# UK Soap and Drama Discussion > Neighbours > General >  Jane Badler joins 'Neighbours' cast

## Perdita

Jane Badler has landed a guest role on Neighbours.

The American actress, who has lived in Melbourne for 20 years, is best known for her role as rodent-eating alien Diana in 1983 show V.

She will now join the cast of Neighbours as "super-bitch" Diana Marshall.

A spokesperson for Five revealed that Badler will begin filming her scenes next week.

Her episodes will be broadcast in late June in Australia and later in the year in the UK.

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Dazzle (27-03-2010), tammyy2j (27-03-2010)

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## Dazzle

I remember the rodent eating in V vividly.  Neighbours needs a good bitch to liven things up.

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## Perdita

I hope she has not lost any of her bite  :Smile:

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## Dazzle

:Rotfl:   :Rotfl:

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## tammyy2j

Another lady for Paul maybe

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## Dazzle

Here's a picture of Jane Badler:-

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## Perdita

Jane Badler has revealed that her Neighbours character arrives in Erinsborough to settle a score with Paul Robinson.

The actress, best known for her role as alien Diana in the original V series, signed up to play manipulative businesswoman Diana Marshall on the Ramsay Street soap earlier this year.

Speaking to TV Week about her new role, Badler explained: "She's Paul's boss, a woman who's been running the Lassiter's arm in New York under CEO Rosemary Daniels. But at one point, a long time back, Paul and Diana were lovers. He broke her heart - as he seems to do often - and Diana's never quite forgotten it.

"Now she's come to Ramsay Street to bring Paul down, and yet there's still this enormous attraction between them."

Asked whether Paul (Stefan Dennis) is about to cheat on wife Rebecca (Jane Hall) again, Badler replied: "He well could!"

Badler has a four-month guest contract with Neighbours. Her first episode will air in Australia next week.

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Dazzle (16-06-2010), lizann (16-06-2010)

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## lizann

How lucky is she playing another Diana

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## tammyy2j

PAUL ROBINSON'S American boss Diana Marshall (Jane Badler) is going to be a nightmare – and not for the first time.

Jane starred as rodent-eating alien Diana in the sci-fi series V, which has just been remade in the US. 

There have already been calls for her to return to the show and Jane said: “I’m a fan and I hope to make an appearance in the future. 


“In the meantime I’m on Neighbours for four months and I’m having a blast! 


“The two Dianas have similar qualities, although the style of acting is different nowadays. In the 80s if you were evil, you played it pretty full on. Now you have to be subtle.” 


Neighbours’ Diana once had an affair with Paul. Jane said: “Diana is back to force him to fall in love with her again or destroy him.”

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## Perdita

Neighbours newcomer Jane Badler has admitted that she experienced a tough start to life on set.

It was previously announced that the actress will be playing the villainous Diana Marshall, a love interest for the devious Paul Robinson.

Speaking to Holy Soap about filming her first scenes, she revealed: "I had a couple of days early on that were just really, really hard - I could not get it together.

"And I think everyone does that. I noticed a few of the other new people. They all went through the same thing, where you have a day where you just go, 'Wow, I can't seem to function!'

"I kind of didn't express that I was having any trouble, I just did it. I think you just do it - you just go in and you do it.

"Everyone was really nice. You get used to the pace and it's really fun. And as soon as you get through that, it's okay."

Badler is best known for the original V series in 1983, in which she also played a character called Diana. Earlier this week, she was tipped to reprise her role on the modern-day ABC version.

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## Perdita

Jane Badler has dismissed speculation that her new Neighbours character Diana Marshall is anything like her former V alter ego.

However, the 56-year-old actress - best known for portraying Diana in the 1983 cult series - revealed that producers chose the name as a "homage" to her previous part.

Speaking about how she acquired the Ramsay Street role, she told Holy Soap: "It's kind of an odd story really. I think the writers originally wrote it for me.

"They named it Diana kind of in homage to Diana in V and it was kind of on their wish list to have someone like me and they didn't even realise I'd been in the country for 20 years, in Australia."

Badler added: "[Marshall]'s nothing like her, she has the same name Diana - she's a human! Diana Marshall's had a dysfunctional upbringing and she's always had to be strong on her own and I think she's a real fighter.

"She's someone who's had to fight for everything she's got in her life. And so she works very hard and she wants to be at the top of her field. All she's ever known is that she has to claw her way to the top in order to survive."

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## Perdita

Neighbours newcomer Jane Badler has revealed that her alter ego Diana Marshall will lead Paul Robinson astray.

Speaking to Holy Soap, the actress also said that villainous Diana will clash with all of Ramsay Street's residents.

She said: "She absolutely will try to lead Paul astray, and later on she does lead him astray. [It]'s because he's the heir to the Robinson fortune, she knows there's a glass ceiling and she'll never rise to the top.

"So I think she comes to Melbourne to bring him down and destroy him because she knows he has embezzled money. And also because they had a relationship at one time and he hurt her."

The star added: "She clashes with everyone. I can't actually think of anyone she's ever got on with. She's not well liked.

"It's mainly because she doesn't hide her ambition and her eagerness to bring people down. She's abrupt and she doesn't care if she's liked."

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