Janelle Timmins | |||||||||||||||||||
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Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Nell Feeney | ||||||||||||||||||
Duration | 2004–2007, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
First appearance | 11 November 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||
Last appearance | 11 March 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Ric Pellizzeri (2004) Jason Herbison (2015) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Janelle Steiger (also Timmins) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours , played by Nell Feeney. She made her first screen appearance on 11 November 2004. The character was written out and she departed on 13 July 2007. Feeney reprised her role as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations and returned for one episode on 11 March 2015.
Janelle was the second member of the Timmins family to be introduced. The serial's producer Peter Dodds told Inside Soap that the producers and writers thought it would be fun to bring in Stingray Timmins' (Ben Nicholas) mother. [1] He called her "quite a character" and said she and Stingray have "an interesting relationship, which causes all sorts of problems." [1] Janelle is also Kevin Rebecchi's (Don Bridges) younger sister. [2] She has six children with her former husband Kim Timmins (Brett Swain). [2] A writer for the show's official website stated, "Janelle will admit to manipulating men to get what she wants, she is fiercely proud of the fact that she has never been unfaithful to Kim." [2] They described her as "a hard-as-nails bogan" and "a romantic". [2] Janelle parks her trailer in the middle of Ramsay Street, which immediately causes tension with the neighbours. [1] Janelle's portrayer, Nell Feeney, had previously appeared as Joanne Blair in 2003. [3]
In December 2006, it was announced that the Neighbours producers had decided to write out the characters of Janelle and her on-screen daughter, Bree (Sianoa Smit-McPhee). [4] They took the decision not to renew the contracts of Feeney and Smit-McPhee, following the departures of Nicholas and Damien Bodie (Dylan Timmins). [5] Co-star Ian Smith (Harold Bishop) called the decision a "huge mistake". [5] Janelle and Bree made their final appearances in July 2007. [5]
On 28 November 2014, it was announced that Feeney had reprised her role as part of Neighbours' 30th anniversary celebrations. [6] Janelle returned to take part in the Erinsborough Festival's baking competition on 11 March 2015. [7] Janelle gets in between the feuding Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) and Sheila Canning (Colette Mann), while her own rivalry with Susan also "reasserts itself." [8] However, after the cakes are ruined, the judge chooses Karl Kennedy's (Alan Fletcher) trifle as the winner, which unites the women in anger. [8] Janelle, Susan and Sheila then tie for the People's Choice Award. [8]
Janelle comes to Ramsay Street to visit her son Stingray and nephew Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney). Janelle wears a neck brace and explains that her car was rear-ended, so she needs Toadie's help to get compensation. Janelle asks Stingray to return to Colac with her to help look after her daughters Bree and Janae Timmins (Eliza Taylor-Cotter). Janelle befriends Lyn Scully (Janet Andrewartha), who gives her a key to her house. Toadie represents Janelle in court and she wins $5000 in damages. As she and Stingray are leaving, he changes his mind and Janelle allows him to stay in Ramsay Street. A few months later, Janelle returns and gets a job in the local hair salon. Janelle reconnects with her other son Dylan and her daughters arrive. Janelle, Lyn and Susan Kennedy have a fling with Bobby Hoyland (Andrew McFarlane). When they discover Bobby has been stringing them along, they get revenge by tying him to a chair in his underwear and berating him for his bad behaviour, before throwing him out without his clothes.
Janelle runs up huge amounts of debt when she get a new credit card. When a debt collector turns up, she and her daughters flee to Canberra. On their return, the children get jobs and Janelle sets up a courier service. She also writes a novel called The Bogan's Tipped Hair, about her experiences in Ramsay Street. The novel features several of her neighbours. Bree also helps her mother with the story and a publisher becomes interested in it. After Dylan is presumed dead in a plane crash, Kim arrives in Erinsborough. Janelle initially refuses to let Kim stay, but realises that her children need him. Dylan returns during his own memorial service. Janelle and Kim get back together and she proposes to him. The Bogan's Tipped Hair goes on sale and Janelle appears on the chat show Rove Live , where she admits that Bree really wrote the book.
When Bree has some DNA tested as part of a science project, Janelle learns that Kim is not Bree's biological father. In a bid to prove that she had not had an affair, she gets herself tested. The results show that she is not related to Bree either. Janelle and Kim learn that Bree was swapped at birth. Janelle discovers Kim has been selling pirate DVDs in order to pay for the wedding. On the day of the ceremony, the police turn up and Kim apologises to his wife before running out. Janelle decides to take the blame for Kim, and is given a fine. She is later sued for breach of copyright and is forced to accept that Kim will not be returning. Bree befriends a blind girl named Anne Baxter (Tessa James). Janelle is initially uncomfortable around her, but they soon bond. Anne later tells Janelle that she is her daughter.
