New Neighbours promo previews January drama for UK viewers
Channel 5 have released a brand new Neighbours promo, teasing major storylines coming up when the show returns in January 2021.
It promises drama as Amy Greenway returns and forms a connection with Shane, Sheila discovers Clive and Jane are together, and Paul tasks himself with bringing down Nicolette’s baby plans.
The final episode of Neighbours aired in the UK yesterday, Tuesday 22nd December. The show is now off the air for the next 12 days, returning Monday 4th January 2021.
You can view the promo in full below, which shows a number of scenes which haven’t yet aired in Australia.
Amy Greenwood’s return
The promo gives UK viewers their first glimpse of Amy Greenwood, who is back on Ramsay Street after a 20 year absence. As we discussed back in November, she returns to Erinsborough after her long-term career as an air hostess came to an end.
She’s seen that Lassiters have a tender for a new uniform design, and decides to go for it, attempting to win over Paul and Terese in the process.
Jacinta Stapleton, who plays Amy, said that to reprise the character after 20 years “feels like a gift that rarely happens in one’s career.”
“She’s effusive and flamboyant and joyous to play. Her time back in Erinsborough will see her experience everything from friendship to drama, to romance and heartbreak.”
Toadie, Karl and Susan are the only residents still on the street 20 years later, and Amy and Toadie were close friends during her time on the show in the late 1990s. Reconnecting, it isn’t long before Toadie introduces her to Shane. The two quickly hit it off, and their connection is set to grow over the coming weeks.
Amy is set to win the Lassiters uniform tender, but lands herself in hot water when it transpires that she doesn’t own the copyright to the designs she’s pitched. She decides the best option is to skip town, but Shane convinces her to stay and come up with her own original design.
As their plan works, the two get caught up in the heat of the moment and share a kiss.
Yet Dipi, who previously seemed to have given up on Shane, has had a change of heart. She finally begins to feel remorse for how she treated him, and seeing his charming, enthusiastic personality return makes her start to miss him.
The return of Kirsha for Christmas spurs things on even more. With the whole Rebecchi family in Erinsborough for the first time, she starts to yearn for them all to be reunited.
Kirsha makes it her aim to reunite her parents. Will she succeed?
Amy Greenwood is set to stick around for 3 months, and makes her first appearance on UK screens on Thursday 7th January 2021.
Clive and Jane start dating
As UK viewers saw in the final episodes of the year, Sheila has decided she wants Clive back, and has mistaken his friendship for romantic interest. She’s convinced he wants her back as well, and in true Sheila fashion won’t let anything get in her way.
Yet she’s in for a huge shock when the show returns in January.
In the first week back, Karl and Susan throw a Christmas party. Roxy, desperate to coax Bea and Levi together, spikes the punch in an attempt to speed things along.
It has an unexpected consequence when it leads to Jane and Clive waking up in bed together. They initially agree it was a drunken mistake that should be forgotten about, but it’s not long until they realise they share a deeper connection. They begin dating, but agree to keep it secret so as to not hurt Sheila’s feelings.
As the new promo shows, it isn’t long until they’re discovered. Sheila stumbles across them sharing a spa day together, and can’t believe it. She’s devistated.
Rather than let them be happy together, she schemes a way to break them up. After a conversation with Roxy, she believes that Jane still has feelings for Des Clarke, and invites him back to town.
When Des returns, believing his ex wife is still harbouring feelings for him, he’s very confused to find her on a date with Clive. He’s not at all happy, and confronts Sheila.
Yet he soon regrets being so harsh with her, when, in an episode airing on Friday 29th January, Sheila collapses of a suspected heart attack.
Des is distraught, thinking he’s to blame, and begs Sheila for forgiveness. She agrees to forgive him on one condition – that he help her break up Clive and Jane. Will he do it?
Hendrix gets in with the wrong crowd
With Pierce gone for good, Hendrix has been forced to make it on his own. His dad gave him an ultimatum – if he wants to stay in Melbourne, he has to find a place to live and get a job; there’ll be no more free financial help.
He moves in with Karl and Susan and bags himself a job at Lassiters, but it’s not long before he makes some serious wrong moves in his desire to support himself financially. After losing his job at the hotel, he and Jay turn to blackjack as a way to win some quick cash, planning on card counting as a way to secure a win.
Little do they know, they’re playing alongside Kane Jones, the owner of the fight club that Ned got caught up in last year. He’s out on bail and back in Erinsborough, but isn’t exactly a changed man.
After a couple of initial wins, things soon go badly wrong, and Hendrix loses all of his money. He ends up owing Kane a serious sum, and when he receives a threatening letter, he knows he doesn’t have long to pay up.
How will he get out of this one?
Trouble for Nicolette
Nicolette’s reasons for wanting to have David and Aaron’s baby haven’t been crystal clear, with fans as divided as David and Aaron as to whether she legitimately wants a family, or whether it’s an extreme way to stay close to Chloe.
Whatever her motive, her path gets a little bumpier in the coming weeks, as the truth comes out about her and Audrey’s stolen lottery ticket.
After weeks of trying to drive Audrey out of town, she finally agrees to let it go. She reassures Audrey that she’ll let her live her life and be happy with Toadie, and is confident that they can keep the secret forever.
Yet just hours later, guilt gets the better of Audrey and she confesses all to Toadie. It sets in motion a series of events that lead to Nicolette and Audrey being fired, and Nicolette being blackmailed by the rightful heir to the money.
With the truth out, David and Aaron can’t believe what they’ve got themselves into. As David says in the new promo, “that woman could be the mother of our child and we have no idea who the hell she is.”
Nicolette does her very best to convince everyone around her that she’s a changed woman – she gets a job at Harold’s and devotes much of her time to volunteering. But things eventually take their toll on her, and she collapses.
Will she and the baby be okay?
It’s set to be a dramatic January when Neighbours returns! Neighbours airs on Channel 5 at 1:45pm and 5:30pm. It returns on Monday 4th January 2021. Below are the spoilers for the show’s first week back.
Monday 4th January (Episode 8508)
The Rebecchi family come together to clean up Harold’s after it’s trashed, leading Shane to ask about Dipi’s true feelings for Pierce.
Finally listening to Ned’s parallels between their relationship and her parents, Yashvi realises she was too hard on her father.
Hendrix manages to delete the CCTV footage of the complex for Jay, making him late for his first day of work.
Tuesday 5th January (Episode 8509)
Roxy spikes the punch at the Kennedy’s Christmas party to loosen Bea and Levi up.
Yashvi apologies to Shane over her treatment of him.
Sheila is determined to win Clive back at the Christmas party, but is unintentionally blocked by Jane.
Wednesday 6th January (Episode 8510)
Mortified by what they’ve done, Jane panics and hurries Clive out of the house, both agreeing that their night together was just a drunken mistake.
Nicolette comes clean with Audrey about her plans to undermine her.
Clive learns that Sheila is desperate to win him back.
Thursday 7th January (Episode 8511)
David is utterly appalled when Nicolette comes clean to everyone, leaving him to doubt their co-parenting plans.
Nicolette and Audrey are fired from the hospital.
A returning face is keen to land the job of designing Lassiter’s new uniform.
Friday 8th January (Episode 8512)
Toadie mentions to Amy that Paul has a soft spot for ambitious and beautiful women, giving her another idea to land the deal.
Paul thinks Hendrix is slacking off in his new role, piling more work on him.
Aaron and David are at odds about Nicolette’s surprise pregnancy announcement, ending in David blaming Aaron for getting them into this mess.