Inside Soap, Issue 97, 3 April 1998

Farewell Helen

Anne Haddy bows out of Ramsay Street....

Many tears will be shed this fortnight when Ramsay Street's most popular resident, Helen Daniels, passes away. Anne Haddy, the only remaining member of the original Neighbours cast, quit the role of the much-loved matriarch last year due to ill-health. The 69-year-old actress has been dogged with health problems over the last 20 years. However, when her health took a turn for the worse last summer, she knew it was time and called an end to her acting career.

As she lay unconscious in hospital, her kidneys failing and heart weakening, the doctors informed her actor husband James Condon that she would not pull through. Her son and daughter were called to her side to say their goodbyes, but a few hours later the brave actress confounded doctors by coming back from the brink.

"About two weeks after my family gathered round my hospital bed, I finally gained enough strength to ask what had happened," said Anne, who is currently recuperating in her Melbourne home.

"James told me the doctors were convinced I was going to die and that rocked me. In the past I have been seriously ill, but nobody ever told me I was going to die."

The brush with death made Anne realise that the time had come to say goodbye to Helen. "Leaving the show has been a huge decision for me. I have lived and played Helen for a large part of my life, so it's hard to leave her behind. But it was a decision I had to make." However, Anne wanted Helen to have a proper send-off and returned to the role one last time - for the death scene which we will see on 1 April - before looking ahead to her life with James.

"Staying healthy is our only goal at the moment," she says. "To keep living, laughing and loving."