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Ramsay Street’s House of Trouser braces itself for a female influx

Seems like barely yesterday that Natalie Saleeba was striding All Saints Western General’s corridors as Jessica, bedpan in hand. But get set to see the former All Saints star in a whole new light, when she swaps ward rounds for Ramsay Street as Neighbours’ newest, well, neighbour!

Natalie is one of four actors to recently join the show, moving in as the latest residents at number 30. Ben Lawson plays mysterious Frazer; Nicky Whelan (who will be familiar to many for her previous presenting roles) signs on as perky PE teacher Pepper; while newcomer Christian Clark – who sources say is sure to set hearts aflutter – has landed the part of fellow housemate Will.

Natalie rounds off the foursome playing Rosetta, a lawyer who’s intimately connected to one Ramsay Streeter. It’s all starting to sound a little like The Secret Life Of Us!

“They have the younger characters, but there’s a big gap between them and the older ones,” she explains. “So I think the idea is to bring in these twentysomething characters and introduce some storylines for that age group – which I think is a fabulous idea.”

For Natalie, who’s only been missing from our screens for a matter of months, her latest role couldn’t have come at a better time.

“A few weeks ago, I moved to Melbourne and it was probably about a week or two after I moved that I got the call to audition,” she says. “I hadn’t been off air for long at all. The industry is in such dire straits at the moment that I’m thanking my lucky stars this role has come up. The fact that it happened within six months of me leaving another show is just brilliant.”

Everything has happened so quickly that Natalie says she’s still struggling to get her head around the big break.

“Someone was telling me this morning (Neighbours) has an audience of 40 million people. Isn’t that just extraordinary?” she says, laughing. “That figure just makes my mind boggle.”

Natalie and her new co-stars will be seen on Neighbours later this year.

This article originally appeared in TV Soap magazine dated August 2006

Article submitted by Steve