Neighbours confirms Harold Bishop's return storylines

 He's been away from the Aussie soap for seven years.

With the end of Neighbours in sight and the sheer number of returning cast members from years gone by showing up, the Aussie soap has now revealed what beloved character Harold Bishop will be getting up to on his return.

Home from their break, Karl and Susan Kennedy are confronted by how closed off Mackenzie (Georgie Stone) is following Hendrix Greyson's tragic death, and encourage her to clear the air with her dad Grant following recent differences between them, but she has no desire to.

Little do they know, the surprise arrival of a beloved friend – Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) – could make all the difference.

Later in the week, Amy Greenwood is struggling with her love life and avoids Toadie and Melanie as they celebrate their engagement.

Zara's heart breaks for her mother, believing that Toadie and Amy have unacknowledged feelings for each other, but as she laments the unfairness of the situation to Harold, she starts to suspect he's not so excited about the development either.

Harold refuses to help Zara break Toadie and Melanie up, but promises to look into her concerns. He asks Amy for her opinion on Melanie's dependability, and Amy decides to put her own feelings aside and speaks highly of Mel, but Zara's listening in and won't drop the matter just yet.

 Neighbours script producer Shane Isheev on show ending

Meanwhile, Mackenzie is still struggling with her grief and inability to eat. Identifying with her distress, Harold opens up to her about his own journey through grief. As Harold counsels her, Mackenzie feels stronger for the first time in a long time.

A double episode will close out the soap forever on Monday, August 1, following Channel 5's decision to discontinue its broadcast over in the UK.

Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.