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Guest Character Profiles > Amanda Harris Briony Behets

Amanda Harris (nee Mangel) 1987, 2025
Parents: Len and Nell Mangel
Marital Status: Peter
Siblings: Joe
Children: Jane
Occupation: Businesswoman

Glamorous and selfish Amanda Mangel had a difficult relationship with her mother, the strict Mrs Nell Mangel, deliberately getting pregnant to Peter Harris so that he would marry her and she could escape her home. However, she also found it hard having a daughter of her own, Jane, worried that she would start to outshine her as she grew up. Amanda deliberately dressed her daughter in the dowdiest clothes she could, but she and husband Peter were often away on business and would leave Jane in her grandmother's care. When Amanda and Peter went on an extended business trip to Hong Kong, Jane moved in with Nell, where she slowly started to blossom, making friends with the other teenagers on Ramsay Street and receiving a makeover, after which she caught the eye of Mike Young.

When Nell suffered a heart attack the following year, she started asking to see her daughter and, having heard little from her parents in their year away, Jane was surprised when Amanda returned to Erinsborough to visit, having seemingly dropped everything in Hong Kong to fly home. Amanda struggled to hide her horror as she found that her daughter had really come into her own, even doing some modelling as the 'Face of Lassiters', the hotel where she was now working. Though initially wary of her mum, Jane decided to try and make an effort, particularly as she'd been having problems getting along with her grandmother before the heart attack. Amanda then tried to claim that it had been Peter who had wanted to leave for Hong Kong and abandon Jane, but that their marriage was now over. She claimed that she wanted to move back to Australia permanently and repair her damaged relationships, but it soon became apparent that she was extremely jealous of her daughter as she worked to sabotage a potential date with Henry Ramsay, telling him that Jane was just using him to try and make her ex-boyfriend, Mike, jealous. Whilst Amanda managed to convince Jane that she'd had her best interests at heart, others on the street were less sure, with Madge and Helen both seeing through her plotting. Jane, however, continued to fall under her mother's spell, believing her when she said that she should start dressing more conservatively and wearing her glasses, as she would never keep a boyfriend if she pretended to be someone she wasn't.

When Jane then found some money hidden in her mother's bedroom, Amanda quickly claimed that Peter had been controlling their finances for years, as he wanted to stop her from coming back to Australia and seeing Jane, but she had taken the money she felt she was owed in order to visit her daughter. Amanda then continued to ostracise Jane from her friends on Ramsay Street, with Charlene, Scott and Mike shocked about Jane using Henry to make Mike jealous. Amanda also had a huge argument with Madge, who she blamed for Mrs Mangel's heart attack, and Jane quickly sided with her mum on the issue. As Jane then attempted to fix the damage her mum had done, and patch things up with her friends, Amanda had bigger problems to deal with when Graham, an associate of Peter's, came looking for the stolen cash, which Amanda had hidden inside the lining of her fur coat. When she met with Graham later that day, she made it clear that she wouldn't be returning the money, using Henry to frighten him into leaving, but the incident had clearly scared Amanda, who went home and told Jane that she needed to leave Australia the following day.

Jane soon worked out that the mysterious money had something to do with her mum's planned departure and managed to convince her to stay for a little longer, with Amanda suggesting dinner to celebrate and using the opportunity to buy her daughter a dowdy new dress. With Jane worried that her mum would leave again, she agreed to wear the new outfit that night, removed her makeup and started wearing her glasses again, leaving her friends shocked. After that small win, Amanda had bigger things to worry about when her fur coat went missing, with all of her money still inside. It soon turned out that Madge had picked up the coat by mistake, and Jane suggested that maybe her mum should just return the money to her dad, as it was causing all of these problems and making her scared for her safety. Amanda, however, was insistent that she deserved the money and would be keeping it - and using it to have a good time.

When Jane's new appearance then saw her edited out of a promotional video for the hotel, Mike was upset on her behalf, convinced that she'd only changed her appearance because of her mum's jealousy. Mike decided to confront Amanda, receiving a slap across the face for his efforts. Having been trying to help Amanda with her finances, Mike's guardian, bank manager Des Clarke, decided to try and help with their falling out, only to find himself falling for the lies of a tearful Amanda. With more and more of Jane's friends and neighbours seeing through Amanda's act, however, Des proved to be one of the few people she could still turn to, causing problems with his wife, Daphne. After causing chaos in the Clarke marriage, Amanda was also finding things difficult at 32 Ramsay Street, as her mother came out of hospital and proved to be a difficult patient to care for. As she ranted to Jane, Amanda admitted that she'd deliberately tried to get pregnant with Jane all those years earlier, in order to move out of home. This revelation, coupled with some gentle nudging from her nan, finally made Jane realise that she wasn't happy and she didn't need to pretend to be someone else to win her mother's love.

