Next week on Neighbours, Zac continues to hide a secret, Paul fears that Elle will abandon him, Wendy realises her marriage is still on the rocks, and Nicolette has a shock proposal for Leo!
1) Greg saves Elle from danger
Yesterday, we saw a startled Elle (Elise Jansen) freeze as she realised she was the target for a car speeding towards her along Power Road.
Next week, Greg (Gary Sweet) – who has become an unlikely ally for Elle after she headed to No. 30 to apologise for her recent article – saves her from being hit by the incoming vehicle.
In the process, Greg manages to note the car registration, allowing Andrew (Lloyd Will) and Cara (Sara West) to jump into action and go in search of the culprit.
The pair soon find the car abandoned, with an encrypted hard drive inside! Could this be an essential clue for the case, as they try to work out if Elle has become the Linwell brothers’ next target?
After finding Greg with Elle, Cara is concerned about their new bond and the further risk of danger the ruthless journalist poses to her dad.
However, we’re about to discover that there’s a lot more to Greg’s recent activities than he’s been letting on.
Will Cara wise up to her dad’s recent off-grid disappearances?
2) Holly invites a familiar face to Erinsborough
Also next week, Holly (Lucinda Armstrong Hall) invites Andrew’s birth sister, Gretchen (Amelia Bishop), to Erinsborough – unaware that Andrew just told Wendy (Candice Leask) not to make contact with his newfound family.
When Andrew spots his sister in the Lassiters complex, he immediately points the finger at Wendy for going against his wishes.
After all, it wouldn’t be the first time she’s done this, given she tracked his birth family down after he said he didn’t want to find them.
Andrew soon discovers that Holly was responsible for Gretchen being in town, which leads Holly to fret that this time she’s taken things too far and potentially put her affair with Andrew in jeopardy.
Andrew offers wife Wendy an apology for jumping to conclusions, but it’s too late as she can now see just how many issues are still lurking in their relationship.
3) Colton’s sharehouse experience gets off to a rocky start
Elsewhere, Taye (Lakota Johnson), Max (Ben Jackson) and Sadie (Emerald Chan) are ready to get more feedback on their new facemask products, all part of Taye’s plans to build a skincare empire and replenish his worryingly low bank balance!
Thankfully, Vera’s (Sally-Anne Upton) never one to turn down a pamper session by the Ramsay Street lads, and the gang manage to rope in some of her Eirini neighbours to come and give the sample a go!
New Eirini Rising resident Monte (Dennis Coard) is still in the dog house after asking everyone to accept his lifetime supply of instant coffee, instead of backing the campaign to return their luxury comforts at the complex.
Thankfully, Susan (Jackie Woodburne) was eventually able to reverse the residential home’s austerity measures after striking a deal with Colton (Jakob Ambrose) and The Sunset Group to get Eirini Rising back in the green.
As Monte joins Vera, Gino (Shane McNamara) and Moira (Robyn Arthur) on Ramsay Street, Taye and co give them a full-on pampering session.
However, No. 32’s newest resident Colton isn’t impressed to find that his new housemates have overstepped the boundaries with his work clients by hosting an event for the residents without his sign-off, and in his new backyard!
Sadie urges a professional Colton to chill out, but will this get the gang off on the wrong foot?
4) Wendy wants to repair old wounds in her marriage
The atmosphere is tense in the Rodwell household following the Gretchen saga, as Wendy concludes she and Andrew are almost back to square one when it comes to his level of trust in her.
The Rodwells have certainly gone through their fair share of issues in the past two years, especially after Wendy went away to Murrayville for months after her friendship with uni student Quinn (Louis Lè) opened up a huge rift in her marriage.
Ray Messner / Amazon Freevee
With everything up in the air again, Wendy’s worried about what this means for their future.
Jane (Annie Jones) offer support and attempts to help Wendy view things in a different light – it’s a rare achievement to have managed such a long-term relationship!
5) JJ’s set to return with an unexpected guest
Cara and Greg finally had a breakthrough last week after Nicolette (Hannah Monson) motivated Greg to make more effort to reconnect with his daughter after hardly seeing her in recent years.
The pair were extremely close when Cara was a kid, and this week they reflect on Cara’s childhood woodwork project, which inspires them to build something together again!
In the process, Cara updates her dad that his grandson, JJ (Riley Bryant), is coming home with his own personal bodyguard – birth father, Felix (James Beaufort).
Allena Tran / Prime
When Greg hears about Felix, he realises he’s going to have to try even harder to keep his shady secrets under wraps from this reformed criminal.
But what is he hiding?
6) Paul struggles with the risk to his daughter’s safety
After the attempt on her life, Paul’s (Stefan Dennis) anxiety about his daughter’s safety escalates as he worries that she could suffer a similar fate to her half-brother, David (Takaya Honda), who died at the hands of Eden (Costa D’Angelo).
Paul convinces Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou) that Elle is giving up her chase for the Linwell story, hoping that will be all it takes to keep her out of further danger.
Terese can see how fraught Paul is about the situation and tries to support Elle after her recent fright.
Yet she soon realises that Elle’s been lying through her teeth – she’s not given up on the story at all, despite her brush with death.
7) Can Andrew continue to lead two lives?
When Holly tells Andrew she loves him and he doesn’t return the gesture, she believes her worst fears have been realised and that Andrew has been put off by her inviting Gretchen back to Erinsborough.
Holly reiterates how sorry she is for being so keen to plan their dream life together, but Andrew assures her that he simply didn’t hear her declaration – things between them are fine!
