If there's one thing soap fans love, it's a villain! And so does Neighbours as well it seems, going by the long list of dastardly characters who have graced Ramsay Street. In the last couple of years alone we've had Hamish Roach; Cassius Grady; the now reformed Finn Kelly; Andrea Sommers; Heather Schilling, and in the past we've had Izzy Hoyland; Darcy Tyler and Sindi Watts. Now we have Scarlett Brady, a rather unstable young woman who has set her sights on Ned Willis and will stop at nothing, it seems, to be with him - even if that means wrecking his relationship with Yashvi Rebecchi and almost killing Bea Nilsson. Ned, of course is totally oblivious to what is happening around him. Earth to Ned: Woman sobbing in a busy airport while wearing a wedding gown is a major red flag, mate!
Scary Scarlett!
Over the years, there have been more than a few unsavoury types who have cropped up in Erinsborough. But these are ones you may have forgotten about. We take a look at five villainous but forgotten
Neighbours baddies.
1. SHANNON
This villain was very much blink and you'll miss her, and probably quite tame compared to other villains. But then Shannon made her appearance back in the relatively early days of Neighbours when villains and their dastardly deeds were just getting warmed up!
Shannon was a minor character back in the early nineties who was caught shoplifting from Gaby Willis's boutique, Gabrielle's. In a bid to ensure that Gaby didn't press charges, Shannon returned to the boutique to apologize to Gaby and explain her difficult home life which involved being short of money, and her parents not paying her a lot of attention due to their focus being on Shannon's brother who was in a wheelchair. Feeling a great deal of sympathy for Shannon, especially as her own ex-fiancé Glenn left Erinsborough after being told he'd never walk again, Gaby decided to give Shannon a chance and offered her a job at the boutique which Shannon gratefully accepted and proved to be quite good in her new role.
However a furious Gaby caught Shannon stuffing a garment into her bag and yelled at her - but felt quite contrite when Shannon showed her a fault in the garment and explained that she was taking it home to mend it. All was well until a customer stole takings from the till when no one was looking, so Gaby raced off to inform security. However when they found out who Gaby's new sales assistant was, they suggested that she call Shannon's parents....
Gaby did just that and discovered that not only did Shannon not have a brother who was paraplegic, but she didn't have any brothers at all - she was an only child with a history of stealing and lying. Gaby raced back to the boutique and discovered that Shannon was about to escape with the takings. The ungrateful so-and-so told Gaby that anyone who gave second chances the way she did deserved to be taken in. That was enough to convince Gaby to press charges who told Shannon that maybe a court appearance would give her the opportunity to take a long hard look at herself - and stop breaking her parents' hearts.
2. SIMON HUNTER
Poor Gaby - she just couldn't get away from rotters! Trying to get her life back on track after her failed engagement to Glenn Donnelly, Gaby started dating Simon Hunter, owner of a hardware store who had previously been engaged to Melanie Pearson until she left him for Joe Mangel. Brooding over their failed relationships caused them to get closer - until Gaby discovered that Simon had a girlfriend. He ended that relationship to begin one with Gaby, but was frustrated when Gaby wouldn't take their relationship to the next level and put pressure on her to sleep with him.
All went well - until the fateful night that Gaby went over to Simon's for dinner and was assaulted by him in what was a very shocking storyline for Neighbours at the time. Gaby tried to keep quiet about what happened but people kept noticing her bruises, and after breaking down she finally revealed what Simon did to her that night. This led her father Doug to get in his truck and go after Simon, and the furious dad punched and threatened Simon when he caught up with Gaby's attacker.
Simon then used the thumping he got from Doug to blackmail the Willises, threatening to press charges against Doug if Gaby went to the police. Despite Doug's insistence that she report Simon, Gaby was in a dilemma: On the one hand she felt that she couldn't let Simon get away with what he'd done but on the other, she didn't want Doug to get into trouble. While she was still deciding what to do, Simon reappeared and finally did the right thing: he apologised to Gaby and admitted that what he did was wrong. He also accepted that she was well within her rights to go to the police, and if she did, he would keep quiet about Doug attacking him.
Realizing that Simon was more damaged than evil, Gaby told him that she wouldn't press charges on condition that he sought help for his problems. Simon agreed and even offered Gaby money to keep her boutique going - an offer Gaby rejected, telling him that she just wanted him out of her life for good. And that was the last time that Gaby - or viewers - saw of Simon ever again.
3. PAIGE SNEDDON
It's not just Gaby who was a magnet for lowlifes - her little brother Brad attracted his in the form of hip, foxy, older woman Paige Sneddon who ran the local surf shop. Paige hired Brad to work in her shop after hearing about his skills as a surf board designer. A passion for surfing brought the two together and it wasn't long before Brad and Paige started dating.
Brad then suffered a setback when someone broke into his garage and stole his surfboards - and a half-coin pendant found at the scene of the crime was left behind by the culprit. Then a customer brought back a surfboard that was in need of repair and Brad recognized it as one of his stolen boards - even though the customer was adamant that the board was purchased from Paige's shop. When confronted by Brad, Paige claimed that she bought the boards not realizing that they had been stolen, and Brad believed her.
