Sky hadn't trusted him enough to tell him what Harold had done.

There were further problems when Sky started university. Having landed her own radio show on Uni FM, Dylan was horrified one afternoon when he realised she was stripping off one item of clothes at a time to get more listeners. Meanwhile, Sky clashed with her young and hunky art tutor Jean Pierre Valasco when he criticised her work. But as their relationship improved, she came to like him and after he confided in her about not having produced any decent work of his own for some time, Sky saw a new, more vulnerable side to him. Dylan, however, was jealous of Jean Pierre and began to irritate Sky by displaying a lack of faith in her and her friendship with another man. But it seemed Dylan did have cause for concern, as Sky started to fall for JP. Matters came to a head when JP's artistic dry spell ended with a portrait of Sky and he invited her to attend an exhibit where the painting would be on display. After a lot of agonising, Sky decided to go – and after the exhibition, Jean Pierre invited her to stay behind when everyone was gone so they could explore the gallery at their leisure. Once alone, they kissed and retreated back to Jean Pierre's where they slept together. But the next morning, Sky instantly regretted her actions, and had to break the news to JP that she was still in love with Dylan.

Unable to keep her betrayal from Dylan, Sky decided to confess all to him straight away. But Dylan's reaction was far from understanding and he promptly ended the relationship, signifying it emphatically by painting all over the mural Sky had drawn on the side of his car when she thought he had been killed in the plane crash. Sky sunk into a deep depression in the days after the break-up, and she began to lose any respect she had for herself – particularly when her arch nemesis Izzy took great pleasure in pointing out that Sky had turned out to be quite similar to her. Believing that she was no different than any other girl out for fun with men, Sky adopted this persona when she went clubbing with her new friend, and ironically daughter of Paul Robinson, Elle and flirting with every man in sight. After that failed to cheer her up, Sky turned to Stingray for comfort. Stingray was having relationship problems of his own as he had fallen in love with 14-year-old Rachel Kinski and as he and Sky shared their problems, they ended up having a one-night-stand. The following morning, both Sky and Stingray instantly regretted it but vowed to use the event as a new starting point for their lives. And after Harold vented his utter disgust at his granddaughter for her frivolous exploits of late, Sky resolved to win back Dylan as a result, and looked like she had finally cracked him when she took him out to the superdome one afternoon. But at the last minute, Dylan backed off and told her he would never be able to forgive her for her infidelity and even friendship was out of the question.

Further drama was in store for Sky, however, when she discovered that she was pregnant. Having simply thought she was suffering from a tummy bug, Sky was stunned when she described her symptoms to Mishka, Lou's new Russian love who had moved in with Lou and the Bishops at No.24, and Mishka told her it sounded like she was pregnant. Mishka was on hand as Sky took a pregnancy test, but Sky was hugely relieved when it turned out to be negative. However, when Lou and Mishka caught a burglar at the Bishop house in the middle of the night and he knocked Sky over as he tried to escape; she was taken to hospital for observation. While there, Dr. Olenski broke the news to Sky that she was several weeks pregnant. As if the fact that she was about to become a mother wasn't enough of a shock, Sky also had to contend with the realisation that the father of the baby could be Dylan, JP or Stingray. She quickly managed to rule Stingray out due to the dates, but a question mark still remained over whether JP or Dylan was the father. Sky eventually took the bull by the horns and called JP to tell him what had happened, but he eliminated himself by revealing he was infertile. But knowing for definite that Dylan was the father didn't make things any easier for Sky, and she began to think about having an abortion.

Her isolation at this time was compounded by the fact that Harold was out of town, although Mishka proved to be of enormous support to Sky. In her hour of need, Sky turned to her mother for advice by reading her diary and trying to work out how Kerry had felt when she first discovered she was pregnant with Sky. Kerry, it seemed, had never experienced any doubts about becoming a mother, which Sky took to mean that she herself was not ready to be a mum. But before she got to read any further diary entries, Sky saw Dylan out on the street and ran down to talk to him, dropping a loose page from Kerry's diary on the driveway as she did so. Dylan refused to listen to what Sky had to say until he was driving off and she threw a pot plant at his car to get his attention once and for all. An angry Dylan was quickly silenced when Sky blurted out that she was pregnant. Although she talked things through with Dylan, Sky still felt terminating the pregnancy was the right thing to do and that same afternoon, headed to the abortion clinic with Mishka. But while they waited in the clinic, Lou noticed the page from Kerry's diary on the driveway and after reading it, dashed down to the clinic to show it to Sky. In this entry, Kerry spoke of her doubts about the pregnancy which made Sky realise that her mother had gone through exactly the same concerns she had. With renewed strength, Sky cancelled her plans to abort the baby and thanked Lou and Mishka for their support at her darkest hour.

