Cheryl Stark

Fictional character

Cheryl Stark is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, played by Caroline Gillmer. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 July 1993. Colette Mann took over the role for eight weeks from late 1995 to early 1996 when Gillmer fell ill. In September 1996, Gillmer departed the show and Cheryl was killed off.

The character of Cheryl was created in 1993 as the head of the new Stark family. She was given an immediate link to already existing character and son Darren Stark (Scott Major). Actress Caroline Gillmer successfully auditioned for the role. Debuting on screen, Cheryl moved into Ramsay Street with daughter Danni (Eliza Szonert), and son Brett (Brett Blewitt), both new additions to the serial's cast. When Gill pointed out that Cheryl was a housewife, Gillmer told him that there was a twist with her character and explained that she wanted Cheryl to be a role model to women who were "trapped in the suburbs", as Cheryl wins the lottery and lives the life she wants. She revealed that she was hired on a Friday and started filming on the following Monday. She added "I walked in, and Brett Blewitt said , 'Hello, I'm your son!'. And then it was, 'Action!'" Gillmer chose to leave the show after winning a green card to work in the United States. She also wanted to capitalise on the success of feature film Hotel Sorrento, in which she appears. Producers chose to kill off Gillmer's character, a development that the actress welcomed. She explained, "I was very flattered that they decided to kill Cheryl off. It's a sign of the popularity of Cheryl, as it's only really the characters that the public care about that they kill off. If the producers had just decided to send Cheryl to Queensland, then that would have been a bit of a worry!" In 1996, Network Ten cut five seconds from the episode in which Cheryl was seen being hit by a truck, while she tried to save her daughter. The following year, the BBC were also forced to censor scenes showing the moment Cheryl was hit by the truck. In 2005, a writer from Inside Soap called Cheryl "the most gaudily dressed woman in the Southern Hemisphere".