Eddie Buckingham
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 3 April 1990. La Castra created the character for himself after he was told that casting him in the soap would be difficult due to his ethnic background. Eddie was introduced during a series of episodes set in London. He befriends Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston) and Harold Bishop (Ian Smith), and later travels to Australia to visit them. While he is in the country, Eddie lives with the Bishops and runs a food stall. He is portrayed as bright, street wise, and a "typical cockney lovable rogue". The character was written out of the soap when the producers decided to focus on family-oriented drama, and Eddie departed on 28 September 1990. Creation and casting 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