Neighbours’ Melanie Pearson to leave show in mid-November

Lucinda Cowden has confirmed that her character Melanie Pearson will leave Neighbours in the weeks to come.

In an interview with NeighBens on YouTube, Lucinda confirmed to hosts Ben Bone and Ben Fenlon that she was now “unemployed,” having been let go at the end of her contract.

Melanie’s exit comes shortly after Haz (Shiv Palekar), Mackenzie (Georgie Stone), Toadie (Ryan Moloney), and the Rebecchi children Nell (Ayisha Salem-Towner) and Hugo (Tanner Ellis-Anderson) all left the show, though Nell has since made a number of guest returns.

“I was a little bit later to soften the blow,” Lucinda told the Bens. “But of course all the contracts all come up at the same time, because we were all employed at the same time, so I got a little bit longer-er”.

Lucinda reveals that she found out that her character was being axed in December last year, “a couple of days before the Neighbours Christmas party.”

She explains that she rang co-star Ryan Moloney to tell him that she was leaving, but “got the shock of [her] life” when Ryan confirmed that he too was set to depart.

“And you could have blown me over with a feather,” she continued. “That kind of made a little bit of sense for me, rather than ‘Oh, it’s just me’.”

Like Lucinda, Ryan Moloney’s exit from Neighbours was also thrust upon him, after producers chose to write him out.

“Well, it actually wasn’t my choice. It was their choice,” Ryan revealed to Back to the Bay earlier this year. He explained that he’d been wanting to leave for “quite a long time,” but that “Neighbours is one of those jobs that you work with awesome people, you get paid really well.”

“And so I’m quite grateful that they actually made that decision for me,” Ryan continued, adding that he didn’t think he’d ever be able to say no to a contract.

“And that’s kind of not the way you want to be doing Neighbours. You don’t want to have that kind of level of resentment in there. So I was very grateful for it.”

Melanie was an integral part of Neighbours’ 2022 final episode, with her and Toadie’s wedding bringing the series to a close.

When the show returned after being picked up by Amazon Freevee, Mel and Toadie had split, and the aftermath of their breakup formed much of their storylines for the first year of the revived show.

Eventually, Toadie left Erinsborough, having realised that he had never given himself time to grieve his lost loves.

Attempting to justify why the show’s producers may have chosen to write Melanie out, Lucinda speculated: “I don’t think they knew what to do with Mel without Toad, or without the family and all of that stuff. I don’t know, I’m second-guessing.

“And you just make up all of this stuff in your head anyway to make yourself feel better.”

Lucinda also pointed out that four of the people involved in Outback Week – Toadie, Melanie, Haz and Mackenzie – are the four people who have since left or will be leaving the show.

“Maybe that’s just in case anything goes wrong out there,” she quipped.

Mel’s departure storyline will begin in the weeks to come, with her final episode expected to air on Tuesday 19th November.

Melanie will “close a chapter” on Monday 11th November, as she puts thoughts of a romance with Victor (Craig Hall) behind her.

Mel had hoped for love with Victor, after meeting the enigmatic stranger on a dating website. She was excited when he travelled from Sydney to meet her at The Waterhole, but faced a shock when she realised that ‘Vic’ was actually Jane’s (Annie Jones) ex-husband Victor.

While there was a clear spark between them, Victor eventually chose to pursue a relationship with Jane, whose feelings for her ex had returned.

After being “confronted with the truth” on Tuesday 12th November, photos for that day’s episode show Melanie looking pensive as she examines a map, beginning the process of planning her big trip away from Erinsborough.

Her exit comes just days later, on Tuesday 19th November, as “Melanie sets off on a new adventure.”

A party gets underway at The 82 tram, in celebration of Mel’s time in Erinsborough, before she says one final goodbye to Holly (Lucinda Armstrong Hall) and jumps in The Drinks Diva van, ready for pastures new.

Lucinda revealed that she broke her nose while filming her final scenes.

“It’s a going away party for Mel, and she’s giving out the marvellous cocktails that she’s known so well for.

“And I tripped. I tripped over. And of course I couldn’t put my hands down, and I hit here [pointing at her nose] on a concrete step.

“Jackie Woodburne [Susan Kennedy] said I made a sound like a deer being shot.”

However, while Melanie’s Erinsborough exit does seem to be a permanent move, Lucinda confirmed that she has “just been back just really briefly, just for a couple of episodes.

“So hopefully they’re gonna keep Mel in the world and she can pop in and out occasionally.”

Melanie first appeared in Neighbours on 30 July 1987, and departed in October 1991.

She made a brief appearance in 2005 for the show’s 20th anniversary celebrations, before returning in a recurring guest role in January 2021, before being promoted to a regular cast member later that year.

Amazon Freevee commissioned 400 episodes of Neighbours to air over two years, and the show is a little over halfway through that initial batch, with today’s episode being the 234th.

The show appears to be in somewhat of a transition period, with the departures of Melanie, Toadie, Haz, Mackenzie, Nell and Hugo in quick succession.

In recent weeks, a number of new characters have been announced. Max Ramsay (Ben Jackson) arrives in early November, closely followed by Seb Metcalfe (Rarmian Newton).

Early next year will see the arrival of Krista’s half-sister Fallon Morell (Kate Connick), while Lakota Johnson is joining the full-time cast as Taye.

“Connected to the Varga-Murphy family, Taye is sure to break some rules (and some hearts) on Ramsay Street,” the show announced on its social media earlier this month.

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