Suspicion soon fell on Lou Carpenter's son, Guy, as the pendant found at Brad's garage was similar to the one he wore. Guy explained that the pendant was given to him a while back by a woman he had been dating who kept the other half. He then recognized Paige as the woman who gave him the pendant when he saw her and Brad on a date and realized that she must be the one behind the theft of Brad's surfboards. Brad refused to believe Guy's accusations against his girlfriend and the two men come to blows. Then one afternoon while Brad was over at Paige's house for lunch, he saw some surfboards lying around and decided to put them in the garage despite Paige's pleas not to do so - and Brad found his stolen surfboards and realized that his girlfriend was the thief all along.
After initially refusing to listen to her, Brad eventually heard Paige out who explained that she was forced to do what she did because Brad was direct competition for her and was taking away her trade. Brad ended his relationship with Paige, who then flew into a rage at Guy, blaming him for Brad dumping her, and tried to attack him. Brad's friends and family urged Brad to report Paige to the police but as he was still in love with her, he refused to do so.
4. JILL WEIR
What is it with those Willises, always being taken in by lying, manipulative, no-good so-and-sos? This time it was Doug and his wife Pam's turn to be fooled when an act of kindness towards a grieving mother almost cost them their marriage.
Jill Weir befriended Doug and Pam while she was battling for custody of her son, Ross. When Ross died, she leaned heavily on the Willis family who wholeheartedly gave her their support during her time of need. And it was while she was grieving that Jill developed an attraction to Doug, who she began to see as the ideal husband. Doug, realizing that Jill had feelings for him, tried to keep his distance from her, but Pam - who had really taken Jill under her wing - was oblivious to the fact that another woman had designs on her husband, and even allowed Jill to stay in the Willis family home - much to Jill's delight and Doug's annoyance.
Realizing that there were cracks in the Willis marriage - which included the growing bond between Pam and neighbour, Jim Robinson, and Pam's admission that she had feelings for Jim - Jill used this knowledge to her advantage by playing on Doug's suspicions. It all worked in Jill's favour who cleverly manipulated the family in order to get close to Doug.
And Jill's scheming paid off, when convinced that Pam was having an affair with Jim, Doug succumbed to Jill's charms and had a one-night stand with her. And Jill became more and more unhinged she stopped at nothing in order to get Doug to leave Pam, even taking an overdose while strangely enough in Doug and Pam's bed. It was as she was recovering in hospital that Jill revealed all to a stunned Pam, who confronted her husband.
Doug regretted his actions so much that he confessed all to Pam who wasted no time in throwing him out of the house and filed for divorce. Jill was thrilled that her plan worked and without a hint of remorse, rubbed Pam and Gaby's noses in the wreckage that was their family, revelling in the fact that she was responsible. Why she didn't get a slap, nobody knows! However, Jill underestimated the strength of Doug and Pam's love for each other, and after a close call where Doug and Brad went missing at sea, Pam decided to give her marriage another go. This devastated Jill who threatened to throw herself off her apartment balcony but was stopped by Doug. After going to hospital, Jill agreed to get help as her mental state was clearly as a result of the loss of her son.
When Jill was feeling better she contacted the Willises to apologize for the role she had played in ruining their marriage and wanted to put things right - but unsurprisingly they felt it was best to steer well clear of her. But the ghost of Jill Weir was difficult to put to rest and years later when Doug and Pam's marriage was tested again due to his battle with dementia, Doug brought up the name of the woman who Pam never wanted to hear about again.
5. FIONA HARTMAN
When Annalise Hartman arrived in Ramsay Street, many of the residents saw what a right handful she was - and that's putting it mildly! Conniving, manipulative and a troublemaker, Annalise did a great job of rubbing people up the wrong way. But then along came mama Hartman, Fiona, and suddenly we all saw where Annalise got it from! Though to be fair, Annalise turned out to be a far kinder person than her mother ever could be, and it took Jim Robinson's death to show what a heartless schemer Fiona really was.
When Jim became romantically involved with Fiona, the only person who thought she was a totally fabulous woman was Jim! Even Annalise was concerned about her mum getting her claws into a kind-hearted man like Jim Robinson, and Jim's family and friends were very concerned about this relationship, especially his mother-in-law Helen and daughter Julie. And they had every reason to be. In front of Jim, Fiona came across as sweetness and light, but others saw her true colours.
When Jim collapsed and died of a heart attack, the only other person at home was Fiona who shed tears for all of two seconds before getting on the phone to transfer Jim's money into her account. She then set the scene for Jim's body to be discovered by his family and left the house before returning when Jim's grief-stricken family were there and feigned shock.
Fiona soon fled Erinsborough with Jim's money, but word eventually got back to Annalise that her mother had been involved in an accident and was in a very bad way. Angry at what her mother had done, Annalise refused to go and see her but Helen made her see sense and told Annalise that if she never went to see Fiona and the worst happened, she'd never forgive herself. Annalise relented and dashed to the hospital to see Fiona but it was indeed too late and Fiona had passed away.
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WordCloud by Angel Noire
The Simon Hunter storyline was shocking. Back then Neighbours didn't usually tackle hard hitting storylines like rape. In fact I don't think that word was used at all. If I remember right, those scenes were cut here in Britain, so viewers saw Gaby returning home looking distressed without seeing what took place beforehand.