Liljana Bishop

Infobox soap character
colour = Television colour|Neighbours
name = Liljana Bishop


first = October 9,2003
Episode 4344
last apperance =
reson =
alias =
gender = Female
age = 41
born =
death = Otober 25 2005
occupation = Secretary, Manager of the Helen Daniels Fund.
title =
parents = Miroslav Ristic
Svetlanka Ristic
siblings = Zoran Ristic
spouse = David Bishop
children = Luka Dokic (son)
Serena Bishop (daughter)
relatives =
episode =
portrayer = Marcella Russo
creator =

Liljana Bishop (née Ristic) was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Marcella Russo. She first appeared in 2003 and remained in the show until her presumed death in 2005 following the Neighbours plane crash. Of Serbian descent, Lilijana grew up under the dominant shadow of her mother Svetlanka Ristic and lived in Perth, Western Australia, surrounded by her family. However, her parents were less than pleased when she married Australian born David Bishop aged only 19, but their marriage seemed to be a success and the two had a daughter named Serena.

After David was offered a job in Erinsborough the whole family moved where they thought they would be living in their newly built house in Eden Hills. Yet having invested all their savings into a business that appeared to have gone bust David almost bankrupt the family and instead of furthering her education, Lil was forced to get a job as a receptionist for Karl Kennedy.

Things gradually got worse for the family after Serena was involved with a pedophile, Chris Cousens, whom Lil promptly slapped, and David's job meant he was away a lot. The Bishop family's lot was even worse when wicked Svetlanka turned up and after a heated argument revealed that Lil had been pregnant and that was why she married David. She had found herself pregnant to Ivan Petrovich, a worker at the family vineyard. Ivan fled the scene, so when David came along to help the family with their accounts, Lil quickly saw him as a potential father for her child. But Lil was led to believe that the child was stillborn, and she never even saw it for 19 years.

Meanwhile, Serena had made friends with a young Serbian friend named Luka, her grandmother's godson, and the two started a relationship. However, she was at the time unaware that Luka was her long lost half-brother, whom Svetlanka had kept away from the rest of her family for 19 years.

Lil suffered from Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and needed part of a family member's liver to survive. It was revealed that Luka would be able to save her. Upon returning to good health, Svetlanka was promptly thrown out by her daughter while Luka later decided to return to his adoptive parents. It was then that Lil was offered a job with Paul Robinson as manager of the Helen Daniels Trust.

Yet the marriage soured after David became obsessed with his work and Lil had an affair with Paul. Only when Paul was revealed to be plotting to destroy Erinsborough did Lil finally return to her husband.

As the family's luck was finally starting to get better they all boarded a plane to Tasmania to celebrate the re-opening of Lassiters' by going to a casino and hotel. Before the plane was boarded, a person, later revealed to be Paul's son, Robert, planted a bomb on the plane that exploded in flight. David, Lilijana and Serena hugged one another as the plane crashed into the Bass Strait. David was confirmed dead, but Lil and Serena's bodies were not found.

At her and Serena's memorial service (only David's body was recovered) Susan Smith said the following:

Trivia

*Lilijana slapped two people on the show, both in defense of her daughter, Carmella Cammenetti and Chris Cousens.
*She was able to read coffee grounds, and before they left for the tragic plane journey she informed David that it looked as though he had no future, as all the grounds were gone, then when Susan had a look she thought it must mean hours and hours of complete torture!
*She usually called Harold 'Tata', a common Eastern European greeting for an older male relative.
*Lil was best friends with Susan and Lyn, but following her death neither woman seemed particualry distraught.
*Her mother Svetlanka was apparently too upset to go to the memorial service and was apparently ill in bed and on medication.
*Luka Dokic, Lil's long-lost-son who she had recently reunited with did not come to her funeral.