As everyone knows workplace romances are very much a thing. And nowhere is this more true than on a TV or movie set. So why everyone was so shocked when it was revealed that Neighbours' Stefan Dennis used to date his co-star Natalie Imbruglia, we just don't know! OK that's not strictly true because when we heard that Stefan and Natalie were something of an item, as revealed to Stellar magazine, we have to admit we did have to read that twice. This was a couple we never saw coming!
It's not that unusual for actors to fall in love on set, and it's no different with the Neighbours cast. Not only is Neighbours the TV show which has a relatively high proportion of cast members related to other cast members, but there also seems to be a lot more on-set romances than other shows. Over the years there have been a few couples among the cast who got together after meeting on set - including Craig McLachan and Rachel Friend (Henry Ramsay and Bronwyn Davies) Chris Milligan and Jenna Rosenow (Kyle Canning and Amber Turner) Harley Bonner and Ariel Kaplan (who played the Willis twins Josh and Imogen) David Hoflin and Natalie Blair (Oliver Barnes and Carmella Cammeniti.) And those are just the ones we know about!
We take a look at other Neighbours co-stars who fell in love on-set proving that Neighbours really do become (more than) good friends!
1. KYLIE MINOGUE AND JASON DONOVAN
The most famous real-life couple to come out of Neighbours! Acting spilled over into real life when the couple who played soap sweethearts Scott and Charlene, Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue, got together for real and started dating in the late 1980s. Kylie became the envy of girls everywhere who desperately wanted to be Mrs. Donovan; men everywhere wanted to trade places with Jason in order to get close to their idea of the perfect girl next door. We think it's safe to say the world went Kylie and Jason mad. And when Kylie and Jason released their duet Especially For You, good grief, we couldn't breathe!
The two who had been acting since they were children, first met on the set of a soap called Skyways in which they played brother and sister. However it would be a few more years later before they teamed up again on Neighbours to form one of the most legendary soap couples ever. And not only that, their characters would go on to have a wedding that would be deemed the most iconic wedding in soap. It may have been thirty five years since Scott and Charlene made it to the altar, but in the intervening years, soap fans don't believe there's another soap wedding that comes close.
Unfortunately fans never got to see Kylie and Jason tie the knot for real as the couple broke up in 1989 with Kylie then going on to date INXS frontman, the late Michael Hutchence - something Jason has admitted hurt him very much. Today Jason is happily married and a father of three but he and Kylie have still maintained a strong friendship over the years. Neighbours fans are very much looking forward to finally seeing the pair back on Ramsay Street in the roles that made them soap legends... probably the only good thing about Neighbours ending!
2. ELAINE SMITH & PETER O'BRIEN
While Daphne Lawrence was torn between Des Clarke and Shane Ramsay, the actress who played her, Elaine Smith had no such dilemmas. She was happily loved up with Peter O'Brien who played Shane!
Theirs was probably the first love affair that blossomed on the set of Neighbours in the mid-1980s. They even gave an exclusive interview to British women's magazine Woman's Own in which they revealed that they were living together - something that 1980s society found very shocking - hence why Scott and Charlene had to get hitched!
Sadly the relationship didn't last. But Elaine, who now works as a teacher, is married to actor Jonathon Biggins with whom she has twin daughters, and Peter - who has delighted a legion of long-time Neighbours fans for reprising the role of Shane just as the show draws to a close - is married to actress Miranda Otto and they have a daughter.
3. FIONA CORKE & NICK CARRAFA
Fiona is known for her role as the second Mrs. Paul Robinson; a role she's played on and off since 1987, with her last appearance being back in 2019. But it was during her first stint that she was joined by fellow cast member, actor and musician Nick Carrafa who had a guest role playing mechanic, Tony Romeo. Although it's been said that Fiona and Nick knew each other before appearing in Neighbours, it appears that they fell in love while appearing on the show, but they didn't reveal their relationship until Nick had left the show. Nick has even returned to Neighbours playing two other characters, one of them being Dr. Peter Hannay who answered Susan Kennedy's prayers by marrying Sarah Beaumont and whisking her off to England and away from Susan's husband, Dr. Karl!
It would appear that Fiona and Nick are the only couple on this list who are still together! Yay! And while they are still involved in the world of entertainment, Fiona is also well known for being a wildlife activist and is vice president of the Australian Society for Kangaroos.
4. STEFAN DENNIS & GAYLE BLAKENEY
While Fiona Corke found lasting love on the set of Neighbours, Stefan Dennis who played her on-screen husband, Paul, didn't! After his marriage to his first wife, Roz Roy, ended, Stefan started dating his Neighbours co-star Gayle Blakeney who played Christina Alessi and the two were said to be engaged. Although Paul and Christina became man and wife, Stefan and Gayle didn't despite being together for two and a half years. It was after his relationship with Gayle ended that Stephan started dating Natalie Imbruglia.
And incidentally Stefan's real-life wife, and no he didn't meet her on the set of Neighbours, Gail Easdale starred on the show back in 2016 as the infamous Julie Quill. The couple have three children together. And Gayle Blakeney has lived in Los Angeles for more than twenty years and is married with two children.
5. SIMONE ROBERTSON & BENJAMIN MITCHELL
While playing the very memorable Ramsay Street resident, Phoebe Gottlieb née Bright, Simone Robertson just happened to fall in love with one of her co-stars. If you had to guess who her real-life leading man was you might think it was Kristian Schmidt, the actor who played the Todd Landers and the father of Phoebe's unborn baby girl. Or Lochie Daddo perhaps who played Phoebe's husband Stephen. But it was neither of them! Instead it was Benjamin Mitchell, who at the time was playing motorbike-riding lawyer Cameron Hudson - an actor with whom Simone shared very little screen time meaning that Neighbours fan might not instantly have worked out that there was a real-life romantic connection between the pair (a bit like Stefan Dennis and Natalie Imbruglia!)
In fact it was during an interview the couple did with British women's weekly Woman's Own after revealing their relationship, where Simone said that she felt it was during a scene in Neighbours where Phoebe was folding away laundry and Cameron was trying to persuade her to take in Annalise Hartman as a lodger that viewers might twig that there was something going on between the pair in real-life. After seeing the scene when it first aired we can honestly say that we really were none the wiser! Simone and Benjamin did a great job in keeping their relationship under wraps.
Unfortunately the relationship didn't last with the pair parting ways after a couple of years. Benjamin who is also a musician and writer, is married with a family, while Simone is married to her Breakers co-star Jean-Marc Russ with the couple having located to New York well over a decade ago.
Photos: YouTube
Blog graphics: Angel Noire
