Billy Kennedy (Neighbours)

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William Kennedy
Portrayed by Jesse Spencer
First appearance September 27, 1994
Episode 2247
Last appearance April 5, 2000
Episode 3503
Cause/reason Left for a carpentry apprenticeship in Queensland
Profile
Nickname(s) Billy, Bill
Gender Male
Date of birth 1981
Age 26
Occupation Carpenter
Residence Queensland

William Norton Kennedy, usually known as Billy or, from his 18th birthday onwards, Bill, was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jesse Spencer. He first appeared in 1994 until 2000. In 2005, Bill made a brief cameo in Annalise Hartman's documentary on Ramsay Street.

Billy Kennedy had his first glimpse of Ramsay Street when his churlish father Karl was examining No. 28 at auction. Billy was immediately befriended by Hannah Martin and later made acquaintances with Toadfish Rebecchi who introduced him to smoking, shoplifting and joyriding. Billy's first girlfriend, Nicole Cahill, dumped him after Hannah jealously attacked the pair at a parish dance and Billy then moved onto an older woman, falling in love with a friend of his brother's - Packo, who taught him the violin. Whatever his motives for taking up the instrument, his lessons certainly paid off - he played at Helen Daniels' wedding to Reuben White. For his 15th birthday he was given a computer, provided he share it with the rest of the family.

Having started swimming to curb his asthma, Billy took a swim before a date with a girl, who actually only agreed to date him to get closer to his brother Mal, with disastrous consequences - his hair turned green! Actually, this proved to his advantage when wildchild Olivia became much more interested in Billy as a result; she even got close to persuading Billy to get a tattoo! Egged on by Stonefish, Billy got as far as the parlour but passed out at the vital moment and never did get his 'tat'. To further impress her Billy even took to stealing balls from the local golf course, but when Course Security, in the form of Brett Stark, got hold of him, Billy decided to collect abandoned balls rather than those still in active play!

Later, Billy met his first proper girlfriend - a girl whom he thought hated him but actually had more than a passing interest. Melissa Drenth liked Billy "heaps" and they went out for quite sometime - they also shared their 'first time' together, until they were embarrassingly interrupted. He later read Melissa's diary, which was not a popular move.

Billy's asthma was not his only 'disability' - he was also diagnosed with dyslexia, something to which Karl took a long time to adjust. His teacher - who happened to be gay -helped him through this difficult time, but Melissa's homophobia regarding his mentor drove Billy to the solace of another girl - the tomboy George. As a result he broke up with Melissa after a brush with death in a football accident, but regretted it almost immediately when he realised he still had feelings for her, after seeing Melissa kiss Toadie. This drove a wedge between the two former best friends but later Melissa got back with Billy, and Toadie and Bill become friends again. Billy's first romance finally came to an end when he repeatedly caught her cheating and she left him.

Billy and Toadie made a great team: Together they lost Louise while babysitting and created a pirate radio station, but in 1996 the arrival of the Wilkinsons and, the following year, Amy heralded a new era: The gang was born. Billy, Toadie and Amy joined up with twins Lance and Anne and together they formed an inseparable group of friends. Billy and Anne quickly fell in love, and became a golden couple of Ramsay Street, though it took a few little nudges from Lance and Toadie for them to finally realise they were perfect for each other. This was hampered once by Melissa's return, which prompted an unfortunate name error for Billy and drove a temporary wedge between him and Anne until his unresolved feelings were sorted out. Together, Billy and Anne proved the downfall of new teacher Lisa Elliot, when they inserted a line into Billy's essay: 'Lisa is a numb-nut' after they were convinced that she did not mark their essays fully.

Billy, by now a keen swimmer, took a job lifesaving at the local pool. At about the same time, Anne had a painting to do for a school art competition; she decided to do a nude of her boyfriend, but was caught by Harold in the middle with some unfortunate results! At the last minute to protect her boyfriend's modesty she added a pair of boardies to the painting. Billy took advantage of his job at the pool, and one night after closing time took Anne there for a romantic candle-lit evening pashing in the pool. Their exploits were not unnoticed though; a security camera picked it all up and the manager cheerily gave Bill the tape for his own personal memories. This all went horribly wrong when Susan picked up the wrong cassette on the way to school, and the couple's evening was shown to the whole class instead of an educational video. This did not deter the young lovers however; they entered a teen competition shortly afterwards to see if they were The Perfect Couple. When Billy got cold feet for the photoshoot, Lance went along instead so that they could all share in the prize. What they didn't bank on was having to kiss for the shoot, something that neither were willing to do, thankfully!

