[3] In her 1994 book, The Neighbours Programme Guide, Josephine Monroe stated that Melanie had a "zany personality, wacky outfits and outrageous laugh".

Fletcher told Stuart Gilles from Manchester Evening News that Kelvin "always fancied her" but believed Melanie would not want a relationship with a "bashful type".

[9] Cowden told Chrissie Camp from TV Week about feeling "a chemistry" with Little when they began working together, which viewers and writers both picked up on.

[9] Cowden told Camp that Melanie's engagement to Simon made her realise she would miss living with Joe and his son, Toby (Ben Geurens).

Cowden told Richard Shears from TV Quick that "you can understand poor Joe's concern, dippy Melanie is the sort of character who could turn up in a tutu and tap dance down the aisle.

"[13] Cowden reprised the role in 2005 and joined several returning cast members for the show's 20th anniversary episode, which was broadcast in July.

Cowden admitted that she was sad upon hearing the development, saying "I think Joe and Mel would have stayed together forever but as we aren't going to go back, I suppose the producers had the right to do it.

"[15] On 9 December 2020, the serial's social media team confirmed that Cowden had reprised the role, after she was briefly seen in a promotional trailer for the show.

"[7] She worries for Jane when she learns Clive is spending time with his former partner, and Cowden reckoned that Melanie might have been in a similar situation where someone she was dating was still seeing their ex.

Mackenzie Hargreaves (Georgie Stone) sets it up that Toadie is unfairly treating Melanie at work – only for it to be revealed, with no real clues, that they are in fact having a fling!

[22] Moloney told Ellis that he and Cowden were enjoying the storyline while they could, knowing that there would be "roadblocks" for their characters in the future, including commitment issues and Toadie's children.

"[28] Simultaneously, Melanie teams up with Mackenzie and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne), and records a short film titled Ode to Toad, in which she confesses her love for Toadie at the premiere.

Herbison told Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy that "I wanted the stories to provide natural opportunities for other characters to appear, which of course the wedding did.

[37] On 29 October 2024, Cowden announced her departure from Neighbours via the NeighBens podcast, describing the decision to write out the character as "a bitter old pill to swallow".

[38] Following the broadcast of her departure scenes on 19 November 2024, Cowden confirmed that her forthcoming guest appearance would be part of the series' fortieth anniversary episodes in 2025.

[40] Henry Ramsay brings Melanie home to meet his mother Madge (Anne Charleston), his sister Charlene (Kylie Minogue) and her husband Scott (Jason Donovan).

Melanie's hiccupping animalistic laugh makes Henry's family feel uneasy and Madge and Charlene conspire to set her up with Mike Young (Guy Pearce) and Gino Rossini (Joey Perrone).

Within weeks of their wedding, Joe receives a call from England that his mother Nell Mangel (Vivean Gray) has suffered a heart attack and to fund the medical expenses they will need to sell Number 32.

When Sky returns to Erinsborough, she tells her grandfather Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) that Joe and Melanie divorced a decade earlier.

Two years later, Melanie appears in Annalise Hartman's (Kimberly Davies) documentary about Ramsay Street, where she is seen living in London and talking about past mistakes including working for Paul and marrying Joe.

They humiliate Mel and throw gunge over her, but are scared away by Haz Devkar (Shiv Palekar) and Mackenzie (Georgie Stone).

Toadie begins spending more time with Melanie when Terese supports Paul over David Tanaka's (Takaya Honda) death.

She takes the drinks van to the musical festival circuit for five weeks, hoping to earn enough money to move out of the Kennedy's house.

Ian Morrison, author of Neighbours: The Official Annual 1992, stated "If Melanie offers to lend a hand beware...her efforts don't always turn out as she would like!

"[4] A Coventry Telegraph reporter observed that Melanie became "a soap favourite" and branded her a "girl next door with a foghorn laugh, the dizzy secretary with a heart of gold who had thousands of viewers tuning in to watch her antics.

"[41] Catherine Stott and Mike Austen from Thame Gazette described her a "the blonde bimbette with the laugh like a drain and the silly voice.

Melanie was a hilarious cartoon creation, a ditzy, daffy, polka-dotted, colour-clashing surrealist heart-throb who occupied a planet made in her own garish image, before hitching up with boy-next-door Joe Mangle [sic] and leaving the street an all together greyer place.

[47] TV Week's Camp branded Melanie and Joe the "Ramsay Street oddballs" and predicted that viewers would be "trilled" with writers matching them up.

[10] Of Mel's style choices at the wedding, TV Quick's Richard Shears stated "she is renowned for her weird clothes and viewers were eager to know what she'd come up with for the big day.

Hassan quipped, "Madcap Melanie (played by Lucinda Cowden) was best known on the soap for her foghorn, seal-like laugh and her frequent trips to the local Erinsborough astrologer, Madame Zolga.