Neighbours stars react as huge death confirmed in ‘filmic’ and ‘unusual’ week

Neighbours: Death in the Outback is finally upon us, and luckily for you, Metro.co.uk has all of the gossip plus exclusive chats with the stars of the show.

The Amazon Freevee soap really ramps up a gear, in a truly cinematic week of episodes that will leave you on the edge of your seat and fearing for the lives of your faves.

We know that someone won’t return to Erinsborough alive – but who will it be?

As Holly Hoyland (Lucinda Armstrong-Hall) jets off for a break with her conman lover Heath Royce (Ethan Panizza), it soon becomes clear that he has no intentions of returning to Ramsay Street following his co-conspirator Tess Carmichael’s (Anica Calida) plan to scam Lassiters out of millions.

There’s fears surrounding Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) and ex-wife Melanie Pearson (Lucinda Cowden) as they do some digging and don’t return home.

Elsewhere, Mackenzie Hargreaves (Georgie Stone) and Haz Devkar (Shiv Palekar) find themselves in a precarious situation when they rush to save Holly.

Want to know more? Here’s a look ahead to Death in the Outback…

Monday, August 19

The week kicks off with Paul continuing to string Tess along when she hands over the contract of sale for the Sincast Corporation’s share in Lassiters. Meanwhile, Krista discovers that the report from the pricey mystery shopper was bogus.

As the two share their suspicions, he does a deep dive into their accounts in the hope that he can work out their game plan.

Mackenzie is also doing her own investigation, and Sadie finds it hard to keep quiet about Holly’s secret relationship. Determined to save her friend from hurting herself again, Mack confronts her, but it falls flat.

With the situation in Melbourne accelerating, Tess orders Heath to Warrawee Station to confirm the business has been wound up, and feeling frustrated by her friend’s meddling, Holly agrees to accompany Heath to Mount Harper.

Before they both leave, Heath targets Mack again and his threats leave her shaken.

‘She’s got the dichotomy of being so much like [her mum] Izzy, but then also having the consciousness of [her dad] Karl, so she has that back and forth,’ Lucinda-Armstrong Hall told me, when discussing the frequent predicaments Holly’s found herself in over the last year.

‘I think it’s the Izzy traits that come out in her’ she continued.

‘She just wants more for herself and to have a good time, have fun, but unfortunately that gets you into bad situations in Holly’s case.’

Completely oblivious to Heath’s darker side, Holly revels in the delights of the outback homestead and being so free. Realising that they’re both free of Tess, the pair switch off their phones, meaning they’re totally uncontactable.

Uh-oh!

Following Toadie’s explosive meltdown at the counsellor’s office last week, his wife Terese feels on the outer circle and when he doesn’t come home to talk things through, she begins to lose hope.

‘He’s not a healthy man for sure. He’s certainly had a bit of a psychotic snap’ Ryan Moloney explained.

‘He’s not himself so hopefully I’ve done a good representation of somebody who is not fantastically, mentally well. Hopefully people can relate and I think it’s probably a good place for the character to be given everything he’s gone through over the year.’

He added: ‘He’s just really struggling with all of the memories that keep resurfacing. He doesn’t know why and he can’t put the puzzle together.

‘That’s causing a lot grief for him – that loss of control. That drives a lot of fear and he’s out of control with what’s happening to himself.’

Melanie finds Toadie sat alone and barefoot at Sonya’s tree by the lake, and when she checks in on him, he’s grateful for her understanding.

However, when Mackenzie approaches them and mentions Heath’s disgusting behaviour, he decides to track him down. Realising Toad isn’t in the right headspace, Mel resolves to accompany him to the swanky house he’s been letting with Tess.

As they let themselves into the property, they stumble across their fake passports and damning evidence of their scam. Soon, they’re discovered by one of Tess’ acquaintances.

Terese is surprised to hear from Mack that the former couple are spending time together.

