Exclusive: Neighbours star Colette Mann says she's sticking with Sheila Canning role
Neighbours spoilers follow.
Neighbours star Colette Mann has confirmed that she's sticking with the show for the foreseeable future.
The actress, who plays Sheila Canning on the soap, revealed the news to Digital Spy following the recent departure of her on-screen son Damien Richardson.
Damien's character Gary Canning was killed off as part of the dramatic Neighbours: Endgame episodes last month. An emotional storyline now sees Sheila and her grandson Kyle (Chris Milligan) struggling to cope with Gary's passing.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy about her own future with Neighbours, Colette laughed: "Unless you know something I don't know, I'm there at the moment until August 2021. So I'm assuming that I'll be there!
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"We'll see what happens – if another Canning comes in, I'll feel even safer. I have no desires to leave as yet."
Confirming that Kyle is sticking around too, Colette continued: "Chris was only supposed to come back as Kyle for a year. If he hadn't agreed to stay on this year, I think I might have left when Damien left.
"You've got to like the people you're working with and have a connection with them. Nick Coghlan's still there playing Shane Rebecchi and he's a great mate too.
"I do get on with everybody, but you've got to have people that understand you and get you."
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Neighbours' executive producer Jason Herbison has previously teased plans to bring in another Canning family member later this year, so it seems the clan could be expanding again.
Asked about the possibility, Colette quipped: "If Jason said it might happen, I'll say it might happen too – but you're not getting anything else out of me!
"It might happen and he's talking about it. I don't know when that's happening, but there's only Kyle and I left now. They'll want to bring in somebody, I imagine. But we're just dealing with Gary going for now."
Behind the scenes at Neighbours, Colette is continuing to work on mentoring some of the younger cast – and was full of praise for their recent work on screen.
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She said: "The one I think has just come on enormously – and not through me working with her, she's just incredibly talented and very mature – is Jemma Donovan, who plays Harlow.
"The stuff she did in Endgame with the snake was great – she's got a terrible fear of snakes in real life – and all her stuff in the hospital with the aftermath too.
"Poor love, she was in the hospital crying, I was in the other studio crying, and then we used to meet in the dressing room feeling wrung out like dirty rags!
"When Jemma arrived, she was great and she fitted in, but she's grown so much. She's so solid in what she plays. She's extraordinary and doing a fantastic job.
"Young Bonnie Anderson has also been fantastic with all the stuff where Bea finds out about Elly and Finn being together. Her work in that has been really good.
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"Ben (Hendrix) and Jemma work really well together on screen and young Zima (Roxy) has been great too. My little darlings are all doing very, very well and I'm very proud of them. I send them messages all the time. They probably think: 'Oh God, here's another one from her!'
"But if I see them doing good work, I think it's worth letting them know because sometimes you don't get told by anyone else – other than your mother!"
Neighbours currently airs Mondays and Fridays at 1.45pm and 5.30pm on Channel 5 (UK) and weekdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach (Australia).
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