Yahoo News Neighbours confirms details of transgender story
Neighbours has confirmed details of the show's first ever transgender storyline, which begins on screen next week.
Show bosses have cast trans actress Georgie Stone in the role of newcomer Mackenzie Hargreaves, who befriends Yashvi Rebecchi (Olivia Junkeer) after joining Erinsborough High.
As the girls get to know each other, Yashvi starts to realise that she has met Mackenzie somewhere before.
Yashvi wonders if she crossed paths with Mackenzie in her old town of Bourke, a possibility that Mackenzie denies. However, viewers will soon discover that she is from the area after all and isn't telling Yashvi the true story.
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When Mackenzie then starts to take a keen interest in Yasvhi's father Shane (Nicholas Coghlan), the situation becomes even more complicated. Getting carried away, Yashvi suspects that Mackenzie could be a secret love-child of Shane's.
Yashvi voices her concerns to Shane, who strongly denies that he'd ever cheat on his wife Dipi. However, he firmly refuses to explain his connection to Mackenzie, insisting that it's not his place to do so.
When Mackenzie finds out that Yashvi is coming up with wild theories, she finally explains that she did indeed grow up in Bourke and they even knew each other in primary school.
Mackenzie reveals that she was known as Michael at the time, but has since transitioned. She was only speaking to Shane as she wanted help tracking down her father.
Much to Mackenzie's delight, Yashvi is fully accepting and the girls agree to stay friends.
Georgie's casting in Neighbours was first announced in March and she started filming three months later. She landed the role after writing in to the Neighbours producers, suggesting they should bring in a transgender character.
Georgie recently told the Herald Sun: "I came up with the idea of having a trans young person on the show so I wrote a letter to the executive producer, Jason Herbison, with a few ideas on how it could happen.
"Both my parents have been on Neighbours so I have grown up with the show.
"When watching it I could see that essentially, amid all the drama and soapy stuff, it is about human stories and genuine stories that reflect the viewers and society as a whole, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell a story that isn’t often told on Australian TV."
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 5.30pm on Channel 5 (UK) and 6.30pm on 10 Peach (Australia).
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