The next hurdle for Sky was breaking the news of her pregnancy to Harold. When he returned from his trip, he fell out with Lou and Mishka over their persistence in selling illegally distilled vodka out of No.24 and he demanded they move out. But Sky leapt to their defence by telling Harold they had been there for her during the toughest weeks of her life and announced she was pregnant. A shocked Harold initially reacted by berating Sky for her stupidity but after calming down, he revealed he didn't want Sky to shut him out at this time of her life in the way Kerry had. And after talking things over with Susan, who pointed out that Harold deserved some joy in his family after everything the Bishops had lost in the last year; he began to look forward to being a great-grandfather and revelled in accompanying Sky to the hospital for check-ups.

Meanwhile, Dylan had been so angry with Sky for not consulting him over whether or not to have an abortion that he shut her out completely and told her she was on her own. To add further complications, Dylan had started to see Elle, which caused a slight upset in the friendship Sky had built up with her in recent months. Once Dylan's mother Janelle caught wind of her impending grandmother status, however, she was all over Sky and put pressure on Dylan to start accepting responsibility. Stingray also pledged his support to Sky and loved the prospect of becoming an uncle, particularly after Sky assured him the dates of conception ruled him out as the father. Having seen the level of involvement from the rest of the Timmins family, Dylan finally stepped up to the plate and accepted his parental responsibility.

Despite Dylan's change of mind, Sky went through a tough period of morning sickness, which when combined with Janelle's ever-overbearing 'support' for Sky and insistence on being her partner at pre-natal classes after Mishka had returned to Russia, caused her to collapse one afternoon. Harold and Dylan rushed her to the hospital where Karl diagnosed Sky as suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. Although they had luckily caught it before it became too serious, Sky was far from free of anxiety as an ultra sound carried out by Karl revealed that the baby was actually conceived later than he had originally thought – which meant that Stingray, and not Dylan, was the father.

Sky was stunned by the revelation, and sought advice from Karl on the matter. Karl felt uncomfortable knowing that Stingray was the father as Stingray was dating Rachel, who Karl had become a guardian of since reuniting with Susan, Rachel's stepmother. Nevertheless, Karl advised Sky to be truthful with Stingray and tell him the truth, but before she had time to think, a further set of complications were thrown at her. The ultrasound Karl had carried out had shown some abnormalities on the baby's neck and Sky had to undergo tests to determine whether or not her baby would have some physical disabilities. Dylan was filled with terror at the prospect of this, as he recalled a warning from doctors that any offspring he produced could suffer as a result of his exposure to toxic chemicals while polluting the wetlands for Paul Robinson the year before. But luckily, all the tests came back clear.

The ordeal had brought Sky and Dylan closer again, and after Sky learnt that Dylan still loved her, she couldn't bring herself to confess the true parentage of her baby as it would scupper their chances of a reunion. Elle, meanwhile, was determined to hold onto Dylan and went to extreme lengths to ensure he wouldn't return to Sky by pretending to have a fatal disease. Knowing it wouldn't be right to hurt Elle at such a devastating time, Sky urged Dylan to stick with her – despite the fact that the two had been on the cusp of reuniting. But Elle's lies came back to haunt her in the cruellest way when her brother Cameron was killed after being run down by Max Hoyland – and a devastated Elle confessed all to Dylan before urging him to be with Sky. Sky initially couldn't bring herself to get back together with him, since he would be going from one lie to another. But after convincing herself that for the good of all involved she should keep up the pretence of Dylan being the father of the child, Sky took him back and before long, Dylan proposed.

As preparations for the wedding got into full swing, Sky became increasingly troubled. Sky's old confidante Susan turned her back on Sky after putting two and two together and realising Stingray was the baby's father. And Stingray, who had become a heavy drinker since starting university and falling for 14-year-old Rachel, fell out with both Sky and Dylan one night at a dinner party when he accused Sky of being in no position to be judgemental about his alcoholism when she was pregnant at 18. And when Stingray fell from a roof after a heavy bout of drinking, damaging his chances of reproducing in the process, Sky rushed to be at his side and console him by telling him he was the child's father. But at the last moment, she backed out and the lies continued to eat away at her until she found herself back in hospital as a result of the stress she had put herself under.

To be continued (2006-2007)

In 2015, Sky was pregnant with her third child, still living happily in Port Douglas. With Harold visiting Erinsborough, she got in touch by Skype and told him that, as strange as it sounded, Madge had come to her in a dream and suggested that Harold should move up to Queensland and help out with the children. Feeling at a loose end, and having been seeing visions of Madge for weeks, Harold took this as a sign and left to head up north immediately.

Trivia Notes
• Stephanie McIntosh is the real-life half-sister of Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson) and took over the role of Sky when the character returned in 2003
• Sky’s medical record has her DOB as 12th Aug 1987 and her blood group as type A
• Sky based her mid-teenage look on the character of Enid from the graphic novel, and later the film, Ghost World
• Her favourite film is Withnail & I
• As a child, Sky wanted to be a cat