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Five have recently made a couple of minor changes to their Neighbours schedule - the early morning repeat has been moved to 5.35am, while, from this week, the morning repeat on Fiver (formerly Five Life) will be shown at 10am.

All episodes will be shown as normal on Monday 5th May, the May Bank Holiday.

Another Neighbours actor looks set to embark on a musical career, with news that Sam Clark (Ringo Brown) has signed on with management company PLW. The Herald Sun reports that Sam was put in touch with them by Neighbours' casting director, Jan Russ, and hopes to record an album. He does, however, insist that this doesn't mean he'll be leaving his role as Ringo, instead he plans to hold down both his acting and singing jobs.

It's a busy time for Sam, who is also nominated for Most Popular New Talent Male at this weekend's Logie Awards.

Friday 25th April will see Natalie Saleeba make her final appearance as Rosie, as the character leaves Erinsborough for an extended trip to Italy with husband Frazer. The following week will then see the debut of Erin McNaught as Cammeniti cousin, Sienna. There've been numerous rumours doing the rounds about how long Sienna, and Erin, will be sticking around, but this weekend's Sunday Herald Sun confirms that she does not intend to sign a new contract once her current one runs out in July. Also thinking about life away from Erinsborough is another Cammeniti woman - Natalie Blair, who's played Rosie's sister Carmella since 2003, is quoted in the Sunday Herald Sun as saying that "I am itching to get overseas. I would love to get to New York, I want to do the whole Broadway musical theatre thing. I just love being out on stage and I really miss it. Don't worry, I won't be releasing any music. I have no desire to do that." Natalie's contract is due to expire in September.

It seems that love is in the air for several Neighbours actors with news in this weekend's Sunday Herald Sun that Natalie Blair (Carmella) and David Hoflin (Oliver) are dating. Also beginning a new romance is Kym Valentine (Libby), who is reported to be seeing actor Vince Colosimo - who just happens to be the ex-husband of Kym's castmate Jane Hall (Rebecca).

Could Jesse Spencer (Billy) be on his way back to Ramsay Street? Recent reports have mentioned that his role as Dr Robert Chase in House is to be gradually reduced for the next season, giving him more free time to pop back and see his relatives in Erinsborough.

Meanwhile, Jesse's Neighbours girlfriend Brooke Satchwell (Anne) was back on Australian screens this week with her new series, Canal Road. And a couple of other ex-Neighbours will shortly be back on the small screen, with news that Craig McLachlan (Henry) and Blair McDonough (Stuart) have filmed guest roles for the second series of crime drama City Homicide.

And finally, Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Izzy), fresh from her role as host of Australia's So You Think You Can Dance? is set to release a self-help book. Sistahood: A Journal Of Self-Discovery was compiled by Natalie and her younger sister Nicky and was launched in Australia last week.

In the last few weeks, Steve Parker has made several mentions of his cruel father, Jim, and this week's TV Week reports that the role has now been cast. Roger Oakley, who has had roles in Something In The Air and Prisoner Cell Block H, but is best known in the Australian soap world for playing Tom Fletcher in Home & Away, will play Jim, who will tear himself away from his farm in Oakey to make an appearance in Erinsborough later this year.

Today's Sunday Herald Sun reports that Scott Major has joined the Neighbours cast. He will play Lucas Fitzgerald, brother to teacher Dan, and started on set this week. Scott previously appeared on Neighbours for several weeks back in 1993, as the first actor to play the role of Darren Stark. The role was taken over by Todd MacDonald when Darren became a regular fixture in 1996, but, in our 2005 interview with Scott, when asked if he'd ever consider a return to Ramsay Street, his response was "Never say never". Scott is best known for his regular roles as Rivers in Heartbreak High and as Tom in Always Greener.

In other casting news, it was recently reported in TV Week magazine that former Blue Heelers regular Charlie Clausen will join the cast in an, as yet unnamed, extended guest role.

Nicky Whelan (Pepper) looks to have achieved her dream of acting in Hollywood. The Sunday Herald Sun reports that she's landed a role alongside old friend David Spade in comedy Hollywood & Wine. In another, slightly strange, Nicky rumour, actor Gary Stretch is claiming on his IMDB page that he married her earlier this year!

Delta Goodrem (Nina) is making another attempt to crack the American market. She has filmed a new video for her single In This Life, which will be released next month, followed by her third album Delta in June.

Finally, another former Neighbour found himself in a spot of bother recently - Jay Ryan (Jack) was filming for his new naval series Sea Patrol when he was caught in a whirlpool and almost drowned. Thankfully he survived the incident, and is set to begin a new tour of his one-man-show The Packer on April 20th.

The nominations for this year's Logie Awards have been announced, with Neighbours represented in a few categories. For the second year running, Natalie Blair (Carmella) is up for the coveted Gold Logie. Natalie is also up for the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress.

Also up for awards are Sam Clark (Ringo) and Adelaide Kane (Lolly), who are nominated for Most Popular New Male Talent and Most Popular New Female Talent respectively. Meanwhile, the show itself is up for Most Popular Australian Drama.

The award ceremony will take place on Sunday May 4th at Melbourne's Crown Casino.

Since Neighbours isn't eligable to be nominated in British Soap Awards, we thought we'd run our own, using the same categories and concentrating on the 2007 season. Voting is now open to our messageboard members - and you can either vote in the thread, here or by sending an email to vote@perfectblend.net (remembering to include your username on the messageboard). The categories are as follows:

Sexiest Male
Sexiest Female
Villain Of The Year
Best Comedy Performance
Best Newcomer
Best On-screen Partnership
Spectacular Scene Of The Year
Best Single Episode
Best Exit
Soap Bitch Of The Year
Best Dramatic Performance
Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress
Best Storyline
Best Actor
Best Actress
Lifetime Achievement Award (as previous winners, Jackie Woodburne and Ian Smith are not eligible)

And remember to only vote for characters and events from the 2007 Season. Voting is open until Saturday 10th May 2008 and the results will be published on Perfect Blend soon after.

To view our archive of past news stories click here