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Fans of Neighbours and Kath & Kim in Australia should look out for the show’s third season finale, tomorrow night at 8.30pm on ABC. The show features a “flash-forward” sequence to the wedding of Kim’s daughter Epponnee-Rae, and playing her is none other than Kylie Minogue. Kylie’s part in Kath & Kim pays homage to her Neighbours character Charlene Robinson’s wedding, with Epponnee sporting a dress and hairstyle not-too-dissimilar to those Kylie sported way back in 1988.

Yet another former Neighbours actor has landed a role in a US series, with Jesse Spencer (Billy Kennedy) appearing in new medical mystery drama, House. The show, which began airing last week on the FOX network, stars Jesse as Dr. Robert Chase, and is led by British comedian Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House. No news yet on whether the show will reach Australia or the UK, but it seems to be performing reasonably well during an American television season full of cancelled shows.

Several months after finding out that Stefan Dennis would be reprising his role as Paul Robinson for Neighbours’ twentieth anniversary year, little is still known about why the character returns, or his new circumstances. Perfect Blend has this week spoken to Script Producer Luke Devenish, and it seems that Paul will have spent some time in prison before his return to Erinsborough. Luke points out that Paul will be back in town having become estranged from his wives, children and siblings, and no longer has anyone there to pull him back when his bad behaviour gets out of control.

Meanwhile, fans of the show’s presentation will be pleased to learn that next year will see brand new opening credits debut, as well as new stock shots and incidental music. Most of the sets will also be revamped, a process that began this year with the Scully house.

Finally, fans can look forward to the whole year being treated as one big anniversary celebration. Although there will be one special week which contains the most nostalgic surprises, there will be much more than that, spread out over the whole twelve months.

Find out more in Luke’s interview with us, here.

Fans of Carmella Cammeniti (Natalie Blair) will be delighted to hear that the Italian troublemaker will be back in Ramsay Street at the beginning of next year for UK viewers, having already made her return in Australia. And according to the UK's All About Soap magazine, she's back on a more regular basis, with Natalie having moved from Brisbane to Melbourne. Find out more about Carmella's past exploits, here.

Neighbours will commence five minutes early this evening (Thursday November 18th) at 5.30pm on BBC1. Space is being cleared at 5.50pm for the first screening of the Band Aid 20 video, being screened simultaneously across BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4, Five, Sky One and on other digital channels.

As well as a whole host of blasts from the past next year to mark the 20th anniversary of Neighbours, Ramsay Street will also be welcoming a new family in the form of The Timminses. Stingray's mother Janelle (Nell Feeney) has just made her debut on Oz screens but 2005 will see the rest of the family descend on Erinsborough to cause all sorts of hilarity. Script Producer Luke Devenish has some advice for viewers - "Be Warned!" It has also been confirmed that Max and Izzy's father will be introduced to the cast next year.

Despite recent problems in her personal life, Delta Goodrem (Nina Tucker) continues to achieve greatness in her career. Her new album Mistaken Identity has hit the number one spot in her home country of Australia, following similar success for its first single Out Of The Blue. Meanwhile, the single has entered the UK charts this week at number nine.

Meanwhile, the Herald Sun reports that Delta has scored a guest role in the US series, North Shore. The series stars former Baywatch actress Brooke Burns and is set in a luxury hotel in Hawaii. It is currently struggling for ratings and is pulling in many big name guest stars, including Shannon Doherty. It is thought that Delta will film her part in the show in December.

It seems that after her disappointment earlier this year, pulling out of a risque role in nip/tuck, Holly Valance (Flick Scully) has landed a guest role in rival series, CSI: Miami. She's currently concentrating on the acting, after her music career failed to set the world alight, and is also filming the new National Lampoon movie, Pledge This with Paris Hilton.

Australia's Sunday Telegraph reports that Daniel MacPherson (Joel Samuels) is to be the host of Network Ten's version of British reality show The X Factor. The show is due to begin on Ten next year, and MacPherson's deal is part of a two-year contract with the channel, which will also see him developing new drama series.

The Sun newspaper reports today that Anne Charleston, who played Ramsay Street matriarch Madge from 1986 to 1992, and again from 1996 to 2001, is to appear in the new, fourth series of ITV's reality show, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. It wouldn't be Anne's first experience of reality television, having been the first person voted off LivingTV's I'm Famous And Frightened earlier in the year. If Anne does appear on the series, due to start on November 21st, she'll apparently be slumming it in the jungle alongside people such as Janet Street-Porter, singer Natalie Appleton and Kylie Minogue's ex James Gooding.

UK Satellite and Cable channel UKTV Gold are to take Neighbours off the air for a full two weeks over the Christmas period.

The channel has made this statement about the changes: "This year we are totally changing the schedule for the Christmas period, which will run from Monday December 20th through to Monday January 3rd. We are giving all our soaps and dramas a rest throughout this time and instead will be playing comedy classics, feature length dramas and films to reflect the festive season. The regular schedule will be resumed on Tuesday January 4th and all programmes will be starting from the point left on December 17th. In total the festive schedule will last 2 weeks."

The channel are currently showing the 1999 repeats of the show in a double episode slot from 5.30am weekdays.

The Christmas record from Ian Smith is now looking less likely. In a recent interview with BBC Neighbours, he explained that, whilst he's still keen to release a single, the record company want a whole album, something he isn't so keen on.

Meanwhile, a new Neighbours DVD is in the pipeline for next year's anniversary celebrations. Titled Neighbours - The 20th Anniversary Special, it is currently scheduled for release on June 6th 2005.

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