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Guest Character Profiles > Amanda Harris Briony Behets

Amanda Harris (nee Mangel) 1987, 2025
Parents: Len and Nell Mangel
Marital Status: Peter
Siblings: Joe
Children: Jane
Occupation: Businesswoman

Glamorous and selfish Amanda Mangel had a difficult relationship with her mother, the strict Mrs Nell Mangel, deliberately getting pregnant to Peter Harris so that he would marry her and she could escape her home. However, she also found it hard having a daughter of her own, Jane, worried that she would start to outshine her as she grew up. Amanda deliberately dressed her daughter in the dowdiest clothes she could, but she and husband Peter were often away on business and would leave Jane in her grandmother's care. When Amanda and Peter went on an extended business trip to Hong Kong, Jane moved in with Nell, where she slowly started to blossom, making friends with the other teenagers on Ramsay Street and receiving a makeover, after which she caught the eye of Mike Young.

When Nell suffered a heart attack the following year, she started asking to see her daughter and, having heard little from her parents in their year away, Jane was surprised when Amanda returned to Erinsborough to visit, having seemingly dropped everything in Hong Kong to fly home. Amanda struggled to hide her horror as she found that her daughter had really come into her own, even doing some modelling as the 'Face of Lassiters', the hotel where she was now working. Though initially wary of her mum, Jane decided to try and make an effort, particularly as she'd been having problems getting along with her grandmother before the heart attack. Amanda then tried to claim that it had been Peter who had wanted to leave for Hong Kong and abandon Jane, but that their marriage was now over. She claimed that she wanted to move back to Australia permanently and repair her damaged relationships, but it soon became apparent that she was extremely jealous of her daughter as she worked to sabotage a potential date with Henry Ramsay, telling him that Jane was just using him to try and make her ex-boyfriend, Mike, jealous. Whilst Amanda managed to convince Jane that she'd had her best interests at heart, others on the street were less sure, with Madge and Helen both seeing through her plotting. Jane, however, continued to fall under her mother's spell, believing her when she said that she should start dressing more conservatively and wearing her glasses, as she would never keep a boyfriend if she pretended to be someone she wasn't.

When Jane then found some money hidden in her mother's bedroom, Amanda quickly claimed that Peter had been controlling their finances for years, as he wanted to stop her from coming back to Australia and seeing Jane, but she had taken the money she felt she was owed in order to visit her daughter. Amanda then continued to ostracise Jane from her friends on Ramsay Street, with Charlene, Scott and Mike shocked about Jane using Henry to make Mike jealous. Amanda also had a huge argument with Madge, who she blamed for Mrs Mangel's heart attack, and Jane quickly sided with her mum on the issue. As Jane then attempted to fix the damage her mum had done, and patch things up with her friends, Amanda had bigger problems to deal with when Graham, an associate of Peter's, came looking for the stolen cash, which Amanda had hidden inside the lining of her fur coat. When she met with Graham later that day, she made it clear that she wouldn't be returning the money, using Henry to frighten him into leaving, but the incident had clearly scared Amanda, who went home and told Jane that she needed to leave Australia the following day.

Jane soon worked out that the mysterious money had something to do with her mum's planned departure and managed to convince her to stay for a little longer, with Amanda suggesting dinner to celebrate and using the opportunity to buy her daughter a dowdy new dress. With Jane worried that her mum would leave again, she agreed to wear the new outfit that night, removed her makeup and started wearing her glasses again, leaving her friends shocked. After that small win, Amanda had bigger things to worry about when her fur coat went missing, with all of her money still inside. It soon turned out that Madge had picked up the coat by mistake, and Jane suggested that maybe her mum should just return the money to her dad, as it was causing all of these problems and making her scared for her safety. Amanda, however, was insistent that she deserved the money and would be keeping it - and using it to have a good time.

When Jane's new appearance then saw her edited out of a promotional video for the hotel, Mike was upset on her behalf, convinced that she'd only changed her appearance because of her mum's jealousy. Mike decided to confront Amanda, receiving a slap across the face for his efforts. Having been trying to help Amanda with her finances, Mike's guardian, bank manager Des Clarke, decided to try and help with their falling out, only to find himself falling for the lies of a tearful Amanda. With more and more of Jane's friends and neighbours seeing through Amanda's act, however, Des proved to be one of the few people she could still turn to, causing problems with his wife, Daphne. After causing chaos in the Clarke marriage, Amanda was also finding things difficult at 32 Ramsay Street, as her mother came out of hospital and proved to be a difficult patient to care for. As she ranted to Jane, Amanda admitted that she'd deliberately tried to get pregnant with Jane all those years earlier, in order to move out of home. This revelation, coupled with some gentle nudging from her nan, finally made Jane realise that she wasn't happy and she didn't need to pretend to be someone else to win her mother's love.

After Jane changed her clothes and removed her glasses again, Amanda was furious but, following a call from Peter, who forgave her for taking the money, she announced that she was going back to Hong Kong. Before she went, Amanda admitted that Jane did look better with make-up and more fashionable clothes, but cattily reminded her that looks don't last forever.

In the years that followed, Jane ended up moving to England to care for Mrs Mangel, who had moved there after marrying John Worthington. Jane married and had two children, Nicolette and Byron, with all three of them eventually ending up living back on Ramsay Street. It would be 38 years before Amanda returned to Erinsborough herself, when she moved into one of the apartments at retirement complex, Eirini Rising. When operations manager Susan Kennedy noticed a photograph of Amanda with Jane, who was a neighbour and good friend of Susan's, she brought up the subject, but Amanda made it clear that she didn't want her family to know she was there just yet. Though she was uncomfortable with keeping something so important from Jane, Susan agreed to stay quiet, but was shocked as Amanda explained that, although she had occasional contact from her daughter and grandchildren, she still felt that they had neglected her and she wanted to see how long it would be before they all realised that she was no longer in Sydney, but living in the retirement home next-door to Erinsborough High, the school where Jane was now the principal.

Trivia Notes
• At 8660 episodes, Briony Behets holds the record for the biggest gap between appearances as the same character
• Briony Behets initially played Amanda for three weeks in 1987, returning to the cast 38 years later to reprise the role in 2025
• Between appearances as Amanda, Briony also appeared in Neighbours in 2008 as Kate Newton
• To read our interview with Briony, click here

Tenure
555, 556, 558-564, 568-570, 9230