Throng

Neighbours – an Interview with Kym Valentine Kym Valentine has played Libby Kennedy in ‘Neighbours’ since 1994. In 2008, she took a five- week break due to ill health. She recently visited the UK to talk about her role in the show.

How has your reception been in the UK?
British fans are just so warm and lovely. You guys seem to be really passionate about it. And you guys remember stuff. You bring up past storylines and things that I had completely forgotten about.

Have you encountered fans in other countries?
Getting recognised in New York was kind of memorable. I was standing on Fifth Avenue and this British girl was screaming at me. All the Americans stopped and went, “Who is it?” They had no idea. I was so embarrassed because everyone started crowding around!

Tell us about Libby’s upcoming storylines.
There’s a six-month period of storylines that is just crazy. It just keeps peaking. To start with, we discover that Sam’s baby is not Dan’s, so that kind of motivates Libby to give Dan a child of his own.

Why is Libby unable to have more children?
There was an accident with Steph, when I came off the motorbike. It was never clearly defined what the injury was, but it became life-threatening for Libby to carry a child. Which is funny because my mum’s like that. My mum was told if she was to try and carry a child, it could kill her, so it’s very similar to Libby. It can happen!

And Libby’s wedding is coming up this week...
Yes, and Libby is not well. It was funny actually, I had to film all these scenes where I was in pain and it wasn’t so long ago that I myself was in a great deal of pain. So it wasn’t a very big stretch for me! She ends up in hospital and the aftermath of that was kind of like what I was going through. Everybody was trying to make sure I was doing nothing but rest and I got really frustrated with it. And that’s exactly what Libby goes through too. The story was a little bit close to home!

Which have been your most challenging stories?
When Drew died, that was a big, big time for me. Apart from that, the one I really loved was the Dan- Sam-Libby triangle. I loved that because it wasn’t black and white. It was a real moral dilemma – and there’s another one of those coming up.

What is your relationship like with your onscreen family?
They really are like my family. Jackie [Woodburne] is like this oracle of wisdom. And Alan [Fletcher] is Daddy – I call him ‘Daddy’. He’s hilarious. He’s so smart and I always go to him for advice. They’ve really had such an impact on who I’ve become.

What would you like to see happen to Libby in the future?
We’ve got some big drama for the next six months, but after that I’d like to have a bit more fun. We need some silly, light-hearted stuff because we need that balance in ‘Neighbours’.

What is the secret of the show’s success?
‘Neighbours’ is always about that balance of humour and drama. The other thing is people have to care about the characters. If you don’t care about them, you won’t watch what happens to them tomorrow night.

You appeared in ‘Dirty Dancing’ on stage. Would you be keen to do more musicals?
Absolutely. I did just under two years with ‘Dirty Dancing’. I got three hernias from doing it so I had to take a break for a while. If my body could keep up with it, I’d love to do more!

Were you ever tempted to launch a pop career?
Not really, no. It’s not me. What I do when I sing is very acoustic. I don’t know if there’s a market for that! It would be different, wouldn’t it? I’d be a folky singer instead of a pop singer. But I’m happy just doing what I do.