Heidi "Pepper" Steiger is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Nicky Whelan.

She made her debut in the episode broadcast on 12 October 2006. Pepper left the soap on 1 November 2007 after Whelan quit her contract.

During her stint in the serial Pepper was involved in notable storylines including a same-sex kiss, a hostage situation and cervical dysplasia.

[1] Their inclusion within the serial was part of the producers attempts to introduce more contemporary characters, despite not knowing each other they all share the same house upon their on-screen debuts, a first for the series.

[1] Pepper was scripted as having immediate family connections within the serial in the form of father and already established character Allan Steiger (Joe Clements) and mother Christine Rodd (Trudy Hellier).

[1] Whelan was about to start her career in Los Angeles when she received confirmation that she had won the role, so she decided to stay and play Pepper.

[1] During an interview Whelan described Pepper's persona in depth, stating: "She's very similar to your early Goldie Hawn, who I love".

[3] Whelan explained that Pepper and Rosie were both going through a tough time, and the kiss developed in the heat of the moment.

Thing got out of hand when Rosie started questioning whether she was gay and Whelan commented, "Pepper's thinking, 'You must be kidding!

"[4] Richard Clune from The Daily Telegraph observed that the kiss "failed to spark audience interest" and mostly went unnoticed along with a number of would be controversial plots.

A billion things run through her mind, she freaks out and she's really frightened - especially because she doesn't have a lot of knowledge of the condition and she hears the word cancer and her ears prick up.

Whelan told Jackie Brygel from TV Week that Pepper was frightened of the operation and coming out of it, she has "a billion questions" for the doctors, as she needs to know everything.

[5] Whelan quit Neighbours 13 months into her three-year contract and filmed her final scenes in July 2007.

[5] In an interview with TV Week's Thomas Mitchell in June 2013, Whelan revealed that she would be willing to return to Neighbours.

On her first day at Erinsborough High, Pepper attracts the attentions of her male students, particularly Zeke Kinski (Matthew Werkmeister).

They quickly realise it was a mistake, but it was witnessed by Frazer's younger brother, Ringo (Sam Clark), who told everyone about it.

She believes they might be from a student or Paul, but when a birthday cake for an eight-year-old arrives, Pepper tells Rosie that she became pregnant when she was seventeen to her then boyfriend, Kevin Casey (Zen Ledden), but she later miscarried.

Pepper returns home and is unable to tell Frazer and Rosie about her ordeal, until Kevin turns up to apologise.

Adam finds out about the Cairns job and realises that Pepper has been keeping her options open, in case he did not want to move away with her.

For her portrayal of Pepper, Whelan was nominated for Best Newcomer and Sexiest Female at the 2008 Digital Spy Soap Awards.