Cowden was among several stars to reprise their role, but she has now revealed that her character, Melanie Pearson, will be leaving Ramsay Street in the near future as her contract was not renewed.

“I am unemployed!” she told NeighBens Podcast, before adding that it was “a bitter old pill to swallow”.

“I’m off, it’s true. I’m sorry. I can’t do anything about it, it wasn’t my bloody decision. But yeah, Mel’s off in her truck and doesn’t have any plans of return immediately.”

Cowden’s is the latest exit to be announced for the Aussie soap, with her on-screen flame Ryan Moloney (Toadie Rebecchi), plus Georgie Stone (Mackenzie Hargreaves) and Shiv Palekar (Haz Devkar), also bidding farewell to the programme.

She admitted: “I don’t think they knew what to do with Mel without Toad, or without the family and all of that stuff. That’s maybe… I don’t know, I’m second guessing.

“And you just make up all this stuff in your head anyway to make yourself feel better.”

The actor did reveal that Mel will at least get a proper send-off, with a farewell episode that will see her good neighbours/good friends throw her a party wishing good luck for her next chapter.

Alas, Cowden added that she broke her nose during the filming of that episode after tripping on the set.

Fans of Mel shouldn’t despair, however, as the actor went on to tease she will make a brief return to Neighbours “for a couple of episodes” after her formal exit – and that she hopes that won’t be the end of her character’s journey.

“Hopefully they’re going to keep Mel in the world and she can pop in and out occasionally,” added Cowden. “Or more often than occasionally – regularly!”

The star has been on quite a journey with Neighbours, beginning with her first stint on the show from 1987 to 1991, before an extended absence that ended when she became a series regular once more in 2021.

Neighbours is available to stream on Amazon Freevee.

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