Sky Olivia Mangel (née Bishop) was a character from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, played by Miranda Fryer from the character's first appearance in 1989 until her departure in 1991, and by Stephanie McIntosh since 2003. McIntosh filmed her final scenes on the show in April 2007 and her final appearance was broadcast on 3 August, 2007.

Character biography

Sky was born in 1987 to Kerry Bishop (Linda Hartley-Clark) and Eric Jensen. Eric left them when he wanted to continue being a hippy, whereas Kerry wanted to settle down.

Childhood

In 1989, Kerry brought Sky to Erinsborough, to meet her grandfather Harold (Ian Smith), who was initially shocked by Kerry's reappearance but was thrilled to have them both around. Sky gained a father and brother in Joe (Mark Little) and Toby Mangel (Ben Guerens) when Kerry married Joe that year. Tragedy occurred a year later when Kerry was killed by a stray gunshot while protesting against duck hunters. Shortly after Kerry's death, Eric Jensen reappeared and won legal custody of Sky in a court battle; however, it turned out that Jensen wasn't cut out to be a father after all, and Sky was soon back home with Joe. Sky later gained a mother figure in the form of her stepfather's new wife, Melanie (Lucinda Cowden), and the pair officially adopted her. Joe and Melanie later divorced and Sky was once again left without a mother figure.

Return to Ramsay St

In 2003, Sky decided to contact her grandfather Harold. He and Sky clashed several times; the first when he thought she was a burglar and she pretended to be a girl scout and second when Harold thought Sky was smoking marijuana. Eventually these issues were resolved and they have developed a loving relationship.

Sky had a hard time settling in at Erinsborough High School as she has a tendency to be 'radical' and 'alternative'. Controversially, Sky was the first person in Neighbours to wear cowboy boots. One girl, Erin, took a particular resentment toward Sky, and she and her crew of girls would often abuse and backbite Sky in front of their peers, resulting in Sky getting pushed over in a toilet cubicle at Prom. She soon developed a friendship with Boyd Hoyland (Kyal Marsh), though Boyd was reluctant to admit that he and Sky were friends due to her surreal appearance and beliefs. Sky was hurt, especially when she saw that Boyd was being influenced by Erin and her peers. But their friendship eventually developed into a romance, horrifying Erin, who was in love with Boyd, and Sky and Boyd eventually lost their virginity to each other, acting as a great ambassador for teen sex before marriage.

Same-sex Liaison

Sky was also involved with Neighbours' first openly lesbian character, Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval). Lana and Sky became friends at school in mid 2004. One day Lana kissed Sky. Lana was bullied a lot but Sky always stuck up for her. After the clash with the school had calmed down, Lana and Sky agreed to forget about what happened. Unfortunately their relationship had been growing so much that Lana could not stand any more of it and asked Sky out, which Sky declined. Sky and Lana's relationship ended when Lana moved to Canada, although they still keep in touch and write a comic called "Freak-Girl and Enigma" (Who represent Sky and Lana, respectively) via email.

Plane Crash

Sky's Uncle David (Kevin Harrington) and his wife Liljana (Marcella Russo) and their daughter Serena (Lara Sacher) moved in with Sky and Harold at Number 24. The three were killed in a plane crash (Liljana and Serena are presumed dead) in 2005, which distressed Sky greatly, particularly the loss of her cousin; now there would be no other girl in the family of her age group to talk to and confide in.

Relationship with Dylan

Sky and Boyd's relationship lasted for two years until Sky found out that Boyd had slept with her cousin/best friend Serena, and retaliated by kissing Dylan Timmins (Damien Bodie). Sky and Boyd broke up and she began dating Dylan. Sky and Boyd parted amicably, however, deciding they weren't meant to be together, and have managed to remain friends.

Sky and Dylan managed to find dirt on Affirmacon, the company that contaminated Lassiter's Lake and wanted to build the Erinsborough Mall, and with the help of other residents managed to bring Affirmacon down.