After Jane changed her clothes and removed her glasses again, Amanda was furious but, following a call from Peter, who forgave her for taking the money, she announced that she was going back to Hong Kong. Before she went, Amanda admitted that Jane did look better with make-up and more fashionable clothes, but cattily reminded her that looks don't last forever.

In the years that followed, Jane ended up moving to England to care for Mrs Mangel, who had moved there after marrying John Worthington. Jane married and had two children, Nicolette and Byron, with all three of them eventually ending up living back on Ramsay Street. It would be 38 years before Amanda returned to Erinsborough herself, when she moved into one of the apartments at retirement complex, Eirini Rising. When operations manager Susan Kennedy noticed a photograph of Amanda with Jane, who was a neighbour and good friend of Susan's, she brought up the subject, but Amanda made it clear that she didn't want her family to know she was there just yet. Though she was uncomfortable with keeping something so important from Jane, Susan agreed to stay quiet, but was shocked as Amanda explained that, although she had occasional contact from her daughter and grandchildren, she still felt that they had neglected her and she wanted to see how long it would be before they all realised that she was no longer in Sydney, but living in the retirement home next-door to Erinsborough High, the school where Jane was now the principal.

As Susan continued her efforts to get her to speak to Jane, Amanda insisted that she just wanted to experience a little bit of the devotion that Jane had shown to Nell Mangel in her final years, and that she was testing her daughter to see if she truly cared. When Susan then started dropping hints to Jane about mother-daughter relationships, Jane considered phoning her mum, but admitted to Nicolette that it had been over a year since they'd last had any contact. She explained that, having reconnected with Mike in 2022 and after almost marrying him, she'd sent her mum an email to say that they'd split up, but received no reply. Nicolette pointed out that Amanda was a drama queen and that she should be the one to make the effort this time, a sentiment Jane agreed with. She decided not to call her mum, but was then in for a huge surprise when she walked into Eirini Rising and was confronted by Amanda. Horrified that her mum had moved in without saying anything, and had involved Susan in her games, Jane tried to speak to her, but she failed to see that she'd done anything wrong, acting the victim as always.

As Jane continued to try to make an effort, bringing Byron and Nicolette to visit, Amanda continued to enjoy her friendship with Darcy. She used him as a sounding board, admitting that she didn't even trust Byron, the only member of the family who'd even shown her much love and attention, as she felt that he was just looking to get his hands on some inheritance. Hearing about this inheritance left Darcy more interested than ever and he did his best to get close to her and cause trouble between her and her family. When Darcy 'accidentally' mentioned to Jane that Amanda had said that she was trying to come between her and her grandchildren, it led to a huge argument between mother and daughter, with Jane blurting out that Mrs Mangel had been a better mother to her than Amanda ever had. Darcy then took the opportunity to try and cheer Amanda up and, as she gifted him a copy of The Graduate and started jokingly referring to him as her 'boyfriend' and he managed to get himself invited along to a family dinner, it seemed that his plan was working.

As she continued to butt heads with Jane, Amanda came to develop a friendship with Sadie Rodwell, Byron's girlfriend. With Amanda becoming a regular visitor to the spa at Lassiters, where Sadie worked, they chatted about their insecurities; Amanda admitted that she no longer felt attractive as she got older, whilst Sadie told her about a recent fire that had left her with burns on her back. Amanda then opened up about her childhood, explaining that her mother had discouraged her from making the most of her looks, leaving her feeling self-conscious about her appearance until she finally moved out of home. Amanda's friendship with Darcy also continued to blossom, despite the misgivings of his colleagues, and he was the first to notice her memory problems, as she confused him with her dead husband, Peter. When Amanda then asked Darcy to help her with some paperwork, he was intrigued to find out that she had some shares which were now worth a lot of money, and she seemingly had no idea about it.

As she spent Mother's Day with her family, Amanda finally seemed to be relaxing around them, but they noticed that she was becoming even more forgetful and mixing up people's names. When Nicolette then turned down the offer of some of Amanda's old clothes, with Sadie deciding to take them instead, Amanda felt that the day had been a disaster. Jane then suggested going to dinner instead, an evening which went well, but left Jane even more certain that something was wrong when her mum forget that they'd already ordered their food. Meanwhile, with Amanda distracted, Darcy managed to break into her apartment and find the log-in and password for her shares portfolio, transferring over $2 million worth of shares to himself.

