List of Neighbours characters introduced in 1987
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera that was first broadcast on 18 March 1985. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the serial in 1987, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the show's executive producer Reg Watson. The third season of Neighbours began airing on 5 January 1987. Harold Bishop arrived during the same month. February saw the introductions of [|Bouncer] and [|Henry Mitchell], son of established character Madge Mitchell. In March, Fiona Corke began playing [|Gail Lewis] and Ernie Bourne took on the role of Gail's adoptive father, [|Rob]. April saw the arrival of businessman Mr. Udagawa. Anne Scott-Pendlebury began appearing as [|Hilary Robinson] in June. The following month saw the first appearances of new doctor Beverly Marshall, played by Lisa Armytage, Gino Rossini and Melanie Pearson. July also saw the birth of [|Jamie Clarke], son of Des and Daphne Clarke. Briony Behets began playing [|Amanda Harris] in August. Russell Crowe was introduced as [|Kenny Larkin] the following month. October saw the arrivals of [|Sally Wells] and [|Greg Cooper]. Athlete [|Pete Baxter], Des and Sally's father, [|Malcolm Clarke], and mechanic [|Tony Romeo] made their first appearances in November.
Harold Bishop
Harold Bishop, played by Ian Smith, made his first appearance as Harold during the episode broadcast on 30 January 1987. He departed in September 1991, but returned five years later in October 1996. Harold remained on screen for over twelve years, making him one of the longest-running characters in the show's history. Smith announced his departure from Neighbours in August 2008. Following a cancer storyline, Harold made his final appearance on 27 February 2009. In December 2010, Smith revealed that he would be reprising his role and Harold returned on 9 May 2011. Harold is described as being "indecisive, considerate, stuffy and reserved." Smith has earned various award nominations for his role as Harold. At the 2007 Inside Soap Awards, he was nominated for "Funniest Performance." The following year saw Smith nominated for "Funniest Performance" again and "Best Actor." In 2009, Smith was once again nominated for "Funniest Performance" and "Best Storyline" for Harold's cancer. That same year he was nominated for the "Most Popular Personality" and "Most Popular Actor" Logie Awards.Bouncer
Bouncer made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 4 February 1987 and he exited the series on 12 February 1993 after six years. He was trained by Luke Hura. When Neighbours needed a golden Labrador puppy, they turned to animal trainer Luke Hura and his canine actors agency, who provided them with Bouncer. Bouncer was paid more than the human actors and Hura revealed that he was worth between $100,000 and $200,000. Bouncer's fan cards became the most popular out of any cast member. One of Bouncer's most famous storylines had him dreaming that he was marrying Rosie, Clarrie McLachlan's Sheepdog, who lived next door. During an interview, Anne Charleston said "The whole cast was mortified about that! It reduced it to a three-year-old's programme. It was very strange."Thirteen weeks after finishing his final scenes on Neighbours, Bouncer died of cancer aged seven. Following his death, Bouncer was sent more tributes from fans around the world than any of the human cast.
MSN TV editor Lorna Cooper also commented on Bouncer and his dream stating: "Neighbours featured some bizarre dream sequences: there was the Christmas edition with Mike Young and Shane Ramsay as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and the episode in which Harold Bishop fantasised about being a Scottish laird. But nothing has topped Bouncer the Labrador's dream that he was marrying Clarrie McLachlan's dog, Rosie. What were the writers thinking?" Bouncer's dream was later named the second "weirdest" storyline in the show's history.
Henry Ramsay
Henry Ramsay, played by Craig McLachlan. He made his first on-screen appearance on 19 February 1987. Henry departed on 23 November 1989. McLachlan won three Logie Awards for his role as Henry during his time with Neighbours. He was also nominated for 'Most Popular Personality'. The following year he won the 'Most Popular Actor' award again and 'Most Popular Personality'. Following the departure of Peter O'Brien, producers began a search for a new "hunk" to keep the female viewers interested. McLachlan was 21 when he auditioned for Neighbours and despite having no prior acting experience, apart from a brief appearance in Sons and Daughters, he was cast as Henry Mitchell. McLachlan initially signed on to Neighbours for six weeks. Henry was described as "living under a cloud of suspicion" from the other neighbours after they learnt about his criminal record. He was also described as being streetwise, irresistible and a ladies man. Henry counteracted his "beefy image" by being a bit mischievous and "good for a laugh". This led to him being called the "Punk who turned Hunk" by John Kercher in his 1989 Neighbours: facts, features, interviews with your favourite TV stars book. McLachlan described his character as being "fun-loving" and "wacky".In the UK, 16.6 million viewers watched Henry leave Ramsay Street in 1991.
