Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera created by Reg Watson. It was first broadcast on 18 March 1985. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the serial in 1997, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the show's executive producer Stanley Walsh. The 13th season of Neighbours began airing from 20 January 1997. was introduced in the same month. February saw the arrival of student . debuted in April, while made her first appearance in July. and Ben's sister were introduced in September. November saw the first appearance of .