Meet the full cast for the Neighbours 40th Anniversary Tour, heading to the UK
Maple Tree Entertainment in collaboration with Fremantle Australia present: Neighbours – The 40th Anniversary Tour.
Kym Valentine and Dan Paris complete the Neighbours 40th Anniversary Tour lineup. That’s right after 20 years, Libby Kennedy and Drew Kirk are reunited on stage for the very first time..
They will join Lucinda Cowden (Melanie Pearson), Rebekah Elmaloglou (Terese Willis), Tim Kano (Leo Tanaka) and Majella Davis (Krista Sinclair). We can’t wait to return to the UK stage with our amazing new cast, new stories, and a brand-new reason to celebrate four decades of Neighbours with some of your favourite faces from Ramsay Street.
The 40th Anniversary Tour will open at Birmingham Symphony Hall, then onto Newcastle O2 City Hall, Glasgow SEC Armadillo, The London Palladium, Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre and finish in Manchester Bridgewater Hall.
Kym Valentine joined Neighbours aged 17 as Libby, daughter of Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy, with the 5 strong Kennedy family joining the soap in 1994. The Kennedy Family took the show back to it’s roots bringing a fresh burst of energy to Ramsay Street. Karl Kennedy played by Alan Fletcher is the longest running continuously appearing character in the series history. Libby’s storylines included a motorbike accident, becoming a teacher at Erinsborough High, the loss of her husband ‘Drew Kirk’ and giving birth. Kym left Ramsay Street in 2011, she reprised the role for a 3-week guest appearance in 2014 and for the show’s then final episode on 28th July 2022.
Dan Paris joined in 1998 as country boy heartthrob Drew Kirk marrying Libby Kennedy and having a child together. His character was killed off in 2002, but 3 years later he reprised the role appearing in Stephanie Scully’s (Carla Bonner) dreams and webisode spin off ‘Neighbours vs Zombies’ in 2014.
Lucinda Cowden first appeared in Neighbours in 1987 as Melanie Pearson, a love interest to Craig McLachlan’s character Henry Ramsay before joining the main cast in 1989 as Paul Robinson’s (Stefan Dennis’) secretary. She remained on the show until 1991 marrying Joe Mangle (Mark Little) and was a fan favourite throughout her tenure. She returned to the show in 2021 and was a massive part of the then final episode when her character married long-term cast member Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney). Lucinda will be leaving the role of Melanie once again in the next few weeks following her return to the show in 2023 shortly after it returned to screens on Amazon Freevee. In between stints on Neighbours, Lucinda spent a lot of time in the UK where she presented on TV including popular BBC1 Saturday morning show, Parallel 9 and appeared in Panto in Canterbury and a 12 week theatre tour of Peter Pan.
Soap star veteran Rebekah Elmaloglou joined the show in 2013 as Terese Willis. Her on/off romance with Paul Robinson has captured the hearts of the fans and her multiple dramatic storylines have had viewers gripped. Rebekah was well known for the role as teenage tearaway Sophie Simpson on Home and Away. Terese has become one of the most popular Neighbours characters and will be a fan favourite for the anniversary tour.
Tim Kano joined Neighbours in 2016 playing the role of heartthrob Leo Tanaka – a character that turned out to be the one of two sons that Paul Robinson never knew he had. He has gone on to be a part of some of the biggest storylines the show has seen in recent years, including the infamous baby swap plot, an affair with Terese Willis, and the dramatic death of Britney Barnes (Montana Cox).
Tim took a break from the show in 2019 returning in 2021 and stayed until the soap aired it’s then final episode in 2022. Leo Tanaka returned in 2023 for the new chapter on Amazon Freevee and he remains a regular character today, now romantically linked to Krista Sinclair (Majella Davis).
Majella Davis arrived in Erinsborough in 2023 when the show was revived on Amazon Freevee playing Krista Sinclair, the sister of Mischa Barton’s character, Reece Sinclair. Majella has made a huge impression with the fans and will make a great addition to the tour with her character being the front and centre for some of the biggest storylines, including the dramatic flashback week and her recovery from drug use.
The tour will be hosted once again by Leah Boleto of Sky News – a huge fan of the longest-running daily-drama series in Australian television history.
The audience can expect surprises, never before-heard stories, and all the inside scoop on what life is really like in Erinsborough. The night promises to be the ultimate toast to over 9000 episodes of Neighbours which originally debuted in 1985.
In 2023, six cast members toured the UK for Neighbours – The Celebration Tour. The tour was a huge sell-out success and received 5 star reviews from national press.
Forty years of Neighbours is certainly something to celebrate and the 40th anniversary tour is not to be missed!
Tickets are on sale now.
NEIGHBOURS 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR DATES:
Monday 3rd February: Birmingham Symphony Hall
Wednesday 5th February: Newcastle O2 City Hall
Friday 7th February: Glasgow SEC Armadillo
Wednesday 12th February: London Palladium
Sunday 16th February: Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre
Tuesday 18th February: Manchester Bridgewater Hall