With the clock ticking into the early hours of the morning, she seeks out the Kennedys for help – and learns that Mel didn’t come home either. As the trailer shows, it seems the pair have been held hostage!

Tuesday, August 20

With Toadie and Melanie still not home, panic is spreading amongst the neighbours. Terese is beside herself with worry – and when Andrew poses the possibility that Toadie and Melanie may be lying low on purpose, she’s unable to shake the idea of infidelity.

But will Toad and Mel ever reunite?

‘You know I can’t possibly tell you that!’ teased Lucinda Cowden, prompting me to rephrase my question… would she like to see them reunite?

‘Lucinda would’ve loved to have seen that. I think that everybody, personally, would’ve loved to have seen that’ she joked.

‘But I just think that’s my personal opinion and obviously that’s a possibility but you’ll just have to watch and find out, that’s all I’m telling you.’

This soaps reporter would love to see them back together… but what if they both meet a grizzly end next week?!

Back to the drama, and in the outback, Heath distracts Holly from returning Mack’s calls in the worry she’ll divulge his threat. At home, Mackenzie finds social media evidence that she’s with a guy and is convinced it’s him.

Haz uses his social media skills to hack into her phone and find an exact location, and discovers she’s staying in Mount Harper. Terrified for the safety of their friend, they decide that catching the next flight out is their best option.

Elsewhere, Paul discovers that Tess has sabotaged Lassiters’ contract for the Experiences Tour. Realising that enough is enough, he heads to the mansion for a confrontation and spots her bundling her suitcase into her car. She deliberately ignores him and flees the area.

She’s on the way to the airport, and makes it her mission to derail anyone following her by showing a fake boarding pass for a decoy flight to Honolulu to the CCTV.

Meanwhile, Krista opens up to Leo about her reluctance to admit to Reece bout what’s going on, for fears she’ll ask for her return to the States so she can keep a close eye on her.

After building up the courage, she reports back that the Sincast Corp were completely unaware of the hotel sale, and that Tess has gone rogue!

Paul’s concern escalates when he finds a pig charm outside of the house, and Aaron confirms it belongs to Mel. Terese turns to him for a shoulder to cry on, but they’re quickly thrown by the discovery of dried blood at Tess and Heath’s house.

As a freight train thunders through the outback, it becomes clear that lives will never be the same again.

Wednesday, August 21

Mack and Haz’s plane touches down in Mount Harper and they make it their mission to head to the last known location that Holly was at. After receiving word from Krista that Tess bought a cattle station called Warrawee, the two set out to go there but quickly get lost in the outback.

Back at home, there’s still no sign of Toad and Mel, but Terese is super grateful that Paul is by her side and agrees to stay.

The two have a heart to heart, and she poses the question as to why he’s been avoiding her since he returned from New York. He admits that he’s tried to be respectful for once, and she’s warmed by his sincerity.

Elsewhere, Holly has finally twigged onto Heath’s odd behaviour and decides to snoop through his luggage. Finding a key and a notebook that records the losses of various businesses, including the Erinsborough branch of Lassiters, she knows there’s something fishy going on.

Heath returns from the cattle station, and she’s forced to compose herself in a bid to stop him from turning at any moment…

Thursday, August 22

The week reaches a dramatic head, in one of the most jaw-dropping episodes of Neighbours ever. From the trailer we can see Toadie wading through a lake, whilst Holly, Haz, Melanie and Mackenzie are all alone in the bush.

To make matters worse, Heath is running wild with a rifle!

‘It’s really full-on, isn’t it? I think [the viewers are] going to be shocked because I think it does look quite different’ Lucinda Cowden said.

‘It looked so filmic. The bits that I saw looked quite incredible. I was wondering how that was going to cut together. I think it is going to be a different thing for the viewers to get their head around

‘It’s a really unusual week for Neighbours!’

The one thing you should lookout for are the flies… they’re everywhere, and much to the distaste of the poor actors who had to endure them throughout the shoot.