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A case of two Dees

An explanation of sorts for the mystery of Dee Bliss, and some wild soapie performances at Neighbours.

“I never thought I’d be sitting on my couch talking to my dead wife….”

Poor Toadie.

Just months ago he lost wife Sonya (Eve Morey) on Neighbours and this week has come face to face with his dead bride Dee (Madeleine West) and her imposter Andrea (also Madeleine West) in wild soapie storylines.

Producers had promised to unravel a 16 year old mystery about the disappearance of Dee Bliss after 2003 nuptials and a now-infamous car crash off a non-existent cliff….

Her  absence was explained, rather convolutedly, by her being on a hitlist from an organised crime gang (in Erinsborough no less) in a case of mistaken identity for Andrea….With a gang member at the wedding to tamper with the car…

Seems she never got in touch all this time because she thought Toadie was dead.

I swear a Witness Protection plot would have made far more sense then this elaborate ruse, but at least Madeleine West got to turn in some soapie turns as dual characters, along with Kerry Armstrong who has been extreme as Andrea’s mother Heather (aka “Jack Nicholson” on set).

25 Responses

  1. Kerry Armstrong is hilarious in her role. Given the nature of the genre, it’s always fun to have larger-than-life characters (other examples being Sally Spectra on Bold and Alexis on Dynasty). If Kerry is willing, I hope the producers can figure out a way to keep her on the show. We have had a longtime lovable villain in Paul, but I feel that he’s gone soft in recent years. As long as the character occasionally gets her just desserts, she may very well be able to go the distance, and maybe even redeem herself… if only slightly.

    If they kill Andrea off, they can give Willow an excuse to stay with Toadie, Dee, Hugo, and Nell, and meanwhile, Heather can (unsuccessfully) plot and scheme her way into winning back her grandchildren.

  2. The amnesia story would have been better than the convoluted explanation we got. It actually reminded me of a comic book plot, how other characters were added to a plot (that really weren’t invented yet in 2003). But they couldn’t use amnesia as Andrea, when she first came into it pretending to be Dee, had already gone that route.

  3. Much effort and expense goes into producing Neighbours, yet the all-wise programmers at 10/CBS continue to keep the show buried on a multichannel, up against strongly performing news and other 6.30pm programs on the primary channels. The fact that 10/CBS don’t give the show some air to breathe, and potentially regain some lost audience, is an insult to the many people who work hard to produce this iconic Aussie drama.
    Bight the bullet 10/CBS, concede that your 6pm quizzes don’t work, and put Neighbours back on the 10 primary channel. Treat the show and its talented team with some respect. Its ratings shouldn’t be as low as they are.

    1. Yes, perhaps ten could produce a special showing relevant and key moments from neighbours in the past few years as a catch up for long lapsed viewers and relaunch. They could schedule the special at 7.30 one evening, and then have it come back to 6.30 on ten. The Panel doesn’t really need to go for an hour does it?

    2. I’ve said this many times before but 10 cannot our neighbours back on main channel as it was part of a deal they made with CBS to fund channel 11. They said to put neighbours on the new multi channel and we will give you money and shows to air on it. It’s not that they don’t want to, they can’t.

      1. Prior to 2017 yeah, however with Ten Network Holdings now a subsidiary of CBS Studios International (itself part of CBS Corporation), that doesn’t hold true now as all channels are CBS owned.

          1. Yep and I’d as i have said in the past I’d still like to see those repeats on at 4pm before Bold and the Beautiful as putting the two soaps together just seems sensible to me.

    3. Yes, as Johnny1p5 and David pointed out, 10/CBS is now in a position to re-think its approach to Neighbours. And Stevie’s suggestion is a good one. If 10/CBS needs a reason to justify a reappraisal, all they need do is point to the number of Logie nominations the show received this year, including Gold.

      1. As David said the landscape has alteres in the last 2 years plus the landscape could change further in the next week or so with Viacom and CBS looking to merge again, as is though Sumner Redstone (and family) still remains controlling shareholder of both CBS and Viacom. So with Viacom owning and running UK Channel 5 that airs Neighbours and recently upping the ante to have new episodes all year round 10/CBS could be well placed to negotiate for here again (especially if the merger goes through).

        A day ago US Time: foxbusiness.com/media/cbs-viacom-talks-ongoing-as-shari-redstone-is-mum-in-sun-valley

        Today US Time: deadline.com/2019/07/sumner-redstone-viacom-cbs-merger-talks-dealmaker-ghost-1202643587/

  4. The storylines this year on Neighbours has been very interesting great writers- not sure why the ratings aren’t that great in Aus…it is definitely one of my fav shows…

  5. I haven’t watched in a while but this story caught my attention on Twitter. She did a great job of playing the two characters and I’m glad they didn’t go down the track of witness protection or amnesia, I’m certain the show has done that before anyway. Kerry Armstrong was a standout and is quite underrated in this country.

      1. I thought her character was way too saccharine when she was introduced (I know that was the point, but it was still grating to watch). But since she’s not hiding her identity anymore, she gets to be a trashy mum 100% and I love it! Hope she escapes from prison and gets more guest appearances in the future.

    1. This has got me scratching my head and very intrigued. Great acting for Madeline West, Kerry Armstrong, Ryan Moloney, Jackie Woodburne and Mieke Billing-Smith. Bold and the Beautiful’s baby swap storyline is also riverting.

    2. Matilda R, two people back from the dead is nothing in over 30 years (actually 3, Mark Brennan also came back from the dead, Witness protection). Have you ever watched Days of Our Lives, it has happened countless times in Salem.

  6. Well my theory was that she was rescued by a psycho & had amnesia & he took advantage of it & kept her captive. By the time she regained her memory & escaped she looked up Toadie & found he had moved on so didn’t make contact. But I guess they didn’t want to go the amnesia route having already done that with Harold plus it’s a tired old trope used by every soap.

    1. Susan had an amnesia storyline as well in the early 2000s (and a very similar storyline involving another middle-aged matriarch had occurred a few years prior on Home & Away). And more recently, Finn (Rob Mills) has an ongoing amnesia storyline.

      It’s overused in the genre because it can add months worth of stories when the writers have run out of things to do with certain (especially long-running) characters. With primetime dramas, time-skips are an insultingly lazy way to make drastic changes without having to actually write those changes in gradually (characters are usually written out/killed off with little explanation, and/or remarried to a new character, and/or have had children who are suddenly grown up, and/or have joined a cult and/or have a bizarre new persona etc.).

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