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Reference > Erinsborough News > Ally's New Neighbourhood

Actress set for a TV comeback as series crosses to Network 10...

Former Sons And Daughters star Ally Fowler is all set to make a return to television as a girl who comes to dinner in the reprieved soap opera Neighbours.

Ally has a one-year contract with the Grundy series which was axed by the Seven Network and has been picked up by Network 10. She will begin working in the soapie in the first week in December when it is brought back into production by 10 for a relaunch in 1986. Neighbours will be kept running on Seven until the end of the year.

Ally, as permanent new character Zoe Davis, will be introduced to the series in a rather bizarre way, although the implications surrounding her arrival won’t be immediately evident to viewers. Daphne Lawrence (Elaine Smith) is the reason behind Zoe’s turning up on the scene. Zoe is looking for Daphne. She’s a voice from Daphne’s past. Daphne and Zoe knew each other when they were growing up.

Zoe will be seen coming out of the airport screaming and running up to Shane Ramsay (Peter O’Brien) who is waiting for his aunt. She throws her arms around him and starts kissing him. After enjoying all that, Shane tells the beautiful girl he’s never seen her before in his life. It looks like a case of mistaken identity but the incident isn’t quite what it seems.

Daphne very reluctantly invites Zoe to have dinner with her and her friend Des Clarke (Paul Keane), with whom she shares a house in Ramsay Street and she and Des find they can’t get her out.

Zoe is a complex young woman. A vivacious 20-year-old romantic who sees the world through rose-colored glasses, she is a complete mystery to everyone in Ramsay Street except Daphne, who is a level-headed young woman. Zoe’s a very sympathetic character and is going to be someone viewers will enjoy. A lovable liar, she’s the type of young woman who drives people mad, yet they forgive her because she doesn’t intend any harm at all.

For Ally, Zoe will be totally unlike her two most recent TV characters – Angela Hamilton in Sons And Daughters, and the honourable Nicola Shannon, daughter of Lord and Lady Shannon in the ill-fated Possession.

“To be perfectly honest I don’t know an enormous amount about Zoe yet, but she’s a much lighter, happier character than either Angela or Nicola,” Ally says. “From what I know of her she’s a very likeable character. She seems to be a fairly streetwise kid, but she’s from a middle-class Australian family and, at this stage, she isn’t bound up with some dreadful traumas.”

“You don’t know what lies ahead for Zoe though. Anything could happen,” Ally says. She is very pleased about her new role and is looking forward to working out of Melbourne.

“It’s great to be offered work for a year. You can’t sneeze at that. I think a year will probably do me. It’s hard to say at this stage, but I think that will be long enough.”

Ally has had a fair break from acting professionally. But she hasn’t been wasting her time. During her time away from the screen she’s been studying singing and dancing, taking the odd acting class and performing in workshops.

This article originally appeared in TV Week magazine dated 2nd November 1985 and was written by Marie Ussher

Article submitted by Steve