Susan Kennedy - Reception

Reception

Woodburne has earned various award nominations for her role as Susan. In 2005, she was nominated for Best Female Performance in a Soap from the Rose d'Or Awards. At the 2007 Inside Soap Awards, Woodburne was nominated for Best Actress, Best Couple (with Alan Fletcher) and Best Storyline for Susan and Karl's wedding. The following year, Woodburne was again nominated for Best Actress, Best Couple and Best Storyline for Susan's MS diagnosis. 2009 saw Woodburne again nominated for Best Actress, she was also nominated alongside Fletcher, Valentine, Stasey and Werkmeister for Best Family. At the first Digital Spy Soap Awards ceremony, Woodburne was nominated for Most Popular Actress. She and Fletcher were also nominated for Best On-Screen Partnership and their 2007 storyline in London was nominated for Storyline of the Year. In 2010, the surrogacy storyline was nominated for best Baby Drama at the All About Soap Awards. That same year saw Woodburne nominated for Best Daytime Star at the Inside Soap Awards. The actress garnered a nomination in the same category in 2011 and 2012.

During a feature on fictional television teachers, Susan was praised by teaching website TES Connect. Along with Will Schuester from American television show Glee, TES said that there are some teachers on television who manage to portray "convincing representations of the highs and lows of the job". They also added "Susan Kennedy from Neighbours manages to be the comforting mother figure as well as coming down hard when necessary". Ruth Deller of television website Lowculture called Susan a much loved iconic soap character "who is way too good for all the crappy the things that happen to her". In May 2009, Deller praised the character and the actress in her monthly feature on the best and worst soap characters. Deller said "Jackie W is one of the best actresses in soap. She puts real soul into every scene she's in, as we saw when she said her goodbyes to Harold yesterday". Deller added "Saint Suze, though, is practically perfect in every way".

The Times named Susan's amnesia storyline as one of their top 15 most memorable Neighbours moments. They said "She slipped on milk, bumped her head and thought she was 16 again. Her failure to understand why she was living with a family on Ramsay Street lasted nearly a year". Television channel Five's Holy Soap website also named the storyline as Susan's most memorable moment, calling it "classic viewing". TV Scoop praised Woodburne's performance during the MS storyline. They said, "Susan's real life alter ego, Jackie Woodburne got to show off her excellent acting. As Susan's vision went, and later as she was put into the MRI scanner, Woodburne portrayed real fear and panic". TV Week named Susan as their third "Top Aussie TV Mum". They said "strong-spirited Susan has always doted on her kids, even while putting up with cheating hubby Karl (Alan Fletcher). The modern mum has seen it all, and still comes up smiling. In 2010, Susan was voted the third "Most Popular TV Mum" in a survey carried out by Yahoo!. Susan was placed seventh in a similar survey carried out by Vouchercodes.co.uk, to find "Britain's favourite television mother". They said "viewers identified with love for her family". British newspaper, The Sun named Susan a "yummy mummy" and included her in a feature about over-30s female soap stars. Alan Fletcher wrote a song dedicated to his screen wife titled "I've Got a Crush on Susie K".

In April 2010, to celebrate Neighbours' 25th anniversary, British satellite broadcasting company Sky profiled 25 characters of which they believed are the most memorable in the series' history. Susan is included in the list and Sky state: "Kindly but strong matriarch Susan may not be the most medically robust woman (amnesia, multiple sclerosis, frequent questionable haircuts), but she gets by thanks to her family. She's so devoted, in fact, that after Malcolm, Billy and Libby (sort of) flew the nest, she went and inherited Zeke and Rachel from second husband Alex. Despite her big heart, she can be counted on to get fierce with anyone who tries to upset the Ramsay Street balance – her frequent fights with Izzy in the middle of the street over Karl cemented her reputation as everyone's favourite soap mum." Bree Hoskin writing for LGBT website Gaydar said the one good thing to come of Izzy's scheming was Susan finally had her hair cut in an attempt to move on with her life. Sarah Ellis of Inside Soap said that Susan and Karl are Neighbours' version of Deirdre and Ken Barlow from Coronation Street. Ellis added that they are bound to get back together in the end. Of Susan and Karl's split, the Daily Mail's Jaci Stephen wrote "The gorgeous Karl and Susan are meant to be together. Every time they break up, it's like being torn limb from limb – and that's just for me."