Affair and Pregnancy

Sky attended art classes at the Eden Hills University's Erinsborough Campus, where she also presented a radio program on Uni-FM and performed an on-air radio station striptease. After befriending and inspiring her art lecturer Jean-Pierre Valasco, she became attracted to him, and ended up cheating on Dylan. She realised that what she was doing was wrong after she slept with him. She went back to Dylan, and he realised what had happened, causing them to break up.

This left Sky deeply depressed and erratic, resulting in her having sex with Dylan's brother Scott "Stingray" Timmins (Ben Nicholas). She subsequently fell pregnant. It was unclear who the father was. She at first believed the child was Dylan's, because Jean-Pierre is sterile and the timing wouldn't fit with Stingray. However, Sky later found out that the baby was conceived later than first thought.

Sky went to a fortune teller, who told her that her baby was in danger because she had lied to Dylan about his paternity. Later, Dr. Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher) told Sky and Dylan that there was a high chance that Sky's baby could be in danger.

Sky later asked Dylan if they could get back together, and Dylan said he had to think about it. He then told Elle Robinson (Pippa Black) he was thinking of getting back with Sky, and later said in Stingray's documentary that he loved Sky. Elle faked a serious illness, so Dylan stayed with Elle.

Stingray did a documentary of Sky's pregnancy for his movie class and how her child might be born with an abnormality. Karl gave Sky the news that her child has a 0% chance of being in danger. It was also thought, at the time, that Stingray was the real father.

Later, Dylan found out that Elle had been faking her illness, and went to see Sky saying he was sick of all the lies. Sky got scared as she was lying about the baby's father, and refused to get back with him. Later, Sky was searching through a skip to find her medical record that had been thrown out by the hospital,when she came across Izzy Hoyland (Natalie Bassingthwaighte), who guessed that Dylan was not the father. Izzy told Sky that if Karl hadn't found out he wasn't the father of a child she'd pretended was his, then things would have been a lot better for everyone. Dylan came round later saying he thinks she's trying to do what's best for him, but he loves her. Sky gave in and they kissed. Later Dylan took Sky to Melbourne's Luna Park and proposed, she accepted. Later while trying on her wedding dress Sky fainted and was sent to hospital, and it was there that she told Dylan the truth about the baby. Dylan ended their engagement and stormed off after she confessed that the father was Stingray. Dylan invited Scott to a boys night out on the town, he took Stingray to a tower and told him everything and then Dylan denounced Stingray as his brother. Dylan quit his job as a chef at The Scarlet bar to avoid Stingray. After investing as a shareholder in Lassiter's Hotel, Dylan got back together with Elle.

When Sky was in the hospital, she shared a room with Carmella Cammeniti's (Natalie Blair) aggrieved cousin, Teresa Cammeniti (Hannah Greenwood). Teresa planned to steal Sky's baby after she was born, and feigned to be ill so she could remain with Sky at the hospital.

Sky said that she wanted Stingray more involved in the baby's life, so she left the hospital saying that she was going for a short walk. She went to Lassiter's to see him, but she was instead directed to a room occupied by Dylan and Elle. She quickly left, and went to sit on a park bench, when Teresa approached her asking why she left the hospital the way she did. Sky then had pains in her stomach, and Sky told Teresa that she thought she was going into labour. Teresa said that it was too early, then shouted for somebody to get an ambulance. Later in her hospital room, surrounded by Harold, Janelle (Nell Feeney), Loris (Kate Fitzpatrick), Mishka (Deborah Kennedy) and Karl, Teresa barged into the room shouting at Sky, again asking why she left. Karl asked for security to take her to the psychiatric ward. Sky's waters later broke, and during this time Teresa was planning to steal Sky's baby. She stole Carmella's uniform, and when she was confronted by her, threw a pot of boiling water on her face, leaving her with burns (she was later found by Will Griggs (Christian Clark) and taken to hospital). Teresa later set the hospital ablaze, to create a diversion so she could steal the baby.

