Neighbours star Lucinda Cowden responds to Toadie's surprise proposal for Mel

 "It came totally out of the blue."

Neighbours star Lucinda Cowden has spoken to  about Toadie Rebecchi's surprise proposal.

Tuesday's UK episode (June 14) saw Lucinda's character Melanie Pearson receive a shock as Toadie unexpectedly popped the question.

In the emotional fallout from Hendrix Greyson's death, Toadie was touched by how well Melanie stepped up to support the grieving Rebecchi family.

Realising that Melanie is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, Toadie spontaneously asked her to marry him.

Speaking exclusively to  about the story, Lucinda explained: "It's such a terrible shock to everybody that Hendrix has died, especially so soon after his wedding to Mackenzie.

"Melanie and Toadie have only just got back from their holiday to San Francisco, where Mel met Callum.

"It's so incredibly shocking, so Melanie has been taking the weight off Toadie because he's having to support Mackenzie through it and it's really tough.

"Melanie has swept in and has been looking after the kids. She has explained everything to them and is doing everything she can to support them all."

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In Wednesday's episode, Melanie questions Toadie's motives for proposing and comes up with a counter-suggestion for their short-term future.

Lucinda continued: "Melanie thinks the proposal is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction from the shock of the grief, really. It came totally out of the blue for her.

"Melanie was not expecting it and she wasn't ready for it. She thinks they probably need to live together before they get married.

"It's not that Melanie doesn't love and adore Toadie. It's not that she doesn't want to marry him at some point, but she's just never thought about it – and Toadie has been married many times before!

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"There's stuff coming up involving Sonya's death when Melanie does move in. So I think Melanie and Toadie need to go through a few more steps before they get there. That's the compromise that's reached – that they should move in together."

Lucinda also paid tribute to Ben Turland and Georgie Stone, who play Hendrix and Mackenzie, for their recent performances.

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She said: "It was heart-wrenching to film Hendrix's death story. We all love and adore Benny. He's an amazing actor and a hilarious guy. He's fantastic and great fun to work with. I always loved doing scenes with him. He was missed when he left.

"But what is left is an incredible performance from Georgie Stone, who is just amazing through this. She is an incredibly talented actress."

Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.