Gail Robinson
Gail Lewis, played by Fiona Corke. She made her first appearance on-screen on 11 March 1987. She departed on 27 June 2007. She made guest appearances in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Corke described her time on the show as "an amazing experience" and added "It was so full on and so huge you didn't know if you were an actor or in a pop group half the time." In 1988, Corke became one of ten actors from the show who were flown to London to perform in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance. Corke departed Neighbours in 1989 after deciding she wanted to experience life outside of the show. In 2005, Corke was one of many ex-cast members who made a return to Neighbours to appear in an episode celebrating the show's 20th anniversary. In December 2009, Stefan Dennis called for the return of Gail and Corke. The BBC said Gail's most notable moment was "Running off with the triplets." Ruth Deller of television website Lowculture said Gail was the "most well-remembered" of Paul's wives. Of Gail and Paul's relationship The Sydney Morning Herald said "we fretted for what seemed like days until Gail Lewis sashayed into Mr R's love zone. We knew from the start that Paul and Gail were star crossed. But who could have predicted that one love's rose could have so many thorns."Rob Lewis
Robert "Rob" Lewis, played by Ernie Bourne, made his first appearance on 17 March 1987. Neil Wallis and Dave Hogan, authors of The Neighbours Factfile described Rob as "a nice ordinary guy with very simple tastes, though a bit too fond of both his favourite beer – Tooheys – and betting." They also added that he was a "mechanical genius", who could rebuild any car. A writer for BBC Online said the character's most notable moment as "Arriving drunk and embarrassing Gail".Rob opens his own garage in Erinsborough and moves into Number 22 Ramsay Street with his adopted daughter, Gail. He moves out when Gail marries Paul Robinson but remains local. He goes into partnership with Harold Bishop but problems crop up due to the two men being polar opposites and constant arguing. Matters are made worse when Rob tries to woo Madge Ramsay. Rob misses the wedding of Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell for a lone drinking session, although he also gives Charlene indenture papers for a four-year apprenticeship at the garage as a wedding present. Gail is concerned about his change in behaviour and Harold accuses Rob of stealing money from the garage, which Rob confesses to. Rob reveals he took the money to pay off debts incurred by betting on racehorses. Harold is annoyed and sells his half of the business to Jim Robinson.
When Gail decides to look for her biological parents, Rob is upset at the idea. Gail is distraught to discover her biological mother, Louise is dead but finds her father, Ian Chadwick. Rob, out of jealousy, confronts Ian and warns him away. His plan backfires and Gail is disgusted and refuses to speak to Rob until he apologises to Ian. Rob grows more and more stubborn and competes for Gail's affections with Ian by buying gifts for Gail and Paul's wedding anniversary. Gail tells Rob, no matter what, he will always be her real father and he apologises and gives Ian his blessing to remain in contact with Gail.
Rob meets Gloria Gardner and falls in love with her. Gail is unimpressed due to Gloria's dress sense and loud personality. Their engagement is met with hostility from Gail and Gloria's son Dean, but they realise their respective single parents love each other and are meant to be together. Paul soon discovers Rob is receiving stolen parts in order to save money and an argument ensues resulting in Rob driving off in a rainstorm and crashing his car. He is hospitalized with serious injuries and comatose for several days. Rob regains consciousness and tells Gloria and Gail to look after each other before going into cardiac arrest and dying.
Mr Udagawa
Toshiro Udagawa, played by Lawrence Mah, made his first appearance on 23 April 1987 and made intermittent appearances over the next five years. In 2017, Mah returned to the serial.In 2005, Mr. Udagawa topped a BBC website poll of "Top 20 Most Obscure Neighbours characters". Readers described him as "a legendary Japanese businessman who seemed to spend his entire career visiting Paul Robinson at Lassiter's. The part of Mr Udagawa did not call for huge dialogue, but it was nonetheless played with a kind of brooding yet dignified menace. It's a great pity that Mr Udagawa was not asked back for the 20th anniversary celebrations, as it would have been nice to see how his career has progressed since those Erinsborough-obsessed days of the late 1980s."
Mr. Udagawa is a client of the Daniels Corporation. He deals with Rosemary Daniels' nephew Paul Robinson and is impressed to learn Rosemary's mother Helen Daniels also runs her own chauffeur business "Home James". Paul invites Mr. Udagawa to dinner and is successful and steps up his quest to secure a business deal by announcing that he and Gail Lewis are engaged to be married. Mr. Udagawa then presents them with a Bonsai tree and later gives them a Japanese scroll when he returns. After witnessing some domestics and the truth about Paul and Gail's engagement, Mr Udagawa decides against making any further deals with Paul. However, Gail is able to talk him into signing with the corporation. He returns in 1989 and begins doing business with the pacific bank. Des Clarke, learns Japanese in order to impress Mr. Udagawa but he mixes up the phrases and accidentally refers to all Japanese women as "dirty" instead of beautiful. Des is briefly fired but Paul is able to explain matters. While attending dinner at Number 28 with his wife Mrs Udagawa, Mr. Udagawa assumes that Des is engaged to Kerry Bishop, prompting jealousy from Joe Mangel who barges in, attempting to attack Des but in the process knocking himself out. Mr. Udagawa reappears in 1992 and meets Paul's father, Jim for a drink, but the meeting is cut short when Jim's daughter Lucy goes for a late-night swim in Lassiter's pond. He later asks Paul to take over the running of some hotels in Hawaii and Paul accepts.
25 years later, Mr. Udagawa returns to Erinsborough and meets with Paul at his motel complex, Robinsons, which he previously owned under the name the Erins Burrow Motel. Leo Tanaka is convinced that Mr Udagawa's son, Hiro, is his biological father as his mother Kim Tanaka had previously had a relationship with him but Mr. Udagawa confirms Hiro was overseas when Leo and his brother David Tanaka were conceived. When Mr Udagawa is prepared to withdraw his investment from the hotel after manager Terese Willis lies about her cancer diagnosis, Paul persuades him to give her another chance, which he does. Mr. Udagawa returns a few months later to oversee the sale of his Lassiter's investments to Paul.