Kerry Jr.

Sky later gave birth to Kerry Breanna Mangel (Claudine Henningsen) on October 31, 2006, in the episode Baptism Through Fire. After being moved to another wing of the hospital to escape the fire, Sky realised that her baby was missing.

It was later revealed that Dylan had taken the baby from Stingray, who had stolen the baby from the hospital and passed out in the bushes because he was drunk. Dylan took Kerry to Lassiter's, and when found out by Elle, he told her that he thought the baby was his. Elle stole Dylan's car with Kerry inside it so that she could return her to Sky anonymously. Sky later took Kerry to the hospital, where Dylan hinted that he had taken Kerry before. After hearing about how Dylan found Stingray and saved Kerry's life, Sky decided not to go to the police. She was later told by Karl that Kerry was more developed than he thought she would be, and that there was a chance that Dylan was the father. After it was proven that Dylan was Kerry's dad she thought they could get things back on track but Dylan had a different idea: he decided to fight for full custody of Kerry; he later abandoned this idea. Sky considered turning Karl in to the Medical Board for his mistake but decided not to although Karl was now quitting his career as a doctor. Sky and Dylan became friends again. Sky decided to let Dylan choose Kerry's middle name; he chose Breanna after his sister. Dylan and Sky shared a kiss on Christmas Eve, agreeing later that the old 'spark' had not been there; they decided not to reunite after all. Sky began to date Scott Timmins, now officially Kerry's uncle.

Kerry's leukemia and Stingray's death

Kerry was diagnosed with leukemia. With Dylan not being able to use his own bone marrow to save his little girl, Scott stepped in. Sky began having "visions", indicating the worst was going to happen. She first saw the name "Timmins" appear on a tombstone and later had a dream in which Stingray faded from a picture of Sky, Kerry and Stingray. Taking this as a sign, Sky organised a 'strange yet touching' commitment ceremony, where she told Scott that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, that she loved him and that he made her smile. While Scott was donating bone marrow to Kerry, a problem occurred. Scott survived, but died at his mother's birthday party, from a fatal aneurysm.

Terrence

Sky was so overwhelmed by grief that she decided to go see a spiritualist, Terrence Chesterton (Scott Johnson). Harold was originally against the idea until Terrence told him that his late second wife (Madge Bishop) and late son (David Bishop) were trying to communicate with him. Since nobody had mentioned these two to Terrence before, Harold began to trust him. It was later revealed that Terrence was running a scam with his partner, Charlotte Stone (Rachel Gordon).

Prison

Sky became suspicious about Terrence, and tested him in The General Store by telling him a fictional story about Scott and herself in Vietnam. Terrence responded as if it had really happened, and Sky discovered the truth about him. She confronted him, and then hit him over the head with a sugar dispenser as he grabbed and threatened her. He fell unconscious, and Sky soon ran off. Charlotte later found out about Terrence's mistake, and killed him herself, framing Sky in the process. Sky was jailed for her crime and began being harassed by fellow prison inmates - mainly Krystal McCoy. However, on May 17, she was introduced to her new cellmate - the unstable Mary Casey (Rowena Wallace). Oblivious to the fact that Mary was the one who had kidnapped her friend Pepper (Nicky Whelan), Sky developed a bond with the older woman, who helped her defeat Krystal. Sky has been freed from jail after Boyd Hoyland tricked Charlotte Stone into confessing about the murders.

Departure

Afterwards Sky started hanging out with Boyd again, and with the recipient of Stingray's heart: a teen named Caleb Maloney. Despite their growing relationship, Caleb abruptly left town for another transplant in California. Depressed, Sky decided to move to Port Douglas so that Kerry could bond with her father and to reunite with Dylan. Boyd Hoyland also left with Sky to make a fresh start. On 1 December 2008, Lou phoned Sky to ask her about Harold's whereabouts, but Sky didn't know where he was. She also said she was 6 months pregnant, presumably with Dylan's second child. She gave birth in early 2009.

References