Sharon Davies is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Jessica Muschamp. She made her first appearance on 29 July 1988. Sharon is the younger sister of Bronwyn Davies (Rachel Friend). During her time in Neighbours, Sharon's storylines included setting fire to the coffee shop, a love triangle with Lucy Robinson (Sasha Close) and Nick Page (Mark Stevens), pushing Lucy into a swimming pool and developing an eating disorder. The character was written out in 1990 as part of a cast exodus and her departure aired on 7 June 1990. Muschamp reprised the role for a cameo appearance in the show's then-finale episode on 28 July 2022. In October 2023, Muschamp confirmed she would be returning for a guest stint.
Casting
While studying for her VCE in 1988, Muschamp attended an audition for the part of Sharon, the younger sister of Bronwyn Davies (played by Rachel Friend). Muschamp had intended to concentrate on her studies, but that changed when she learned about the Neighbours audition. She thought it would be a good experience and she did not expect to get the role. Muschamp was initially contracted for a brief stint with the show, but when she proved popular with viewers she was promoted to the regular cast. During her time with Neighbours, Muschamp said she "had a ball" working with the other members of the cast.
Development
Sharon is described as a "impetuous, laid back character." She is bubbly, but tactless. Sharon often insults people, but she does not mean to and she can be a little thoughtless. Muschamp explained that she is not like Sharon at all, but that she likes her character. She said, "She has a lot of boyfriends, more than me! – a different once every week." She added, "Sharon comes from a dusty isolated town and wants to come to the bright lights of the city." A reporter from Woman magazine called Sharon a "naughty teenager". In the first six months of portraying Sharon, Muschamp studied with an on-set tutor and passed her VCE. Then on-screen she was portraying the process via Sharon's schooling storylines.
In one of the character's more notable storylines, she attempts to lose weight by dieting. Muschamp said the storyline was created after she decided to lose weight herself. When she was asked if the producers had asked her to lose weight, Muschamp said, "Not at all. I was always a chubby teenager. Then after I left school, when I was already in Neighbours, I put on more weight. I decided to lose it and so they put Sharon dieting into the storyline." While discussing controversial topics covered by Neighbours, producer Mark Callan told Jim Schembri of The Age that the crew were not sure whether they should go ahead with the plot, as it "would probably cause a bit of a personal concern" with Muschamp, but Callan praised her for coping with it "magnificently". He added, "That was considered cruel at the time, and it was cruel the way that we handled it, yet I feel that the end product was something that was very real. The character, Sharon, had a real problem that she expressed very well."
In 1990, during a cast exodus, producers decided to send the character to New Zealand. By that time, everyone around Sharon had gone – her boyfriend, her sister and her aunt. Of this, Muschamp said, "I think the producers felt her character had come to a natural conclusion, so she went off to stay with relatives." Of the process, which saw characters leave, Muschamp explained, "They had the head-shots of all the different characters lined up above the mirrors and as people left, they'd turn them upside down, I remember dreading the day my head got turned". Muschamp left the series in May of that year and she struggled to find work following her departure. She added, "Neighbours was a double-edged sword, in many ways it opened a lot of doors but in other ways people thought I couldn't do anything else".