Jay Rebecchi’s shock arrival
Dhruv Malge arrives to play Jay Rebecchi…
Shane’s marriage to Dipi has been hanging by a thread after the revelation of her affair with businessman Pierce. And as the couple reach breaking point this week, their son Jay turns up on Ramsay Street! Dhruv Malge fills us in on joining the show…
“I’ve learned so much from my on-screen family and I love the chemistry between us all!” shares the Neighbours newbie. “I can’t wait for you all to see how the energy between the Rebecchis has changed now with another guy there…”
Jay is the middle Rebecchi child – the younger brother of Yashvi, and older brother of Kirsha. When the family arrived on Ramsay Street three years ago, Jay was off screen at boarding school. But this week, he reunites with family in Erinsborough, and finds his parents on the verge of a very messy break-up…
“No one is expecting Jay,” reveals Dhruv. “Although once he hears about what is going on between his parents, Jay makes it his mission to fix it all – and create a lot of drama, but you already knew that!”
Despite landing a role on the legendary Aussie soap, Dhruv tells us that he hadn’t seen much of the show before joining.
“I wasn’t much of a soap opera fan – I’m more of a thriller kind of guy,” admits the actor. “However, I started watching when I got the audition for Jay so I could learn about the family dynamics, and I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s a great place to work, everyone at Neighbours is so good at helping me settle in. And they know how to treat outsiders, and make them feel welcome
– I love it here!”
In a year where a lot of the drama has been off screen, with the soaps shutting down production as the country found itself in the grip of coronavirus, there’s been little let-up to big, emotional stories on screen – and certainly no change in how closely fought the
Inside Soap Awards were.
This would have been the 20th year of the Inside Soap red carpet event, but instead of bringing the soap stars to us, we took the
Inside Soap Awards to them – quite literally – presenting them on set to the worthy winners.
“It’s actually turned out to be a lovely experience this year,” says Steven Murphy, editor of Inside Soap. “It was nice to reward the hard work and commitment that it took to get our favourite shows up and running again. Many of the stars told us how the awards gave them a sense of normality in the world – and
I hope it’s the same for our readers. However, more than one actor did make us promise that they’d receive a drink with their trophy next time!”
“I wish I was more Nina!”
It’s been the best year for me. It’s funny because when I first started it was really dark in the mornings, and now it’s like that again, and it reminds me of when this all began. It brings back memories of working with Paul Bown [who played Nina’s dad, Richard] – there were so many ‘pinch me’ moments then, and I love being reminded of that again.
Why do you think so many Coronation Street viewers like Nina?
I think it’s her ‘I don’t care’ attitude. And I was thinking recently, if I was watching now as a younger viewer, I would see Nina as an idol. People admire her because she just says what she thinks – I’d like to be more like Nina.
You have the opportunity to work with a lot of other cast members, as Nina works in Roy’s Rolls – who’s been your favourite person to work with?
I worked with Julia [Goulding, aka Shona] when she was living with Roy, and then
I had a few scenes with Jack [P Shepherd, who plays David] and they were great. And
I just love it when I get to work with Maureen Lipman [Evelyn]! She’s a really funny person, and I love the dynamic between Nina and Evelyn – they make a great duo.
What’s been the most rewarding storyline for you to film so far?
I’ve really loved Nina supporting Asha through her ordeal. I think it’s so great for young people to see. Nina sends a very positive message out for young people, and that’s really rewarding. Nina’s very inspiring and alternative, and it’s lovely to have a character like her.
What are you hoping for over the next year?
Well, I don’t know too much about it, but I’ve got some big storylines coming up. I’m very excited for that – the more I film, the happier I am!
Geoff and Yasmeen are the biggest winners at this year’s Awards…
There’s one big storyline that’s touched the soap viewing public more than any other this year, and that is Yasmeen’s abuse at the hands of horrid hubby Geoff. But don’t just take our word for it – our readers have named Corrie star Ian Bartholomew (Geoff) as this year’s Best Actor and Best Villain, while the scene where Yasmeen fought back against Geoff has been picked as the Best Show-stopper…
“I’m going to have to make a little awards shelf, because I don’t have anywhere to put them at the moment!” jokes Ian, as we congratulate him on his wins. “I’m particularly thrilled with the Best Actor award, because often those go to the nice characters, not the villains. Although I’m not sure Geoff sees himself as a villain.”
There’s no doubt that the subject matter of this story is an important one – but perhaps one of the biggest reasons why it’s been such a success is the real-life friendship between Ian and co-star Shelley King (Yasmeen).
“We do get on terribly well, and we trust each other, which is the main thing,” grins Ian. “For me, witnessing Shelley crumbling as Yasmeen, and watching this character that I was playing destroy her in front of me, was actually really quite upsetting. I felt bad doing all those things, but we both wanted to do it as well and as truthfully as we could.”
“It would be impossible to do this story well without having complete faith in the person you’re working with,” agrees Shelley. “And we do, so that was excellent. I hope we’ll be friends for a very long time.”
The moment when Yasmeen snapped, and lashed out at Geoff with a broken wine bottle, was definitely a big turning point for this plot. It aired during the first UK-wide lockdown, meaning neither Ian nor Shelley got much inperson feedback – so they’re thrilled that fans have shown their appreciation with the Best Show-stopper award.
“I don’t do social media, so in many respects I have been closed off to the reaction,” Ian tells us.
“But I did see the episode of Gogglebox where they watched it – they were all delighted that Geoff got some kind of comeback!”
“People were going, ‘Oh, my God!’, and crying – they all loved it!” adds Shelley. “People were shouting at me from their cars, going, ‘Yeah, good on ya, Yas!’ It was lovely.”
With Yasmeen’s trial starting this week, surely the time has come for justice to be served. And Shelley tells us that she’s delighted the fans are rooting for her character to be freed.
“Through this storyline people have actually taken to Yasmeen as a character, without any notion of her ethnicity, which is what I have always wanted,” she grins. “Thanks so much to Corrie for giving us this storyline – we’re both very proud of it…”