Yahoo News Exclusive: Neighbours star discusses challenges of Fay death plot
Neighbours spoilers follow for UK viewers.
Neighbours star Matt Wilson has opened up about the challenges of filming Fay Brennan's death storyline.
His character Aaron Brennan is left devastated in today's Channel 5 episode (April 5) as his mother tragically passes away.
Fay (Zoe Bertram) has been living with Huntington's disease and loses her life after developing pneumonia. The character has been featuring in the show on and off since 2017.
Speaking to Digital Spy about why Neighbours brought Fay back for this story, Matt commented: "Zoe is too good of an actress to not do an on-screen death. It had been such a good storyline leading up to this.
Related: Neighbours star Zoe Bertram reveals all on Fay Brennan's emotional exit
"It wasn't a fun storyline, but we've had a lot of praise and thank-you messages from people who have experience of Huntington's disease in real life. We've put a lot of energy into the storyline, so it was always going to happen and we knew that deep down.
"I haven't watched the episode and I won't be watching it, because it's too hard. I know it's fake, I know it's not real, but when you're bringing on tears, you have to have a certain amount of emotion going through your body to get to that point.
"Zoe's realistic acting style, paired with a storyline about a mother passing away, means that it's a beautiful and devastating storyline. But it was not fun to film at all."
Asked how easy it was to switch off afterwards, Matt replied: "I'm getting better at switching off. I don't take it home and hang onto it for days or anything like that.
Related: Neighbours reveals new drama for Emmett Donaldson in 14 spoiler pictures
"But it's quite exhausting. I could run a marathon and have more energy at the end of the day, as opposed to coming home after filming that."
Matt also admitted that he's hopeful Zoe will be invited back to play Fay in another form.
He said: "We all joked that she has got to return – she has got to be a ghost, or she has to be in a dream sequence somehow. She's too good!
"It was incredibly sad to film, but it was such a good celebration of such a great actress. She got a good exit storyline. Guest actors who come in for a few months at a time don't always get such a good send-off. She had a great send-off and did a really good job too."
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 5.30pm on Channel 5.
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