When Jane mentioned to Byron that she was worried about her mum's memory, Byron offered to go and speak to her about it, finding an excuse to stick around when he offered to help with her banking admin. They arranged to meet later that day, but Darcy soon got wind of what was going on, managing to make Amanda believe that her grandson was taking advantage and wanted her money for himself. When Byron then turned up, he noticed a mug he'd made for his grandmother as a child, something that she'd previously claimed to have no memory of. Amanda brushed it off, but Byron saw it as further proof of her memory problems and decided to broach the subject. With Darcy's words still echoing in her ears, Amanda quickly became upset, throwing her grandson out. Darcy then turned up in the office at Eirini, showing Amanda's family the broken mug as proof of how upset she was. The next day, Jane decided to try and patch things up, with Darcy offering to go and visit Amanda and see if she was in a good mood. He told her that Jane and Susan had been plotting against her, planning to get her to take a cognitive test, and insisting that she didn't need it and that they were just taking advantage. Believing that she could trust Darcy, Amanda went to lunch with Jane, who brought up the idea of the tests and mentioned the broken mug, leaving Amanda to become defensive again, claiming that she didn't need any tests and that she hadn't broken any mug.

As Amanda tried to make an effort with her family, Darcy's actions left things strained, particularly with Byron, who was upset that she had broken the mug. When Amanda then had an appointment with Sadie at the Lassiters Spa and forgot what they were talking about, halfway through a conversation, Jane decided that they needed to try to get her tested for dementia. She then came up with an idea, remembering how much her mum had loved visiting the Dandenongs, and suggested that they go there for a day out. Meanwhile, with Susan's husband, and Darcy's uncle, Dr Karl Kennedy, edging closer to the truth, he asked Amanda if Darcy had ever made her feel uncomfortable or asked her for money. She insisted that she hadn't and, when Darcy arrived with the broken mug and saw Karl leaving, he quickly worried about what was happening. As he then helped Amanda to glue the mug back together, he asked her what Karl had wanted. Upon finding out, he realised that he needed to quickly discredit his uncle so swapped his herbal tablets for strong painkillers. As these tablets started to take effect, Darcy revealed to Susan that Karl had previously been addicted to painkillers after a serious injury and that he'd tried to help him to ween himself off of them. He then planted opioids in Karl's bag and managed to get him fired from his job at Eirini.

As Amanda finally agreed to talk to Jane's friend, Dr Remi Varga-Murphy, about the possibility of having cognitive tests, everyone was relieved, and it was decided that Remi could chat to Amanda before the planned trip to the Dandenongs. When Darcy then overheard Jane and Byron talking about the possibility of having to arrange power of attorney if Amanda really was unwell, he decided to strike. As Amanda prepared to go and meet the others, Darcy warned her that the meeting with Remi was a trap and that they were going to get her to sign some forms and then put her into a home and take control of her money. Terrified, Amanda immediately went and confronted her family, telling them that she knew what they were up to and she didn't want to speak to any of them. Shocked by the sudden change in her temperament, Jane and Byron took this as another sign of her dementia, while Amanda rushed back to Darcy for comfort. He suggested that she could still take the trip to the Dandenongs, offering to go with her.

When Darcy then told Amanda that he needed to see one of the residents, he told her to go ahead and said that he would join her in a little while. When he found her later, Amanda was happy to see him, but slowly started to talk about how much she regretted the way she'd treated Jane over the years. She admitted that she'd always found it difficult to see the way that her mother had let Jane get away with things, like wearing make-up and fashionable clothes, when she'd never been allowed to. As she continued to open up, Amanda began talking as if Jane was with her, before suddenly realising that it was actually Darcy. She then asked him if this could be a symptom of dementia and he confirmed that it could, leaving Amanda deeply upset. Whilst Darcy then headed off to meet with his ex-wife, Tess Bell, to give him an alibi, Amanda's family raised the alarm when she couldn't be found, and the police visited Jane later that night to confirm that her body had been found at the bottom of an embankment, adding their belief that she had been walking alone and had fallen.

Trivia Notes
• At 8660 episodes, Briony Behets holds the record for the biggest gap between appearances as the same character
• When Amanda returned in 2025, it was mentioned that her husband, Peter, had died 15 years earlier and that she had since had a boyfriend named Raoul
• Briony Behets initially played Amanda for three weeks in 1987, returning to the cast 38 years later to reprise the role in 2025
• Between appearances as Amanda, Briony also appeared in Neighbours in 2008 as Kate Newton
• To read our interview with Briony, click here

Tenure
555, 556, 558-564, 568-570, 9230-9249