Kerry Bishop is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 from the Australian soap opera Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

, played by Linda Hartley-Clark. She made her first on-screen appearance on 1 February 1989. Kerry is the only daughter of Mavis and Harold Bishop

Harold Bishop

Harold Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Ian Smith. He made his first on-screen appearance on 30 January 1987. Smith was offered a role by Neighbours creator and executive producer Reg Watson...

 and sister to David Bishop

David Bishop (Neighbours)

David Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Kevin Harrington. He made his first on-screen appearance on 12 May 1988, arriving for his father's wedding. David, along with his wife and daughter, returned in 2003...

. She gave birth to a daughter, Sky

Sky Mangel

Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Stephanie McIntosh. She made her first on-screen appearance on 1 February 1989, played by Miranda Fryer. McIntosh took over the role on 13 August 2003 when the character returned to the show...

, and married Joe Mangel

Joe Mangel

Walter Joseph "Joe" Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Mark Little. He debuted on-screen in the episode airing on 8 August 1988. Little later departed the serial and Joe left in 1991. In 2005 Little agreed to reprise the role as part...

. Kerry departed on 10 September 1990 after being shot by a duck hunter.

Casting

In 1990, Hartley-Clark quit her role in Neighbours after twenty months. When her contract came up for a six-month renewal, she decided that she had had enough of the long hours. She said "Once you start to get out of bed and sit in the toilet at five in the morning wailing, 'I don’t want to go!' I think it's time to get out." Kerry was killed off and at the time Hartley-Clark said that the end is "certainly final."

Hartley-Clark reprised her role as Kerry to voice letters to her on-screen daughter, Sky

Sky Mangel

Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Stephanie McIntosh. She made her first on-screen appearance on 1 February 1989, played by Miranda Fryer. McIntosh took over the role on 13 August 2003 when the character returned to the show...

 (Stephanie McIntosh

Stephanie McIntosh

Stephanie McIntosh is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Sky Mangel in the Australian soap opera Neighbours and her music career, which began with the release of her debut album Tightrope in September 2006.-Background:McIntosh attended Firbank and then Melbourne Girls...

). She later returned as Kerry's look-alike

Look-alike

A look-alike is a person who closely resembles another person. In popular Western culture, a look-alike is a person who bears a close physical resemblance to a celebrity, politician or member of royalty. Many look-alikes earn a living by making guest appearances at public events or performing on...

, Gabrielle Walker.

Backstory

Kerry is the youngest child of Harold

Harold Bishop

Harold Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Ian Smith. He made his first on-screen appearance on 30 January 1987. Smith was offered a role by Neighbours creator and executive producer Reg Watson...

 (Ian Smith

Ian Smith (actor)

Ian Smith is an Australian soap opera character actor and television screenwriter, best known today for his long-running role as the caring, kindly coffee shop owner Harold Bishop in the soap opera Neighbours....

) and Mavis Bishop. She was a free spirit, in great contrast to her brother David

David Bishop (Neighbours)

David Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Kevin Harrington. He made his first on-screen appearance on 12 May 1988, arriving for his father's wedding. David, along with his wife and daughter, returned in 2003...

 (Kevin Harrington) who had inherited most of Harold's uptight qualities. When Kerry decided to rebel against Harold's way of life, it caused a great deal of friction and Kerry left home to travel the world.Kerry fell pregnant by fellow hippy Eric Jensen (John Ley) and they had a daughter, Sky

Sky Mangel

Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Stephanie McIntosh. She made her first on-screen appearance on 1 February 1989, played by Miranda Fryer. McIntosh took over the role on 13 August 2003 when the character returned to the show...

. Kerry wanted to settle down, but Eric didn't and so he left them.

1989–1990

Kerry is first seen in the coffee shop when Edith Chubb (Irene Inescort) complains to Harold about her bringing her own food in. Harold is about to reprimand her but soon recognises Kerry. Harold invites Kerry back to stay with him at Number 24 with him, his wife, Madge

Madge Bishop

Margaret Mary "Madge" Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Anne Charleston. She made her first on-screen appearance on 20 January 1986. Madge was one of the matriarchs of the Ramsay family. She departed in 1992, before making a return in 1996...

 (Anne Charleston

Anne Charleston

Anne Charleston is an Australian actress currently based in Galway, Ireland and the UK. She is known for her roles as Madge Bishop in the Australian soap opera Neighbours and Lily Butterfield in Emmerdale.-Early career:...

) and her son Henry Ramsay (Craig McLachlan

Craig McLachlan

Craig McLachlan is an Australian actor and singer. He appeared in shows such as Sons and Daughters, Neighbours, Bugs and Home and Away.-Biography:...

). Kerry accepts. When Kerry meets Joe Mangel

Joe Mangel

Walter Joseph "Joe" Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Mark Little. He debuted on-screen in the episode airing on 8 August 1988. Little later departed the serial and Joe left in 1991. In 2005 Little agreed to reprise the role as part...

 (Mark Little

Mark Little (Australian actor)

Mark Little , is an Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, born in Brisbane, Queensland.-Career:Little appeared in a string of Australian films and TV series during the 1980s. He also performed his own comedy/performance in Melbourne's burgeoning comedy clubs throughout the eighties...

) who lives across the road, there is an instant attraction as both are free spirits and have had to contend with stuffy parents. When it transpires Kerry has spent the night with Joe, Harold is appalled as he doesn't think Joe is suitable for Kerry and she decides to leave. Joe, at the last minute talks Kerry out of leaving and she repairs her relationship with Harold

After a while, Kerry and Joe become engaged and later marry in an unorthodox ceremony in a butterfly house and adopt each other's children, Sky and Toby

Toby Mangel

Toby Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Ben Geurens. He made his first on-screen appearance on 10 November 1988. Toby was originally played by Finn Greentree-Keane from 1988 until 1990...

 (Ben Guerens

Ben Guerens

Ben Geurens is an actor.-Biography:Geurens graduated from NIDA in 2004. At drama school his credits include The Return, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Who's Afraid of the Working Class.-Roles:Geurens is best known for playing suburban rascal Toby Mangel on the soap opera Neighbours...

) respectively.

The following year, Tragedy strikes when a heavily pregnant Kerry goes to protest against duck hunting in the marshes with her friend Amber Martin. Kerry is hit by a stray bullet and is rushed to hospital. Joe and Harold are devastated when the doctor tells them Kerry and the baby have died due to the severe blood loss from the shooting.

Sixteen years after Kerry's death, Sky gives birth to a baby girl and named her Kerry in honour of her mother.

Reception

The Sunderland Echo

Sunderland Echo

The Sunderland Echo is an evening newspaper serving the Sunderland, South Tyneside and East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Temperley Gourley, Charles Palmer, Richard Ruddock, Thomas Glaholm and Thomas Scott Turnbull in 1873,...

 named Kerry's death as one of Neighbours memorable moments. They said it was "One of the most unexpected deaths the show has ever had". The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

also named Kerry's death as one of Neighbours' most memorable moments. They said "As the ducks quack all around and Joe gathers her in his befleeced arms, Neighbours eco-hippy Kerry Bishop dies saving ze animals".