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News Headlines

A couple of former Neighbours actresses are set to appear on American television, with news that Radha Mitchell (Catherine O'Brien) has landed the lead role in a new US crime drama. Radha will play LAPD detective Maggie Bird in The Quickening. Meanwhile, Nicky Whelan, who quit her role as Pepper Steiger two years ago, is finding success in the US with guest appearances in Melrose Place, Entourage and Scrubs.

Ashleigh Brewer (Kate Ramsay) has revealed that she hopes to one day use her Neighbours role as a stepping stone to an international stage career, having been dancing and singing since she was young.

Natalie Imbruglia's (Beth Brennan) big musical comeback has been deemed a failure, with her album Come To Life selling only 740 copies across Australia on its first week of release. The debut single from the album, Want, failed to chart in the country, and reached a dismal no 88 in the UK charts. Hoping for a more successful music career is Sam Clark (Ringo Brown), who will be appearing on The 7PM Project on Channel Ten next Friday, 6th November.

And finally, some new Neighbours relationships appear to be blossoming, with both Jane Hall (Rebecca Napier) and Kym Valentine (Libby Kennedy) spotted with new men with Erinsborough connections. While Jane is reportedly involved with Nick Farnell, who recently appeared as Steph's married man Greg Michaels, Kym is in the early stages of a romance with ex-neighbour Jonathon Dutton, who played Tad Reeves between 1998 and 2002, and most recently worked as a Neighbours director.

Today marks 23 years since Neighbours made its debut on UK screens. Shown for the first time on BBC One at 1.25pm on October 27th 1986, it was moved to a 5.35pm evening slot in January 1988, and, despite a change of channel last year, it has remained in its traditional early afternoon and early evening slots for over 21 years now. Arguably, the huge fondness for Neighbours in the UK is what's saved it from the axe on more than one occasion, and we can only hope that we'll still be watching the residents of Ramsay Street for many years to come.

Mark Mitchell, best known in Australia for his role as Con the Fruiterer in the 1980s sketch show The Comedy Company, is set to appear in Neighbours in February 2010 as Magistrate Paul O'Regan.

Also filming recently was Kate Ceberano. The singer will appear as herself at Kate Ramsay's 18th birthday party next February. Also filming musical cameos recently were Alex Lloyd, James Henry and Carl Riseley.

As if 15 years of the Kennedy family wasn't enough excitement for one month, this week will also see 10 years since the Scully family arrived in Ramsay Street. Although we're only left with Steph, and guest appearances from Lyn, we still felt that their tenth anniversary, on Wednesday 21st October, was worth marking with a week of Scully-related features. We kick off today with a special Golden Couples article, looking at the decade-long friendship between Steph and Libby.

Summer Hoyland, last seen in early 2007 when her dad Max left Erinsborough, is set to return to town with a new face. Previously played by Marisa Siketa between 2002 and 2007, Summer has been away at music school in Wangaratta for the last four years, but will return to Australian screens in February 2010 to live with stepmother Steph, stepgrandmother Lyn and half-brother Charlie. Playing Summer will be 17-year-old Jordy Lucas, one of the finalists in last year's Dolly Magazine contest to find Neighbours' Next Big Stars. Jordy is the fourth actor from the contest to score a Neighbours role, following on from Mauricio Merino Jr (Simon Freedman), Chelsea Jones (Tegan Freedman) and Hany Lee (Sunny Lee). Click here to see an image of Jordy in her first week filming with fellow newcomer Jordan Smith (Andrew Robinson).

In other casting news, comedian Peter Moon, best known for his work in sketch show Fast Forward has landed a guest role on Neighbours as theatre producer Terry Kearney. Peter will be on Australian screens from early 2010.

Over the past few years, Neighbours: The Perfect Blend has expanded with pages on MySpace & Facebook. Now you can keep up to date with our latest features & updates on Twitter. Check out our profile at twitter.com/theperfectblend, where you can sign up to follow us or tweet back and let us know what you think about the show or our site.

Today marks 15 years since the Kennedys first moved into Ramsay Street, and despite departures, divorces, deaths and recasts, three of the original five Kennedy actors are still going strong. We're marking this momentous week with a special Kennedy family header for the site, as well as a Magic Moment of Publish And Be Damned, the episode that marked ten years of Kennedy drama. We'll also be adding a few other Kennedy-related articles as the week continues.

To view our archive of past news stories click here