Neighbours Recap: What Happened to Toadie, Mel, Paul, Terese & the Rest of Ramsay Street In the Finale

Contains spoilers for Neighbours.

Last year’s announcement that Neighbours was ending (which it did, briefly, but then like a boomerang, came right back) prompted the return of its prodigal children. Not just the on-screen ones journeying to Ramsay Street to reunite with lost loves/burn down Lassiters/marry Paul Robinson, but also us – the Aussie soap’s lapsed viewers. We came back too, sticking one last hopeful hand into the cookie jar of nostalgia, hoping to feel… well, anything.

The only problem: Neighbours was unrecognisable. There was no Helen Daniels and Bouncer had long retired to the big farm in the sky. If you’d drifted away at some point between the third Lucy Robinson and the plane crash that turned Harold Bishop into the Erinsborough strangler, then this is for you. Here’s a handy guide to Neighbours’ current plots and characters. Never ask ‘Who’s Paige? again.

What Happened In the Finale?

In July 2022, more or less every family in Ramsay Street bar Karl and Susan Kennedy had decided to up sticks and move away for a fresh start (see details below). Paul Robinson and his brood were off to New York, leaving his will-they-won’t-they ex Terese behind. Toadie and his fiancee Mel and the kids were going somewhere they wouldn’t be plagued by memories of his dead wife and more importantly, his old ponytail. Everything was set to change.

And then, it didn’t. By the end of the finale, everyone had changed their minds and decided to stick around. Therese broke it off with Paul’s half-brother Glen, and in the middle of Toadie and Mel’s wedding, she and Paul found a quiet bench on which to declare their undying love for each other. Paul’s kids chose to remain in Oz with their father (presumably so they could re-enact Succession seasons one to four and fight over who gets to inherit the Robinson empire when the time comes). Toadie and Mel’s wedding video was filled with cameos from previous cast-members who all begged them to stick around, and so they did too.

Only Chloe carried out her plan to sell up and move on so she could be with her girlfriend Elly in Sydney. She sold No. 24 (Madge and Harold’s old place) to Mike Young (Guy Pearce), who planned to live there with his daughter Sam, get some teaching work at Erinsborough High, and see where things went with his former sweetheart Jane, who’d broken up with Clive.

Elsewhere, crypto-millionaire Shane Robinson got together with gold-digger Izzy, Kiri (Glen’s daughter) and Nicolette (Jane’s daughter) decided to make a go of their relationship, and drinks van mogul Amy – whose advances had been rebuffed by Toadie – hinted that she’d found a sperm donor and might be pregnant. And because they’d been told that the show that launched their careers was deffo, one hundred percent ending for sure, Scott and Charlene (Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue) turned back up to say g’day.

At the end of the finale, Susan Kennedy made a slightly sinister meta-speech about how everybody on Ramsay Street was the perfect blend, and thanking “those who’ve watched us from afar”, while some of the dead Neighbours (Madge, Sonya, Hendrix…) came back in her imagination. It was emotional, and, when one of Mel and Toadie’s wedding balloons burst, everybody was left smiling and covered in confetti.

What Happened Since the Finale?

The big news in the first new episode is another wedding day, hot on the heels of the last one. No spoilers about that here.

Two years have passed since Mel and Toadie’s July 2022 wedding (which technically means that Neighbours is now set in the future, as pointed out by TV critic Scott Bryan). During that time: Karl Kennedy’s daughter Holly (with Izzy Hoyland, his son Matt’s ex) has come to live with Karl and Susan, work at Lassiters, and generally annoy Susan, who just got a payout from Erinsborough High School for unspecified reasons.

Mike and Jane are still together and living with his daughter Sam, who appears to have a job at Lassiters. Jane is about to fly to London to meet Mike for a two-week holiday where he will enact a secret plan (proposal?). While they’re away, Jane is renting out their home on Airbnb (or a generically-branded equivalent), which introduces a new family to the street, comprising two mothers and two teenage sons, one of whom seems to be on the detective trail of somebody in the street.

