K Lyn Kennedy Popular Books

K Lyn Kennedy Biography & Facts

Susan Kennedy (also Smith and Kinski) 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. Her storylines have seen her begin a relationship with a priest, being married, divorced and widowed. Susan has become a stepmother and a grandmother and she has been central to three plots revolving around health issues – retrograde amnesia, multiple sclerosis and surrogacy. She has also been central to a cyber-bullying plot. In October 2007, Susan became the longest-running female character in the show's history, having been in Neighbours for thirteen years. Woodburne has garnered various award nominations for her portrayal of Susan and the character has been well received by viewers and television critics. Susan delivers a closing monologue in the serial's finale, which was lauded by critics for encompassing the ethos of Neighbours. Creation and casting In 1994, the Neighbours storyliners decided to introduce a new "solid" family called the Kennedys. The family, which consisted of five members – a mother, father, two sons and a daughter – moved into Number 28 Ramsay Street. The storyliners felt that they needed to take the show back to its roots, as it seemed that all the houses on the street were populated with misfits and distant relatives. Alan Fletcher was cast in the role of Karl Kennedy and Benjamin McNair, Kym Valentine and Jesse Spencer were cast as teenagers Malcolm, Libby and Billy respectively. Woodburne was cast in the role of Susan, the matriarch of the family. The actress revealed that she only intended to play the part of Susan for twelve months, but she fell in love with the show and stayed. Actress Ailsa Piper was also considered for the role of Susan. She would later portray Ruth Wilkinson. When asked if she remembered her first day of filming, Woodburne recalled "Yes - I remember it perfectly. We were unpacking stuff from the car and moving into No 28. I already knew Alan, but I didn't know the kids. It all just meshed, though, and we knew immediately what type of family we were going to be." Susan was given a teaching job at the local high school and Karl became the local GP, giving the family immediate links with other characters. In 1995, Rainey Mayo portrayed a teenage Susan in a daydream. In 2009, Woodburne celebrated fifteen years in the programme. Of her television milestone, Woodburne said, "It seems both bizarre and wonderful to me that I'm coming up to 15 years on the show, even though the world of Neighbours feels instinctive and familiar, I'm still challenged and rewarded by the work." Development Characterisation On her arrival, Susan was described as being "staid" and more open-minded than her husband, Karl. Woodburne told the Soap Show that Susan is a "good mum" who means well. Her children are her number one priority and she overcompensates for her husband's disciplinarian style. This has led to a Holy Soap writer describing Susan as "the mother hen of the street". Network Ten say that Susan is the "heart and soul of Erinsborough", with a good sense of humour and the skills of a ninja. Susan has been through a "rough ride". She has had to cope with Karl's infidelity, a divorce, her second husband dying hours after their wedding, being betrayed by her nephew and revealing that she killed her mother. TV Week said "But, through it all, Susan has often provided a home for people in trouble, including a number of the Timmins kids and the kids of her dead husband." This has made her one of the most "enigmatic and appealing characters" within the show. In 2004, Susan's appearance changed and she was seen having her long hair cut when she wanted a fresh start following a split from Karl. Woodburne has revealed that there is no chance of Susan growing her long hair back. She said "I could never grow it long again. I love the ease of having short hair. Back when it was long, I used to wash and dry my hair every morning at home before going into work. That added an extra half-hour to my day". She also added that the Neighbours' bosses at the time believed that women should have long hair. In April 2012, Susan debuted "a stylish new haircut" representing her single status. Woodburne has said she never gets bored of playing Susan as she changes all the time. She added "One of the upsides of this job is that in a week you might be doing absolute slapstick comedy, you might be doing high drama/tragedy and in between maybe some nice subtle interesting stuff as well, the character keeps changing and evolving depending on who she is interacting with". Woodburne has said that her favourite storyline has been the Susan, Karl and Izzy love triangle. As Susan is normally a good person, it gave her a chance to have a character (Izzy) that she could hate. Woodburne added "It was good to play those much meaner, darker, angrier, cruel moments than always to be the kind character. It was good to see those dents in her armour I think". Towards the end of 2009, a change occurred in Susan's personality. During the surrogacy storyline, viewers saw Susan become the "mother-in-law from hell". Woodburne said that it was challenging trying to change the character of Susan. During clashes with her son-in-law Daniel Fitzgerald (Brett Tucker), Susan was seen becoming controlling and bossy. Woodburne said "As the story progressed it became apparent that we were going to have to go to the extremes of the less attractive qualities of our characters. We talked about it and decided to go for it – he would be the overbearing husband and Susan the mother-in-law from hell". Woodburne added that Susan is acting out of love for her daughter and for Libby's desire to have a child. In July 2011, Woodburne told a writer for Channel 5 that she still found the role of Susan challenging. She explained that she likes Susan because she adapts well and takes all the things that happen to her in her stride. Woodburne said Karl and Susan are now less naive and exuberant due to the things they have gone through. When asked what the future holds for her character, Woodburne stated "You know, I'm kind of with Susan. I like the Kennedy house when it's full of noisy kids, being naughty and creating havoc. I like it loud and messy. So that would be my hope, that we get a bit of that happening again." Marriage to Karl Kennedy Susan and Karl were childhood sweethearts who married in 1978, before they both graduated from university. Karl has cheated on Susan with Sarah Beaumont (Nicola Charles), and left her for Izzy Hoyla.... Discover the K Lyn Kennedy popular books. Find the top 100 most popular K Lyn Kennedy books.