With everything seemingly resolved, Holly suggests an adventure down to the coast. Although Andrew’s game, he’s conscious that he’s treading a very fine line, balancing his broken home life with his affair with Holly.
After his last cover-up for a romantic night with Holly went wrong when Cara headed out to join him in doing surveillance on the warehouse, can he really risk another night away?
8) Elle realises she’s following the Robinson ways
Paul’s torn between siding with his daughter or his partner in their latest dispute after Terese discovers that Elle was lying about dropping the case, and Terese eventually realises that their rift is only causing Paul more stress.
Elle tries to find solidarity with brother Leo (Tim Kano), but she fails when he makes it clear he’s not on her side – Terese is right, Elle needs to remember that her actions have consequences.
Paul continues to struggle with the events of the week, admitting to Terese that he worries about getting Elle offside as he fears it will lead her back to New York.
Later, Terese tells Elle that Paul’s worried that she’s going to end up making similar mistakes to him. Elle has a realisation that her actions are more reflective of her father than she would like and decides to put an end to the story once and for all, whilst agreeing to stay with her dad in Erinsborough.
9) Sadie tries to rope in the Harris ladies for a special event
Meanwhile, it’s all go for Taye, who’s ready to find investors for his startup facemask business.
Over at No. 26, Sadie’s caught up with her own funding plans for the Amanda Harris Scholarship; she wants to develop a longer-term programme for future beauty students, believing it’s what Amanda (Bryony Behets) would have wanted.
Sadie makes a pitch to Krista (Majella Davis) and Zac (Alex Kaan) for Lassiters to host a live makeup show and believes she can easily get Nicolette and Jane to participate, which will help gather momentum for the charity event.
But when Sadie tells them about her idea, they’re not up for participating, still unhappy that so much of Amanda’s inheritance went on the initiative.
Sadie begs them to change their mind, asking them to consider the lasting legacy of their mum and gran – will they agree?
10) Krista ends Leo’s baby dream
Back at Lassiters, Zac and Krista continue to get on like a house on fire – a far cry from her days working with Paul. However, Leo’s unhappy that his wife is spending more time at the office than ever, desperate to spend more time with her.
Later, Abigail (Nikita Kato) makes a sketch of the family, featuring a new baby sibling alongside her, Krista and Leo.
When Krista sees it, her fears come flooding back, after recently deciding that she wasn’t ready to try for another baby.
Krista confides in Terese, who tells her that she needs to be clear with Leo sooner rather than later.
Later, when Leo finally gets some quality time with his wife, he decides to bring up the subject of babies, forcing Krista to confess her real feelings on the matter… she doesn’t want to get pregnant ever again!
11) Nicolette’s inspired to make a bold offer
Leo’s thrown to hear Krista’s new stance after they previously agreed to put their baby plans on hold until Krista felt ready.
He wants to know more about how Krista knows for sure, especially as it feels like a change of heart, but Krista makes it clear that she knows that she doesn’t want to conceive another child again and it’s never going to change.
Krista can see how much Leo’s struggling to process the news and suggests she would be open to other ways of growing their family.
When Nicolette hears the news, she’s empathetic with Leo, as her desire to have another baby of her own has also been growing.
Leo, who was unaware that his former partner Britney was pregnant with Abigail, expresses that he wishes he hadn’t missed out on that stage of his child’s life. He then plays down his upset when Krista sees Nicolette supporting him.
Despite not wanting to get in the middle of things, Nicolette shares Leo’s feeling with Krista, leaving Krista reminded just how important a natural conception is to her husband.
Leo realises he needs to come to terms with the end of his baby dream – that is, until Nicolette shows up to reveal she’s had a brainwave: she could carry Leo’s second child!
12) Max gets a party after becoming a real deal mechanic
Elsewhere, Jane’s surprised that Max hasn’t shared the exciting news with everyone that he’s now a fully-qualified mechanic.
Max explains that he’s been in the limelight enough recently after his breakup with Holly, so just wanted to keep the news on the down-low.
Jane’s hearing none of it, so offers to take Max out to mark his big achievement! Jane, who was a good friend of Max’s dad, Shane (Peter O’Brien), bonds with Max over their feelings of not being good enough in recent times.
As the pair share a picnic together, Jane mentions that Sadie has asked her to be a model at the launch of the scholarship event in memory of her mum.
The friends conclude they need to stop holding back and take action in their own lives, and it might just help their self-esteem in the process.
Later, Jane surprises Max with a party to celebrate further and he’s very grateful to his neighbour for cheering him up after moping over Holly for weeks.
13) Zac’s secretive behaviour sparks questions
Elsewhere, Colton’s trying to get his zen on at the beach and is surprised to see Zac snapping him like the paparazzi – the pair can’t stay out of each other’s orbit!
Allena Tran / Prime
Zac attempts to explain to a shocked Colton that he was just doing it as part of his photography hobby and didn’t even realise it was Colton he was photographing.
However, Colton gets the vibe that Zac’s been enjoying the view and tries to entice him further by doing some shirtless stretches, which seem to do the trick. He’s keen to win back Zac’s interest after Zac blew him off, despite planting a kiss on him at their first meeting.
When Colton calls Zac out for watching him stretch, Zac retorts that he was simply concerned about him getting sunburnt, especially after Colton refused his offer of suncream.
Zac makes a hasty exit and returns to Lassiters, where he has a strange exchange with a guest, leaving Sadie to ponder why he gave them such a big discount at the Day Spa.
Zac is clearly rattled but tries to explain it away, hoping Sadie doesn’t ask any more questions as he comes close to being caught out. It’s only a matter of time before we discover his big secret…