A mysterious, wealthy new American stranger played by The OC‘s Mischa Barton is staying at Lassiters, where she’s enjoying the local delicacies and promises to cause trouble for Paul Robinson according to the ‘Coming Up’ preview. Speaking of Paul, his son David and David’s partner Aaron moved away with their baby daughter Isla and her surrogate mother Nicolette during the two-year gap, so he’s feeling isolated. Even Harold stopping by to visit from Queensland hasn’t cheered him up.

The Run-Up to the Finale: Ramsay Street For Sale

No. 24 Ramsay Street aka Harold and Madge’s old place, was owned by Chloe (works at Lassiters, bisexual, her brother Aaron is married to Paul Robinson’s son David Tanaka, her other brother Mark is married to Paige who lives in Adelaide but has flown back to develop her real estate career by selling one property in Ramsay Street, which later turned out to be five properties on Ramsay Street, and then reverted to being one property on Ramsay Street). Chloe flew to Sydney on a whim to declare her love for ex-squeeze Elly, who was still figuring out her sexuality and knocked Chloe back. Hurt, Chloe decided she wanted a fresh start and so put No. 24 on the market. Her lodgers Freya, Mackenzie and Kiri now needed somewhere to live.

Chloe’s ‘fresh start’ idea spread around Ramsay Street like a rash and soon, it wasn’t only No. 24 for sale. Everybody but Karl and Susan Kennedy decided to sell up and start afresh.

Paul’s Big Move

In need of money, Lassiters owner/bigshot Paul Robinson (OG 1980s character, capitalism on legs, in real life released this single) had been approached by Shane Ramsay (another OG 1980s character, trained to be an Olympic swimmer, recently came into a cryptocurrency fortune) about starting a partnership. On the advice of Paul’s ex Jane (almost OG 80s character, of Plain Jane Superbrain fame, more on her later) and others, Shane decided he didn’t want Paul as a business partner but instead intended to buy and run the hotel complex solo. By insisting on betting the future of the hotel on a card game, Shane called back to a founding event in Neighbours lore, when his great-grandfather Jack Ramsay played a game of blackjack with Paul Robinson’s great-grandfather Sam to determine whose family the street would be named after.

Paul then got on a Zoom call with his ex-pat grown-up children (hello cameos!) who live in New York as does his little sister Lucy Robinson (went temporarily blind as a child, hotelier, mother of Annie who was fathered by her gay pal Chris) and Chris Pappas (Lucy’s aforementioned gay pal, who started out in 2009 as an Erinsborough High pupil). Paul’s kids told him to sell up and move out there to be with them. David and Aaron, and David’s twin brother Leo also decide to sell up, make the move and go with Paul. But, there was Terese to think about…

Paul and Terese: Unfinished Business

First things first: Paul’s estranged wife Terese is played by Rebekah Elmaloglou aka Sophie from Home & Away 1990- 1993! Now that’s established, Terese (bereaved mother, recovering alcoholic, moneyed) was in a relationship with Paul’s half-brother Glen Donnelly (pictured above, illegitimate son of Jim Robinson, half-sibling of Paul, Lucy and Scott Robinson, and until-recently estranged father of Kiri, who’s dating Nicolette, daughter of Jane – more on her later). Kiri grew up in the Bush in a place called River Bend which her parents were selling. Terese was on the verge of buying and developing the land there with Glen and Kiri.

Terese and Paul were clearly not over one another. She was touched when Shane told her that Paul made it a strict condition of the sale of Lassiters that he could never remove the memorial plaque erected there to her son Josh, who died there. He was touched when Shane told him that Terese had encouraged the partnership in an attempt to help Paul. In packing up their respective homes, Terese accidentally discovered some love letters Paul had written to her in the past, and then raged at a jealous Glen when she discovered him poised to throw out Jim Robinson’s ‘Compendium’ (Paul’s lucky charm). It was only a matter of time before those two crazy kids gave it another shot.

