Former Neighbours star Nicola Charles has slated the soap’s star-studded final hurrah as “unwatchable”. It came amid claims that the British-Australian actress, 52, was not invited back for the show’s last episode.
Nicola commented on the emotional last episode of Neighbours, which aired on Friday on Channel 5 in a one-hour special called Neighbours: The Finale. She had played the controversial character Sarah Beaumont from 1996 to 1999, and then reprised her role as a guest in 2005, 2013, and 2016.
Speaking to The Herald Sun in Australia, she said: “There was zero suspension of disbelief and no attempt to round off storylines or drag even theatre school level performances from the ‘actors’,’” She added: “Guy Pearce excepted. Without his appearance it would have been unwatchable.
(Image: Freemantle)
READ MORE: Neighbours Ramsay Street set’s fate revealed as show comes to end after 37 years
“As it were, Kylie (Minogue) may as well have bounced around and grinned on Zoom and it was heartbreaking to see Terry Donovan, a true gent and character of old, stuck on a BBQ chain only in a wide shot.”
The actress also claimed she was not invited to be part of the finale due to her stance on the coronavirus vaccine.
(Image: Freemantle)
Nicola added that she believed she had been “universally cancelled for speaking her truth” about the pandemic and vaccines.
However, she added that she was relieved not to be invited back because she was not impressed with the show’s last bow after 37 years.
She told The Daily Telegraph: “In the end I felt relief that Sarah Beaumont had not been part of the shambles offered up as the last episode of Neighbours.”
(Image: Fremantle Media/REX/Shutterstock)
The finale episode of Neighbours attracted an average audience of 2.5million, Channel 5 has said, the highest figure for the show since it moved to the broadcaster in 2008.
The closing episode featured a host of favourite characters returning to the cul-de-sac community of Ramsay Street to see off the soap opera.
Singers Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, who starred as couple Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell in the 1980s, made their long-awaited return, with Minogue donning her classic denim overalls once again.
Also among the cameo appearances was Oscar-nominated Margot Robbie, who previously played Donna Freedman, who delivered a fond message describing her years living on Ramsay Street as “some of the best of my entire life”.
READ NOW:
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
