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Melbourne teenager Sasha Close has won a plum role as the new-look Lucy Robinson in Neighbours.

Kylie Flinker, who originally played Lucy, left the top-rating Network Ten series last year and producers have now decided Sasha is the right girl to take over the role of the youngest character.

“It’s like a dream come true,” the bubbly 13-year-old says. “I heard Kylie was going so I knew they would have to hold auditions and I just hoped I would have the chance to go for the part.”

This is the second time in the series someone new has played an established character. Jason Donovan took over as Scott Robinson at the start of last year after Darius Perkins quit when Neighbours made its switch from the Seven Network to Ten. While there are noticeable differences between Sasha and her predecessor, well-spoken Sasha isn’t too concerned and is approaching the task with maturity.

“I know it will be hard to live up to what Kylie’s done, but I think I should be able to cope,” she says. “Lucy has been in Paris for a month and when she comes back she will know about the Paris fashions and everything will have gone to her head. She returns a bit more grown-up.”

A self-confessed fan of the programme (“I watch it every night”) the dark-haired student began taping on March 16 and will make her on-air debut in May. Sasha is rather coy about working with the show’s heart-throbs, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce.

“My friends are all saying I will have to get their autographs for them, but I just said I’ll see what happens,” she says, shrugging. Sasha’s first television role follows a five-year drama course which involved numerous performances in theatre productions. When she was younger, Sasha took an interest in classical ballet.

“When I tried acting I really liked it so I stuck with it and I have loved it ever since,” she says. A straight-A student, she is confident of successfully combining her second year of high school studies with a full-time acting career.

But when her friends are on holidays at Easter, Sasha will be working twice as hard. On top of her taping schedule for Neighbours, the talented performer has one of the lead roles in a children’s play, Are There Any At The Bottom Of Your Garden, at the Nunawading Civic Centre in Melbourne. “It’s full of fairies and pixies – it’s a real kids’ thing,” Sasha says.

This article originally appeared in TV Week magazine dated 27th March 1987 and was written by Kelly Bourne

Article submitted by Steve