When Bree asks to meet her biological parents, Anne leaves to talk to them first. She does not return and calls Janelle to say that her parents are taking her away. Kim's mother, Loris (Kate Fitzpatrick), buys Number 26 and stays with the family. Janelle has a brief relationship with Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver). Loris later leaves to find Anne and signs over Number 26 and her share in Lassiter's to the family. Janelle begins dating Allan Steiger (Joe Clements). When Janelle's granddaughter Kerry (Claudine Henningsen) is diagnosed with leukemia, Stingray donates bone marrow to her. During Janelle's birthday celebrations, Stingray dies from an aneurysm. Kim returns for the funeral and Steiger asks him to take Dylan away to give him a chance to recover. Steiger later leaves for the Solomon Islands, promising to propose to Janelle on his return.
Both Steiger and Anne return to Erinsborough. Janelle meets Anne's father and tries to convince him into letting Anne stay. Steiger suggests that the Timmins family relocate to Cairns, so they will be closer to Anne, Kim and Dylan. On their last day in Ramsay Street, Steiger and Janelle get married. Her favourite singer Daryl Braithwaite gives a performance and the family, with the exception of Janae, leave in a helicopter.
Eight years later, Janelle returns to enter the Erinsborough Festival's baking competition. She catches up with Susan and her husband Karl. She mentions that Karl's erotic novel helped her marriage to Allan. Susan accidentally sneezes on Janelle's cake, ruling her out of the competition. Janelle tries to get her own back by throwing Susan's entry on the floor, but gets Sheila Canning's cake by mistake. The celebrity judge, Matt Preston, announces Karl as the winner, after all the other cakes are deemed unfit for judging. However, Janelle, Susan and Sheila tie for the People's Choice Award and the three women celebrate together. Janelle returns home to Cairns afterwards.
In 2005, a writer for the BBC's Neighbours website said Janelle's arrival in her caravan was her most notable moment, but observed "with a woman like this, more notable moments will follow!" [9] During a feature on her fantasy Neighbours cast, Inside Soap's Sarah Ellis chose Janelle as her choice for "madcap mum". She commented "Not everyone's a natural when it comes to being a mum - and we love to laugh at those who get it hopelessly wrong. 'Bogan' matriarch Janelle is in a league of her own." [10] Roz Laws of the Sunday Mercury branded Janelle one of "the three witches of Erinsborough", along with Susan and Lyn, during the love triangle storyline. [11]
John Mangan from The Age included Janelle in a feature about bogan women. Mangan wrote "Timmins matriarch Janelle is a battler who arrived in Erinsborough after raising five kids in a trailer park. She made good, even writing a novel about her life as a hairdresser, titled (after The Bride Stripped Bare), The Bogan's Tipped Hair. [12] Larissa Dubecki from the same publication called Janelle a "wannabe trash novelist airhead". [13] Dubecki later called Janelle an "arch bogan". [14] A reporter for the Daily Record noted that "honesty isn't a word in her vocabulary". [15] Janelle was placed at number twenty-six on the Huffpost's "35 greatest Neighbours characters of all time" feature. Journalist Adam Beresford described her a "much-missed character" who riled up her neighbours for three years and whose family were "true blue bogans". [16] A Herald Sun reporter included Janelle's 2015 return in their "Neighbours' 30 most memorable moments" feature. [17]
Ramsay Street is the fictional cul-de-sac in which the characters of the Australian soap opera Neighbours live. The street is set in the equally fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough. Neighbours storylines primarily centre on the residents of the street, which was named after Jack Ramsay, the grandfather of original character Max Ramsay. A blackjack game between Jack and Sam Robinson determined whom the street would be named after. Only six houses on the street are featured on a regular basis; numbers 22 to 32. Number 34 was featured for the only time in 2018. The cul-de-sac is at the end of a long street and the rest of the houses are on the other side of the main road which bisects it. The street behind Ramsay Street is named Mirrabooka Drive. A storyline within the show saw the name of the street nearly changed to Ramsbottom Street. Harold Bishop led a protest against it and won.
Nell Feeney is an Australian actress who played Janelle Timmins on the Australian soap opera Neighbours.
Erinsborough is a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Australia, where the soap opera Neighbours is set, focusing on the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work there. Neighbours primarily centers on the residents of Ramsay Street and other Erinsborough locations, most prominently those situated within the Lassiters complex. Erinsborough is a loose anagram of Neighbours.
Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 1 February 1989. The character was originally played by Miranda Fryer until 1991. When Sky was reintroduced on 13 August 2003, Stephanie McIntosh took over the role. She departed on 3 August 2007. McIntosh reprised her role as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations on 20 March 2015. She returned for a longer stint as part of the 35th anniversary on 13 March 2020, and made an unannounced cameo appearance in the final episode on 28 July 2022, though her appearance was only broadcast in the Australian cut of the episode. McIntosh reprised the role again on 3 July 2024 before departing again on 4 July 2024.
Scott "Stingray" Timmins is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Ben Nicholas. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 11 March 2004. Stingray was introduced as Toadfish Rebecchi's cousin. The role earned Nicholas a Logie Award nomination for Best New Talent.