The arrival of Anne's half-brother's sister Caitlin caused some problems for the couple. Caitlin had no problem in admitting her desire for Billy, and made no secret of it to Anne either. While on a swim meet trip to Sydney, Caitlin and Billy kissed when he came out of the shower. After, some serious pleading from Billy and the two were soon back together, but with Anne harbouring some unresolved jealousies. For a while the two broke up again, Billy rebounded onto Caitlin who was unsure of the speed he took things. On his 18th birthday Billy made a big decision - he was going to change his name to 'Bill'. During Karl and Susan's break-up, Bill was very much on the side of his mother, but had trouble in hating his father because he had found himself in a very similar situation.

When he planned to move out and leave school later that year, his ideas were not well received by his parents. Anne tried hard to convince him otherwise and reluctantly Bill agreed, only to face personal dilemma when Anne applied to go interstate for university. However, through all these trials they stayed together and agreed to go a camping holiday to celebrate the end of school. On this trip the two finally consummated their relationship, and it was Anne's first time. She described it as 'magical' but when she overheard Bill playing it down to Pinhead, she panicked and drove off in tears into a storm. Distraught, she crashed into a swollen river, trapping Joel Samuels in the process. After it was all resolved, Anne rushed back to Bill's arms when he assured here that he was only downplaying their night together because he felt it was none of Pinhead's business. When the placements for uni came through, there were problems as Anne indeed was placed in Queensland. While this went on, a certain Full Monty benefit was being planned - Billy along with Karl, Toadie, Drew and Joel did a strip show for the ladies of Erinsborough, which was very popular!

Bill missed Anne terribly, and thought of a way to get to her so he could see her again. This opportunity came around in the form of a uni kissing competition - him and Amy had to pash full-on for a chance to win the prize, but they went ahead with it and Bill got his trip. Bill realised that his true talent lay not with academia, but with carpentry. With a loan from Karl he set up his own business, Good Wood, and started to sell a few pieces.

Foolishly, Bill chanced upon Anne's diary and, seemingly having learned nothing, proceeded to read it. After coming to his own conclusions, Bill accused Anne of treachery at the same time as she accused him! In a tussle over the book, Anne was accidentally left with a cut to her face, and it seemed that the relationship was at an end. They drifted apart, and she moved out to an artists' studio where she became very friendly with the ridiculously-named David 'Fanto' Hodges. Meanwhile, vandals trashed Bill's workshop, and later he realised that he left the door unlocked and would not be covered by insurance. Fanto was only after one thing, it seemed, and was trying to take advantage of Anne while she was feeling vulnerable.

Bill worked on a building site for a while, while the carpentry job went quiet. But after a near-deadly accident, he felt he had to speak out about the compromised safety on the site and makes a stand, something about which Anne was very proud. They redefined their friendship, which seemed fine until she admitted to her 'friend' Bill that she would go out with Fanto if he asked her. He took this very badly, and started to 'get her out of his system' on advice from Toadie, burning their mutual pictures, but could not burn their letters. He almost considered going overseas long-term with Libby to escape his heartache but he decided against it, staying miserably in Erinsborough. New girl Flick Scully took more than a passing interest in Bill but quickly backed away when she realised he had emotional baggage with him, and was still unhappy about Anne and Fanto. That didn't stop Flick managing to catch a bit more than a glance when he took a shower at No. 26. After the Millennium fire at No. 26, Bill agreed to make a kitchen table to replace the one that got burnt, but Joe Scully was initially having none of it, eager to deter his immature daughter's interest in Bill. However, he eventually relented, and the table became a mainstay in the Scully kitchen.

Bill's dreams finally came true in 2000 when he was offered a huge opportunity; an apprenticeship by woodworker Greg Mast in Queensland. It was possibly the biggest problem the couple had faced in their three-year history. To celebrate truly 'the end of an era', Toadie arranged a trip for the gang, who had drifted apart slightly in the past months, to go to Luna Park for one final day of fun, where they all had a wonderful time and emotional goodbyes were said by all. When finally Bill left, Anne was distraught even though they agreed to try a long-distance relationship. This was obviously not enough, and she soon transferred to a nearby uni, surprising Bill at the train station in Queensland.

In early 2007 his girlfriend Anne Wilkinson gave birth to his son Jackson Kennedy.

[edit] Family

[edit] Maternal Line

[edit] Paternal Line

  • Molly Kennedy (grandmother), married Tom Kennedy (adoptive grandfather) and had a relationship with Ron Davies-Smythe (biological grandfather)
    • Karl Kennedy (father), married to Susan Smith (mother), had a one-night stand with Isabelle Hoyland
      • Holly Hoyland (half-sister)
v • d • e
The Kennedy family in Neighbours
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