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Former Neighbours pin up Holly Valance (Felicity Scully) looks set to move away from her previous lightweight film roles in Pledge This! and DOA, with gritty parts in Taken and The Tourist. Luc Besson directs Taken, which also stars Liam Neeson, and centres around a father’s search for his kidnapped daughter. It’s still uncertain who Valance will play. The Tourist will see the young Australian (with a Serbian father) playing a Bosnian mother during the Balkan war.

Guy Pearce, who played biker boy Mike Young in the 80’s, can be seen in UK cinemas now in Factory Girl playing eccentric artist Andy Warhol.

Versatile Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Brennan) continues to move with ease between music, modelling and acting, with a new Australian movie role. The film, Elise, will see Imbruglia playing a woman who is haunted by the disappearance of her sister. Natalie’s had plenty of time to prepare as she signed up for the role three years ago.

Neighbours legend Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson) is set to release his autobiography which will undoubtedly contain many tales of his time on Ramsay Street and his relationship with Kylie Minogue (Charlene Robinson). The book should be released later this year.

With Easter less than a fortnight away, we have a few changes to the schedule to report. Although BBC One will continue to show Neighbours on Good Friday and Easter Monday, there will be only one showing on the Friday (6th) at 1pm. Easter Monday (9th) will have two showings as normal, but at 1pm and 5.35pm.

UKTV Gold, meanwhile, will also continue to show Neighbours on both Good Friday and Easter Monday, but with only one episode on each day, at 5.35am.

Finally, Iceland's Stöð 2 will show no episodes on Thursday 5th, Friday 6th or Monday 9th April, though the omnibus on Sunday 8th April will still be shown.

Please note, however, that all of these times are subject to last-minute changes.

Having corner the market in soap bitches and topped the charts with Rogue Traders, Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Izzy Hoyland) now seems set to make the jump to a film career. The Sunday Herald Sun reports that she's currently in negotiations for the lead role in Prey, the new film from acclaimed Australian director George Miller. In another Neighbours connection, Jennifer Hansen, wife of Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy) will make a cameo appearance in the film.

Reports of his impending pop career have been doing the rounds for a couple of years now, but it seems that Ian Smith (Harold Bishop) is now on the verge of releasing his debut single. The tongue-in-cheek song is titled I Am Not A Popstar and is a collaboration with Melbourne composer Frank Strangio. According to the Sunday Herald Sun, a video clip for the song was filmed on Saturday and the single is due for release in both Australia and the UK later this year.

Neighbours has this week found itself receiving some unwanted attention when, during episode 5124, screened on Tuesday 20th March, Frazer (Ben Lawson) uttered the immortal words "Paul freakin' Robinson". Unfortunately, many viewers heard something else and The Sun newspaper reports that the BBC have been flooded with complaints and were forced to make the following statement: "Confusion has arisen after viewers misheard the word "freaking" during this episode of Neighbours. We would like to assure viewers that the word was used by the character Frazer Yeats to describe the established "baddie" character Paul Robinson and was entirely suitable to be left in rather than edited out. The BBC and the Neighbours production team would not allow stronger language to be used in this popular drama series with its large family audience."

Click here to view the offending line, but please don't email us about it, as there really is no doubt about the word that was scripted or said.

As today sees the 22nd anniversary of Neighbours, what better time for the show to announce plans for a "back to basics" approach. An interview with Network Ten's drama executive Dan Bennett in today's Sunday Telegraph has revealed that "storylines are going to be refocused on what has quintessentially been at the heart of Neighbours: relationships and family dynamics. There can be the occasional bomb blast - no soap is complete without it - but at the end of the day, Neighbours began as a show about friends and families living on a street and all the problems people face every day. And that's what we'll be heading back to."

The interview also revealed that actress Jane Hall, who has appeared in numerous Australian films and drama series over the past 22 years, is set to join the Neighbours cast.

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of Neighbours' first episode being screened in Australia. Who'd have thought that after all this time, we'd still all be here, watching the residents of that little suburban cul-de-sac. Here's hoping that we'll all still be here in 2029, celebrating another 22 years!

Happy Birthday Neighbours!

Alan Fletcher's (Karl Kennedy) latest newsletter has confirmed our reports of the show's plans to start filming in High Definition in the coming months, leading to set and backdrop revamps. He also mentions that another new cast member is set to join the show, in the form of 8-year-old Fletcher O'Leary. Alan reports that Fletcher will be playing Mickey, a young boy who is dumped on Ned Parker (Daniel O'Connor) by his mother.

In an interview with LastBroadcast.co.uk, Kyal Marsh (Boyd Hoyland) has revealed details of Boyd's upcoming exit, due to be filmed in the next few weeks, explaining that Boyd "leaves on good terms and with a woman he is meant to be with". With Stephanie McIntosh (Sky Mangel) filming her exit scenes at the same time, could Boyd and Sky finally be about to be reunited as they leave Erinsborough?

To find out more, including details of Kyal's plans after he leaves Erinsborough, click here to read the interview.

TV Week reports this week that Penny Cook has started filming a two-month Neighbours guest role. She'll first appear on Australian screens in June as Prue Brown, mother to Frazer and Ringo. Australian soap fans will know Penny well from two of her previous roles as Vicky in A Country Practice and the original Dr Elly in E Street.

Digital Spy reports that former Neighbours actor Blair McDonough (Stuart Parker) has been visiting Portsmouth, putting his support behind the Red Cross's Crisis Care In Your Neighbourhood charity. Click here to find out more about the charity and its work.

In other Blair-related news, he's due to take part in ITV1's latest reality offering, Soapstar Superchef later this month. Blair will compete, along with another former Neighbour, Anne Charleston (Madge Bishop) against several other soapstars in a series of cooking challenges.

Early April sees the kick-off of Jason Donovan's (Scott Robinson) "The Greatest Hits & More Tour". From April to July, he'll be playing many venues up and down the United Kingdom. Click here to see where he'll be playing and book tickets.

Also playing the UK later this year is Rogue Traders, the band which features former Neighbour Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Izzy Hoyland) on vocals. The band will be supporting Girls Aloud throughout May. Click here to find out more.

This week has seen some new rumours about Neighbours' future in the Australian press, indicating that the show would be taken off-air for several weeks to be revamped, as well as some big changes in writing staff. A source on the show has confirmed to us that, although the part about it being taken off-air is untrue, rumours of a massive revamp are not unfounded - "The show is getting a big makeover, a big new family, plus a lot of other new characters and the return of some popular old ones. High Definition. New sets. New titles. New theme song. And no, the writers haven't been given the sack!" And, as if that wasn't enough, rumours in the UK press that Fiona Corke is back for another short stint as Gail Robinson are also true.

Following rumours last month that Matt Lucas was interested in a Neighbours cameo, the official website reports that he and comedy partner David Walliams, in Australian for the Little Britain Tour have this week filmed an appearance. The scenes involve them playing the characters of Lou and Andy, and were shot in the Scarlet Bar with actors Ryan Moloney (Toadie), Carla Bonner (Steph) and Nicky Whelan (Pepper). They'll hit screens in Australia in June and in the UK in September.

This weekend sees the launch of Neighbours: The Perfect Blend's very own MySpace page. It's still a work in progress at the moment, but please feel free to add us if you're a fan of the show or the website, or would like to offer us any comments or suggestions.

Click here to visit our page.

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