Eddie Buckingham

Eddie Buckingham
Neighbours character
Portrayed by	Bob La Castra
First appearance	2 April 1990
Last appearance	28 September 1990
Introduced by	Don Battye
Classification	Former; regular
Profile
Occupation	Cafe owner and waiter
Home	London

Edward "Eddie" Buckingham is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Bob La Castra. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 2 April 1990. La Castra created the character for himself after he was told that casting him the soap would be difficult due to his ethnic background. Eddie travels to Australia to visit Madge and Harold Bishop. While he is in the country, Eddie sets up and runs a food stall. The character was written out of the soap and Eddie departed on 28 September 1990.

After La Castra finished working on children's television series Wombat in 1989, he sent an audition tape to Neighbours. La Castra received a call back, but he was told by producers that his ethnicity would make casting him difficult. The actor decided to use his background as a writer to create his own character, Eddie Buckingham. La Castra said "I was initially told the part would have been easier to cast if I were Vietnamese, but I lived in a normal street with normal people so I wrote myself in." La Castra told Nicola Murphy of TV Week that he went into shock when he learned that he had been hired by Neighbours. The producers asked La Castra to keep his casting a secret for ten weeks before he appeared on-screen. The actor commented "It was agony because I was busting to tell my friends. It's not much fun celebrating on your own!" Eddie was La Castra's first serious television role. La Castra was written out of Neighbours in September 1990 along with a series of characters, so the producers could make a return to focusing on family-oriented drama.

Eddie was introduced to Neighbours during episodes set in London. He meets Madge (Anne Charleston) and Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) and they invite him back to Australia. La Castra said that the fact he is from England in real life would be a draw for the English audience. During Eddie's seven months on Neighbours, he appeared primarily as a foil for Harold. La Castra described Eddie as a "typical cockney lovable rouge". He is "bright and breezy, and a one for chatting up the ladies." Eddie is a good guy and very street wise.

During a scene where Eddie had to ride a bicycle, La Castra revealed that he could not ride the bike. The Neighbours team asked a Caucasian man to ride the bike and they blacked him up. La Castra said nobody ever picked it up, even though a patch of skin on his body double's arm was left untouched.

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