Neighbours stars: Where are they now?
It’s been a sudsy staple of global television life since it launched in March 1985. But Neighbours’ future in the UK – where it has screened for 31 years – is now said to be in doubt, with reports that talks have stalled between producers and Channel 5.
As irate Ramsay Street fans petition to save their beloved show, we take a look back at some of its favourite characters, and find out where they are today...
Identical twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney, now aged 50, live in the US where they work in business, launching companies and building brands. Gillian, the younger by nine minutes, has a successful scarf line, Leigh & Luca New York.
The sisters knew from an early age they wanted to be on television and their break came on the soap, where they played twins Caroline and Christina Alessi.
It was a complicated plotline that involved witness protection, the pretence that they were only one person and a battle for the affections of Paul Robinson.
Both Gayle and Gillian left Ramsay Street in 1992 and headed for the UK, where they tried, but failed, to launch a pop career like Neighbours stars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.
Gillian, now mum to a daughter, was living in New York until her marriage broke down in 2011.
She now lives in Los Angeles, near Gayle, who is married with three kids, and the sisters and their children are all still close.