'Neighbours' star April Rose Pengilly has revealed why she was surprised over a shock kiss between Chloe Brennan and Nicolette Stone (Charlotte Chimes) that sees them on course to reunite again.
Chloe has been kept at arm’s length by Nicolette since her return to Ramsay Street. She did a runner while she was still pregnant after, Chloe, who suffers from Huntington's Disease, was left conflicted over Nicolette's proposal and secretly spent the night with Leo Tanaka (Tim Kano)!
After thinking she’d lost Nicolette for good, when she came back after giving birth to baby Isla, Chloe realised that she was the woman for her!
“Nicolette has been very guarded and not keen to have much of a relationship with Chloe since her return. She’d suggest they go for coffee and then she would withdraw again,” April told whattowatch.com.
“Chloe’s making sure she keeps showing Nicolette that she’s there and that she’s committed and will wait for as long as it takes.”
As a gesture of goodwill, Chloe asks her to go to a contemporary dance show in the city. She’s stunned when after a lovely time together, Nicolette impulsively moves in for a kiss!
“Chloe asks Nicolette to the concert to extend an olive branch. She’s not trying to be impatient, she wants Nicolette to have as much time as she needs,” insisted April.
“She believes that they’re just taking baby steps with their relationship and the kiss comes out of nowhere!
“It’s a really lovely intimate moment between them. It’s a surprise, but it’s definitely what Chloe wants.”
April revealed that the kiss was unexpected to her, as well as to her character Chloe! Social distancing rules have made romantic scenes tricky in the past and she wasn’t sure what the filming situation would be.
“I think I was surprised at the time [when I found out] as – even a little bit now – we’re not really allowed to do a lot of kissing scenes. It’s dependent on what our restrictions are at the time.
“When we filmed Chloe and Nicolette’s first kiss in the Brennan house [on screen earlier this year] we were only allowed to kiss for 15 seconds!
“We had to do this kind of manoeuvering where we had to move around so the camera got more angles, as they weren’t allowed to set up different shots!”
One problem the couple could run into if they get back together is resistance from baby Isla’s fathers Aaron Brennan (Matt Wilson) and David Tanaka (Takaya Honda)...
“They’re both very apprehensive about it and worried that it will lead to some kind of drama. It happened in the past, as Nicolette ran away with the baby!” April pointed out.
“When Chloe and Nic do kiss they’re keen to keep it under wraps for a little bit if they can.
“Chloe’s previously been quite freaked out by all of the future and family and marriage chat with Nicolette which caused Nicolette to leave.
“I’m not sure how ready Chloe is to be a mother to Isla at this point but she definitely wants Nicolette back, so she will do what it takes.”
April is looking forward to her own Christmas plans when Neighbours takes a break for the holidays. Her family, including mum Karen Hutchinson and INXS rock star dad Kirk Pengilly and his partner, are based in New South Wales.
“I’ll definitely go home to Sydney for Christmas! With all our lockdown restrictions I’ve not been able to go home much at all over the past year.
“The day after we finish shooting I’ll go to our end-of-year party and then I’ll be flying straight home for the Christmas break.”
Neighbours continues weekdays at 1:00 pm and 6:00pm on Channel 5