Toadie and Mel’s Wedding Bells

Remember Melanie Pearson (almost OG 80s character, kooky dress sense, statement laugh, dated Henry Ramsay but married – and later divorced off-screen – Joe Mangel)? She’s back and in the finale, married her former boss Jared ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi (90s character, former ponytailed rascal, now a lawyer and pillar of the community). The wedding was almost derailed when Toadie’s long-time pal Amy (90s character, runs a drinks van with Mel and was last seen happily patting her midriff and saying that she might be pregnant via a sperm donor) confessed her love for him. Amy was also catering the wedding and making Mel’s dress and did a runner to Cairns, so the whole wedding had to be improvised, but everything turned out fine.

Mal Kennedy Was Dating His Dad’s Ex

If you weren’t around in 2003 when Izzy Hoyland (former Coffee Shop and Scarlet Bar manager, ex of the Paul Robinson parish, schemer, recovering addict and good-time girl) was introduced, you won’t know that she once tricked Karl Kennedy into thinking she was pregnant with his child, a pregnancy she then sadly lost, and then later drugged Karl Kennedy into thinking she was Susan, had sex with him and became pregnant with daughter Holly (a baby Karl delivered on a ship in the middle of his second wedding to Susan).

Just before the finale, Izzy came back from London! And she brought Karl and Susan’s son Mal (90s character, former handyman, brother to Billy and Libby) with her, and was planning to buy No. 24 Ramsay Street with him before her head was turned by newly wealthy Shane Ramsay, who’s been flashing the cash to impress her. She impresses him with her creative vision for the new precinct he was planning to buy from Paul, and they end up getting together, Mal be damned.

Plain Jane Superbrain, Clive (and Mike)

Hands up if you remember Jane Harris (80s character, Mrs Mangel’s granddaughter, bookish, went out with Mike)? She’s back too, was acting principal at Erinsborough High, and has two grown-up children with ex-husband Victor: Byron (trainee lawyer turned gigolo) and Nicolette (dating Kiri, surrogate mother to David and Aaron’s baby daughter). In her youth, Jane dated Mike and then Mike’s foster dad Des, whom she married briefly after returning to the soap in 2015. She also had a thing with Paul Robinson (who hasn’t?) and until recently was with Clive Gibbons (80s character, former Gorillagram and ex-doctor, current hospital boss), whom she suspected of cheating on her with one of his former patients/squeezes. Clive wasn’t, but he was tempted, and Jane decided she didn’t want to repair the fractured relationship. Anyway, Mike’s back now, with his daughter Sam, and has agreed to buy No. 24, see if he can find work at Erinsborough High and explore the possibilities of a life with Jane.

And Finally, the History Book

This was a very neat idea by the Neighbours writers. Years ago, Harold Bishop painstakingly put together a ‘History of Ramsay Street’ book, which was unfortunately destroyed. Now, nurse Freya, her boyf Levi, and pal Mackenzie (the show’s first transgender character, played by Georgie Stone. Mackenzie is grieving the loss of her husband Hendrix, who died following complications after a lung transplant) are recompiling the book. They’re going around the residents getting personal anecdotes, which, more often than not, come with clips of times gone by (in addition to the flurry of returnees in the finale week, including a now very pregnant Roxy and Kyle, fresh from Darwin, and Toadie’s old mate Joel). They also set up a FB page which received comments from former characters, “Rachel Kinski. Brett Stark. Rick Alessi. Bronwyn Davies… It’s amazing how many of them moved to Queensland,” deadpanned Freya. Messages also flooded in from Eddie Buckingham, Annalise Hartman, Lisa Elliot, whom Harold doesn’t even remember. Harold was delighted to be asked to write the first entry in the book, which he insists will be about the love of his life. “Everything must start and finish with Madge.” Quite right too.

Neighbours: A New Chapter starts from Monday September 18th on Amazon Freevee.