Lauren Turner

Lauren Turner (also Carpenter) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Kate Kendall.

The role was originally played by Sarah Vandenbergh, and she made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 16 February 1993.

Lauren was introduced as the "vivacious" daughter of Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver).

Vandenbergh described her as being happy, headstrong and into horses.

She also thought that just by looking at the character you knew she was a girl next door type.

Lauren's major storylines during her first stint in the show saw her have an affair with Brad Willis (Scott Michaelson), join a religious cult and begin a casual relationship with Wayne Duncan (Jonathon Sammy-Lee).

Vandenbergh decided to leave the serial when she was told that Lauren would not feature prominently in storylines anymore.

Vandenbergh joined the cast of Neighbours in 1993 to play the "vivacious" daughter of Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver).

It was her first major television role and she relocated from Sydney to Melbourne for filming.

Vandenbergh told Sue Malins of Soaplife that her workload was gruelling and she had a crazy work schedule during her time on the show.

The actress said it was tough for the younger cast members who had come straight from school, but as she was twenty, she could deal with it.

Vandenbergh decided to leave Neighbours because of a decision made by production staff that Lauren would not feature prominently in storylines.

After Lauren had been used to play central stories out such as sexually transmitted diseases, they planned to give her a "quieter time" working in the coffee shop.

Vandenbergh told Mary Fletcher from Woman's Own, "I didn't want that, after so much had happened, I wasn't going to hang around in the background. And you can only go so far with a job before you stop learning anything new."

She departed on 2 March 1994.

In May 1996, Vandenbergh revealed to the Daily Mirror's Fiona Parker that another reason she chose to leave Neighbours was because nobody was letting her be anyone else except Lauren.

She admitted that she hated the press writing about her during her time in the show, although said added that she had no regrets about appearing in Neighbours as it was a great experience for her.

Vandenbergh revealed that she did not get much of a synopsis about her character's personality and had to establish herself as Lauren during the first week on air.

She told a writer for SOAP magazine, "The only real brief I was given was her relationship with her mother and father and the fact that she was really headstrong and right into horses, and that's about it. To this day I still don't know what her birthday is."

The actress stated that when you looked at Lauren you knew she was the girl next door and went on to describe her as "really happy".

She added "I looked so Australian with my pony tail and my horsey clothes on and no make-up, so I was the ideal Lauren even before I'd read the scripts."

Lauren is the daughter of Lou and Kathy Carpenter (Tina Bursill) and the sister of Guy Carpenter (Andrew Williams) and Ling Mai Chan (Khym Lam).

Lauren grew up with her mother, Kathy, following the breakdown of her parents' marriage.

Kathy made Lauren study hard, while time with Lou was more fun.

This led Lauren to grow up wanting to please her father and she started working with horses because Lou was a keen rider.

Lauren arrived in Erinsborough on her horse Chucka Mental.

The storyline was brought in because Oliver had a passion for them, but Vandenbergh revealed that she was unused to horses and had to have a course of intense riding lessons prior to filming.

She said "The week before I started on the show I had an accident and the bruising on my leg was the size of a football! There I was having to ride a horse on screen when I could barely walk on to the set!"

She called the horse that played Chucka Mental "amazing" and revealed that he had starred in The Man from Snowy River, so he understood the word "action".

On 4 November 2012, it was announced Lauren would be returning to Neighbours with Kendall taking over the role.

She made her first appearance as Lauren on 7 February 2013.

Upon her return, Lauren brought her family with her and Kendall described them as "charismatic", saying they would have some secrets and "really juicy storylines".

Kendall's Lauren is portrayed as being "down to earth", "warm" and "very social".

Her storylines since her return have often focused on family issues, including the arrival of her and Brad's long-lost daughter Paige Smith (Olympia Valance), the death of her husband Matt Turner (Josef Brown), and her reunion and marriage to Brad (now Kip Gamblin).

Following the character's return in 2013, Lauren had become more mature and family focused.

The official website says, "A natural mother, she is a warm, tactile woman, who doesn't believe her kids will ever be too old for a big hug and a mug of Hot Chocolate when they're feeling down."

The character was also described as being happy and "down to earth".

Lauren has often put her role as the Turner family matriarch first, but she has dreams of being an artist.

By moving to Erinsborough, Lauren was able to reconnect with her father Lou, with whom she shares "a warm relationship".

The character departed on 7 April 2017, along with Brad, before making guest returns in June 2017, March and June 2018, and for the show's final episode on 28 July 2022.