In previous Tube Ray Army offerings I have discussed how I came to be a member of the Home & Away faithful after years spent toiling in the gloom of suburban Ramsay Street.

What I didn't mention, however, is that Neighbours will always have a place in my heart - it's like the daggy, beige-coloured neighbourhood (ho ho) that you grew up in; i.e., you ran screaming from the place, ostensibly never to return, but you can't help but view its poo-coloured brick veneers with a certain amount of nostalgia.

One of the main reasons I originally switched my veg-out viewing time from 6.30pm to 7pm was the arrival of the extended Parker clan and, in particular, their adopted daughter Bridget, or "Didge". (I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I inexplicably found her onscreen brother Riley a bit of a stone fox, NO I DON'T KNOW WHY.)

I recall sharing text messages of hatred with partners in pop-cultural crime and bemoaning the fact that this Didgey virus had ruined Ramsay Street forever (it's probably worth noting that other people deemed to have Ruined Ramsay Street Forever™ include the Bishop family, Rachel and Zeke, and whoever was in charge of hair and makeup between 2005 and 2007). Here they are, arriving in the dead of night like the weirdos they are:



Didge, as played (in Seventh Heaven actually-a-grown-up fashion) by Kuwait-born actress Eloise Mignon, was unlike anything that had ever hit Ramsay Street, and the most semi-convincing tomboy on the cul-de-sac since Kylie had been rummaging around transmissions and gearboxes. She wore Chuck Taylors and sulked with the power of a thousand Radiohead fans. She tried to play on the all-boys Erinsborough Dingoes footy team.

I couldn't stand her.

But over the past few months, something odd has happened: I think I actually like Didge now.

The reason, I've realised, is because of her resolute refusal to be anything that the teenagers of Ramsay Street seem doomed to be (sunny, obsessed with their looks, vapid). Didge is moody, stubborn, pesky and painful, but also occasionally wise (well, within the context of a soap opera, at least) and even funny. Compared to the mini-Barbies that share screen space with her, Didge is - dare I say it - real.

I'm also impressed that she has been able to dodge the curse that afflicts most female soap characters who dare to have sex before marriage (which usually ensures they'll either fall down a flight of stairs, get hit by a car, or have a dramatic argument that causes them to clutch their stomach and gawp, "it's the baby!" before spending at least three weeks of episodes mourning said doomed pregnancy's untimely end).

Hey, it's Neighbours, so Didge and Declan's pregnancy hasn't been without incident (only a week ago a stoush at the school play had the baby's heartbeat going haywire; someone call Dr Karl!), but - and I'm no crusader for teen pregnancy, mind - it seems the Ramsay Street svengalis have finally realised that, sometimes, teenagers do get pregnant and fire and brimstone doesn't have to rain down from on high as a result.

Plus, if anything, I have to be thankful to Didge for providing one of the greatest Neighbours "dramatic" moments of all time:



Stellar work from the stunt department right there. So real.

(For the record, THE greatest will always be Toadie and Dee driving, immediately post-wedding, mysteriously off an embankment - in the middle of Werribee - into a small inland ocean. The sight of "Dee's" hair blowing out the window as the station wagon sails through the air is truly one of television's most beautiful moments.)

Also, Didge's real-life equivalent has the greatest Wiki biographical non-sequitur I've read recently: "She has also expressed interest in a career in dancehall music, with reports in February 2009 suggesting she will be dueting with Jamaican reggae singer Sean Paul in Montego Bay, Jamaica in August 2009."

Beat that, Caitlin Stasey!

So, I'm just putting it out there, really - think of this as formerly-hating-on-soap-stars anonymous. Do you share my terrible affliction? Do you love the soapie character everyone loves to hate? (I'd love to hear from someone who actually likes that irritating bint from Home & Away, Colleen Smart.)

I guess I'll just have to find someone new to take the crown of Ruining Ramsay Street Forever™. Toadie, it's not too late for a career retrospective...