Melissa Jarrett 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 Jade Amenta. She made her first appearance on 8 August 1989. Melissa departed on 9 April 1991.

Casting

Amenta won the role of Melissa in a competition and she joined the cast of Neighbours at the age of fourteen. She said "I didn't think I'd get it, but I'm glad I did." The role of Melissa was initially to last for two months and she was introduced as the girlfriend of Todd Landers

Todd Landers

Not to be confused with Simpsons character Todd FlandersTodd Robert Landers is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Kristian Schmid. He made his first on-screen appearance on 15 February 1988. Todd died on 13 July 1992, but reappeared as a ghost the...

 (Kristian Schmid).

Storylines

Melissa is first seen when she begins taking piano lessons with Hilary Robinson

Hilary Robinson

Hilary Robinson is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Anne Scott-Pendlebury. The character first appeared on-screen on 25 June 1987, returning in 1988, in a guest capacity and returned in a permanent role in 1989 and left the show in 1990. She...

 (Anne Scott-Pendlebury

Anne Scott-Pendlebury

Anne Scott-Pendlebury is an Australian television and film actress, who played the role of Hilary Robinson in the soap opera, Neighbours during the late 1980s and early 1990s...

 at Number 30 Ramsay Street. She is immediately smitten with Todd Landers, who lives two doors down from Hilary. Todd is shy at first but admits he likes Melissa and they begin dating. When Todd is caught in Melissa's room one night, her domineering parents, Ben and Rona ban the couple from seeing each other. Melissa and Todd date in secret, but Melissa's brother, Sean (Jamie Churchill

Jamie Churchill

Jamie Churchill is an Australian television personality. Born in Canberra, he was raised in Hobart, Tasmania. Jamie is most well known for his stint in Network 10's Young Talent Time in 1988...

), continuously plots to split Melissa and Todd up. Eventually the Jarretts relent when Todd's aunt Beverly Marshall

Beverly Marshall

Beverly Marshall is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours. The character was originally played by Lisa Armytage and she made her first on-screen appearance on 6 July 1987. Shaunna O'Grady took over from Armytage and began playing the character from 16 March 1989 until her...

 (Shaunna O'Grady

Shaunna O'Grady

Shaunna O'Grady is an Australian actress who played the second incarnation of Jim Robinson's wife, Beverley Marshall on the long running soap opera Neighbours. She is the grand-daughter of writer John O'Grady , and is married to the television director Chris Adshead.-External links:...

) and her husband Jim Robinson

Jim Robinson (Neighbours)

James "Jim" Robinson is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Alan Dale. He made his first on-screen appearance on 18 March 1985, which was the shows first episode. Jim was the patriarch of the Robinson family. Dale departed the show in 1993 after...

 (Alan Dale

Alan Dale

Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...

) convince them that Todd is not a bad boy.

At the end of 1989, The Jarretts leave for America, putting a strain on Melissa and Todd's relationship. When the Jarretts return, Melissa finds out Todd had kissed classmate Cody Willis

Cody Willis

Cody Willis is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, originally played by Amelia Frid. She made her first on-screen appearance on 24 November 1989. The character departed in 1991, but returned in 1993 with Peta Brady in the role...

 (Amelia Frid

Amelia Frid

Amelia Frid is an Australian actress who played Cody Willis in Neighbours. She retired from acting to concentrate on studies and her current profession is forensic psychology. Frid's final appearance in Neighbours as Cody Willis was 30 July 1991 which was her 16th birthday...

) while she was away and they break up. Melissa later dates the newly arrived Josh Anderson

Josh Anderson (Neighbours)

Josh Anderson may refer to:*Josh Anderson , character who appeared on the soap opera Neighbours*Josh Anderson , Major League Baseball outfielder...

 (Jeremy Angerson) but Josh realises Melissa still loves Todd and the relationship fizzles out. Soon after, Melissa sets Josh up with Cody but it does not last long when Cody discovers she still has feelings for Todd, and Melissa begins to like Josh the more time they spend together. In the end, Melissa and Josh become a couple as do Todd and Cody.

One afternoon, while being influenced by Todd's criminal friend Gary "Boof" Head (Stephen Hall

Stephen Hall

Stephen Charles Hall is an Australian actor and writer.-Television:Halls' career in televisions includes both acting and production duties...

), the teens begin a drinking session which immediately proves dangerous for Melissa as she suffers from epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, luckily Beverly is on hand to help.

Melissa becomes close friends with animal rights

Animal rights

Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

 activist Kerry Bishop

Kerry Bishop

Kerry Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, 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 and sister to David Bishop. She gave birth to a daughter, Sky, and...

 (Linda Hartley-Clark) and is distraught when Kerry is shot and killed protesting against duck hunting. Melissa and Josh then concoct a scheme to expose Lassiter's for using frozen tuna and they sneak into the kitchens and head towards the fridge where they find the tuna but a kitchen hand shuts the door, leaving Josh and Melissa trapped. Josh quickly stops the fan from freezing them but Melissa is in danger due to suffering from epilepsy and not having her medication to hand. The couple are saved but Paul Robinson

Paul Robinson (Neighbours)

Paul Stewart Robinson is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, a long-running serial drama about social life in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough. He is played by Stefan Dennis. Paul debuted in the serial's first episode in 1985 and appeared on a...

 (Stefan Dennis

Stefan Dennis

Stefan Dennis is an Australian actor, best known for playing the role of Paul Robinson in the soap opera, Neighbours, from its first episode in March 1985 to the present day...

) is unimpressed with the damage the fridge and demands payment for the damages.

When Melissa hears rumours of new teacher Mr Gibbs having previously sexually assaulted a girl at his last school, she begins a crusade against him and immediately becomes paranoid that Gibbs is after her. In the end, Melissa is forced to apologise when Gibbs tells her his side of the story.

When Todd, Josh and Cody accidentally causes an explosion in the science lab while trying to brew their own alcohol, Melissa, who is leaving for America with her family, takes the blame so she cannot be punished for it. However, her friends will not allow her to accept the blame and tell principal Dorothy Burke

Dorothy Burke

Dorothy Miriam Burke is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Maggie Dence. She made her first on-screen appearance on 7 March 1990...

 (Maggie Dence

Maggie Dence

Maggie Dence is an Australian actress who after high profile television comedy work became better known for several soap opera roles....

) that Melissa is innocent.

Reception

In 1991, Barbara Toner of The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

 said Melissa had the "Best entrance on the year's first episode of Neighbours."

During a feature called "Twelve golden TV sex moments", men's magazine, FHM

FHM

FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...

declared 1991 was Neighbours finest hour. With Amenta as Melissa, Rachel Friend as Bronwyn Davies and Natalie Imbruglia as Beth Brennan, they said "Good God: that was when being unemployed or permanently bed-ridden really meant something".