Dylan Timmins is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Damien Bodie. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 3 February 2005. Dylan is introduced as part of the extended Timmins family, created around the established character Stingray Timmins. Dylan is characterised as a "bad boy" and often gets into trouble with his criminal behaviour. He is also very loyal and protects his family no matter the consequence. Dylan is portrayed as having a difficult relationship with his mother Janelle Timmins, who blames him for any problems in the family. His introduction into the series explored their mother/son dynamic as Dylan feels unloved by Janelle. Writers also created a "father figure" for Dylan, Paul Robinson and he becomes Paul's protégé carrying out jobs for him.
Bree Timmins is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Sianoa Smit-McPhee. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 4 April 2005. The character was written out in 2006 and she made her final appearance on 13 July 2007.
Susan Kennedy is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jackie Woodburne. The character and her family were created by storyliners in an attempt to bring the show back to its roots. Susan made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 3 October 1994, along with her eldest son and daughter. The storyliners made Susan a teacher at Erinsborough High to give her immediate links with other characters. Since her introduction, Susan's personality and appearance have been through several changes.
Rachel Kinski is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Caitlin Stasey. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 18 August 2005. She is the middle child of Alex Kinski and sister to Zeke and Katya Kinski. Rachel's storylines ranged from parental bereavement and first love to an inappropriate relationship with an older man. Rachel departed on 11 March 2009, following Stasey's decision to quit the series to focus on her studies.
Ned Parker is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Daniel O'Connor. He made his first appearance on screen on 9 August 2005, arriving to see his brother, Stuart. He departed on 31 July 2008.
Lyn Scully is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Janet Andrewartha. The character made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 October 1999, along with her family and remained a prominent feature within the show until late 2006. Andrewartha reprised her role for a brief return in 2008 and then returned permanently in August 2009. Lyn departed again on 26 May 2011, so Andrewartha could pursue new acting opportunities. She reprised the role again in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Angie Rebecchi is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Lesley Baker. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 17 January 1995. Angie departed in 1996, but she returned for several weeks in 2002 and then in 2003 for her youngest son Toadie's wedding to Dee Bliss. The following year, Angie made another brief visit and she made a cameo in the 20th anniversary episode, which was broadcast in July 2005. The character returned again in 2006 and 2008. Baker reprised the role in February 2013, and again in August 2015. After a brief appearance in the Summer Stories webisodes in January 2017, Angie made guest returns in April and December 2017, on 12 February 2018, 11 March 2019 and in July 2022 for the show's finale. Angie came back for the first few episodes of the show’s return in 2023.
Janae Timmins is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Eliza Taylor-Cotter. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 4 April 2005. The character was created by executive producer Ric Pellizzeri as part of the new Timmins family, joining the established character Stingray Timmins. Janae is characterised as a feisty character who is unafraid of physical confrontation. She has low self-esteem due to her father Kim Timmins being absent during her childhood. Janae is featured in various storylines including having her drink spiked with rohypnol, an HIV scare and the victim of an attempted sexual assault.
Sheila Canning is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Colette Mann. The character was teased by the show's executive producer Richard Jasek in January 2012. The following month Mann's casting was announced. She had previously appeared in the soap in 1995 and 1996, temporarily taking over the role of Cheryl Stark for eight weeks. Mann made her debut screen appearance as Sheila during the episode broadcast on 3 May 2012. After taking a brief break to appear in a play, Mann was promoted to the regular cast. Sheila was created as a "warmer" version of 1980s character Nell Mangel and a resident stickybeak.
Neighbours is a long-running Australian television soap opera created by television executive Reg Watson. It was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985 and currently airs on digital channel 10 Peach. Since its inception, several spin-offs have been produced, including books, music, DVDs and internet webisodes. Several annuals and books by pulp fiction writer Carl Ruhen were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Barry Crocker's version of the theme tune was the first music release from the show, which also has included a Christmas album and the show's love theme. Two potential television spin-offs have reached the pilot stage, while five DVD box sets of Neighbours episodes from the beginning have been released. In 2013, Neighbours launched their first webisode series Steph in Prison. Several other webisode series have since been released. Other merchandise includes official video and board games, stationery and clothing.
The Neighbours 30th Anniversary was a series of celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of Australian television soap opera Neighbours. The celebrations span over two weeks, beginning on 4 March 2015 in Australia, while starting on 18 March in the United Kingdom. The anniversary features many storylines, but points around Paul Robinson's Erinsborough festival and the wedding of Daniel Robinson and Amber Turner. The serial's executive producer, Jason Herbison, began planning the 30th anniversary over a year in advance. Over ten former cast members from all eras of the show were invited back to "honour the past and present". Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were also invited, but they both downturned the offer. The celebrations marked Ian Smith and Anne Charleston's returns to Neighbours as Harold and Madge Bishop respectively. Madge was last seen during her death in 2001 and returns as a ghost in Harold's mind, which Herbison was initially worried would not be accepted by Charleston nor Smith, however both approved of it. The storyline was also popular amongst viewers.