AUTHOR: Carl Ruhen GENRE: Soap Opera PAGES: 170 RELEASED: 1987 SERIES: Neighbours #1 SYNOPSIS: The trouble started when Daphne moved in. A stripper lodging with the Clarkes! For Max Ramsay next door it was just too much. As if they didn’t have enough problems of their own, with Shane and Danny in the car crash, and then Danny running away after being falsely accused of mugging Mrs Brown... On the other side of the fence love is blossoming between Jim Robinson, a widower with a young family, and Anna, Maria Ramsay’s sister. But is it a love doomed from the start, thwarted by the interference of... Neighbours. Who knew one little cul-de-sac could be the home of so much drama!
Life is Ramsay Street is far from quiet and peaceful suburban living. At No. 24, plumber Max Ramsay, whose grandfather the street is named after, has a lot on his plate. From worrying about the fact that a stripper has moved in across the street, and his sons Shane and Danny involved in a car accident that put an end to Shane’s Olympic diving hope, to Danny running away with his best mate Scott, and then finding out that Danny isn’t actually his son. Meanwhile next door at No. 26, engineer and widower Jim Robinson thinks he’s found love again with Maria Ramsay’s sister Anna, but daughters Julie and Lucy are anything but welcoming. And his son Scott is experiencing his first relationship with Kim Taylor, but things are over before they’ve really begun when Kim’s super strict mother ends up pushing her to run away. And then at No. 28, banker Des, who should have been off on his honeymoon, has taken in the stripper from his bucks party, Daphne, as a lodger when Lorraine called off the wedding. To make matters worse, his mother Eileen packed up her life in Perth to move in with him, quickly showing her strong distaste in his choice of housemate. And once he finally gets rid of his mother, Daphne’s wacky grandfather Harry is on their doorstep. With Neighbours ending this week, it felt like the perfect time to dive into this little beauty. Recapping approximately the first six months of the show’s first year in 1985, it’s a really fun way to relive and experience the stories that kick-started it all. Each character and their storyline get’s its own chapter, and Carl does a really great job at capturing their personality and voice in such a short piece of writing. In saying that, Carl’s writing style doesn’t lend itself well to all of the characters – Jim, Daphne and Des flowed really well, whereas Max, Scott and Danny felt really disjointed and clunky. For someone who is a fan of the show and familiar with these characters and episodes, it was easy to look over this flaw, but for anyone picking up this book who has little to no knowledge of this era of Neighbours history, it would definitely prove a little difficult to get into. Despite everything, this was a really enjoyable and nostalgic read, and up until the DVDs of the early years of the show were released in the past decade, this TV novelisation was the only way to really relive these early stories. If you’re a Neighbours fan, this is definitely a book you need in your collection, so if you find it on eBay or in your local second-hand shop, grab it immediately! |
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