Sophie Ramsay is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Kaiya Jones. The actress was cast in the role following a competitive audition process. Jones began filming her first scenes in February 2009. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 18 May 2009. The character was created as part of a new generation of the Ramsay family, along with her brother Harry (Will Moore) and sister Kate (Ashleigh Brewer). Sophie is the youngest of three siblings introduced to the show. Sophie departed on 29 March 2013, after Jones decided to leave to concentrate on her schooling. The actress briefly reprised the role for two episodes on 7 and 8 April 2014.
Creation and casting
In February 2009, a Channel 5 reporter announced Neighbours were introducing a new generation of the Ramsay family to the show. At the time of the casting announcement, the Ramsays had not appeared regularly in Neighbours since 2001. Executive producer Susan Bower said the introduction of the new Ramsay family members was based on the American drama series Party of Five. Bower explained "We have three orphans, basically. That, as you can imagine, has a tremendous amount of story material with it and they're fabulous! Wait until you see this cast. They just clicked". Bower introduced the new characters despite the show receiving criticism because they did not have a nuclear or "normal" family. Brisbane actress Ashleigh Brewer was cast as the eldest member of the new family, Kate, and Will Moore was cast as the only boy, Harry.
Kaiya Jones, a former cast member of The Saddle Club, was cast as Sophie, the youngest member of the Ramsay family, following a competitive audition process. Jones began filming her first scenes with Neighbours in February 2009. Jones was born and raised in Scotland and has lost her Scottish accent while living and filming in Australia. Of her casting, Jones told Samantha Booth of the Daily Record, "Filming Neighbours is so much fun. I just love my job and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. The cast and crew are so kind and lovely. They are practically my second family now. They're also very patient".
Development
Characterisation and crush
Sophie was initially described as being the "baby of the family", who was trying to come to terms with the death of her mother, Jill (Perri Cummings). Channel 5 said Sophie was traumatised by Jill's death and she and her siblings had to fend for themselves. Sophie began communicating through drawings and revealed she knew more about her mother's death than anyone else. Sophie and her siblings soon settled into Number 24 and Sophie "found her feet", especially with the support of her friend, Callum Jones (Morgan Baker). Both Sophie and Callum bonded over mutual ground, as they were without their real parents. As she gets older, Sophie develops into a pretty, "free spirited" teenager.
Sophie develops feelings for neighbour and friend, Zeke Kinski (Matthew Werkmeister). Zeke finds out and he mistakingly tells his friends about her schoolgirl crush. Sophie is publicly humiliated and vows not to leave her house again. Zeke tries to make things better by going to visit her. A Neighbours insider told the Daily Star, "Sophie is humiliated and ends up running away to hide from everyone. Zeke feels terrible and is determined to help her."