Dear Neighbours, You Were More Than Just A TV Show. Love, Angel

What are we going to do without you?

It's hard to believe that this time last month, we were gearing ourselves up for the final ever episode of Neighbours. 'Final ever' - now that's a phrase we didn't think we'd have to use when it came to Australia's longest-running soap opera that really did take Britain by absolute storm. It came so close to making it to forty years but alas, it was not to be... Every so often a TV show comes along that makes it's mark on popular culture; cements it's place in television history, and finds its way into our hearts... and stays there. In fact maybe Neighbours should've been called Family and Friends because that's exactly what the characters became to us. OK we realize that makes us sound a little sad, and we hasten to add that we have plenty of family and friends in the real world! But back in the eighties and nineties - we were all a little over-invested in our favourite TV show back then, and we took the Neighbours' characters - as well as the actors who played them - into our hearts...

And invested we certainly were! We laughed with the residents of Ramsay Street; cried with them; rooted for them, and as with those closest to us, there were times we wanted to climb into our TV sets and give one of those characters a good shaking when they were on the verge of doing something stupid. Yep, that was usually Paul! We felt Des's heartbreak when his beloved Daphne died; we wanted to be in the congregation when Scott married Charlene (actually some of us wanted to trade places with Charlene!) And when Mrs. Mangel left Erinsborough for a new life in England with her new husband John, even her arch rival Madge shed a few tears! And that doesn't even begin to sum up how magical Neighbours was. For thirty seven years we we shared our living rooms with characters from the other side of the world, as we all gathered together with our families to watch the latest ups and downs in the lives of the residents of an Australian surburban Cul-de-sac - and we couldn't get enough! In fact some might say that we knew those Neighbours much better than we knew our own neighbours. True!

Those of us who have watched Neighbours since the early days, and continued to watch it over the years never thought that there'd come a time when Neighbours would no longer be on our screens. I mean - we still have Hollyoaks! And I don't know a single person who watches that! So how is it that we've lost Neighbours? And this past month - the first month without Neighbours - has presented me with a real dilemma that I've really struggled with since Neighbours went off-air: what on earth do I watch while having lunch now??? I know right - the struggle is real!

Even though the true Neighbours' fans know why we feel so bereft - and yes, we are aware that there are far more serious issues going on in the world - there's plenty more who can't understand what all the fuss is about. It was just a silly soap opera, right? And I know that my mum would say the exact same thing about it 'just being a TV show.' She would always start cooking dinner at around the time Home and Away was on, and by the time Neighbours had started, she would often remember that she'd forgotten something and tell me that I needed to dash to the shops to pick up whatever it was before the shops shut. This would lead to an inevitable almighty row. "There's more to life than your Neighbours!" Mum would shout. There wasn't a kid in eighties or nineties Britain who would agree with her on that one!

And we really are well aware that there are more pressing concerns in the world - that's just one of the reasons why we're so sad that Neighbours has come to an end. Aside from the fact that for almost four decades it was our televisual tea-time treat, it was our escapism; our little bit of happy... It was sunshine emanating from our TV sets. We may go on and on about the 'good ol' days' and 'simpler times' and while all that is relatively true, the total truth is that no time is ever completely good or simple but there are always things that make these times better... and Neighbours was definitely one of them.

When Neighbours was at the height of it's popularity, I'd had several life changing moments. I'd finished primary school and had moved on to secondary school, and worse still we'd moved house and gone to live on the other side of London, which for me may as well have been a whole other country! Fitting in at school and making friends most definitely didn't come easily to me. But if there was one thing that was common ground for us all - it was Neighbours! It didn't matter whether you were the cool kid, the dumb kid, the new kid, or the geeky kid - everyone would talk to anyone when the topic turned to anything Ramsay Street-related. Even the school bully would take time out from whoever they were tormenting to discuss the previous day's episode!

And years later when I upped sticks and headed over to the States, I became a regular Neighbours viewer again, never missing an episode and quickly falling into the habit of watching Neighbours as I scoffed whatever was for lunch that day. Ever since arriving in America, a place I'd dreamed of moving to for a long time, I was struck with an intense sense of homesickness that didn't seem to be going anywhere... but Neighbours made everything somewhat better and reminded me of home. Even though, yes, Neighbours is as Australian as the Great Barrier Reef!

So there you have it - during two tough times in my life, it was Neighbours to the rescue!

When I think of Neighbours, three things immediately spring to mind: family, schooldays and nostalgia - all of which seemed to be themes that appeared to be at the heart of the show especially when it was coming to an end. Who doesn't remember watching Neighbours while having dinner with their family? Or racing home after school to catch the latest episode? Or enthusiastically discussing the previous evening's episode with our friends during double science instead of paying attention to the teacher - no wonder there were so many mishaps in the lab! My grandad was a big Neighbours fan and whenever he'd come to pick me and my sister up from school, he would always fill us in on that afternoon's goings-on in Ramsay Street (and no the spoilers didn't ruin it for us - it just made us want to watch that evenings repeat even more!)

When Neighbours first aired in Britain in 1986, no one knew for a second just how big this new Australian soap was going to be. It took a little while to warm up. I think that in Britain, we were all so caught up with the glamour and far-fetchedness (oops, spell-check is letting me know that 'far-fetchedness isn't an actual word but I'm keeping it anyway!) of glitzy soaps like Dallas and Dynasty, and Neighbours, well it was a world away from that. That's not to say that Aussie soaps weren't well-received in Britain prior to Neighbours. My mum and my aunts were fans of shows like A Country Practice; The Young Doctors and The Sullivans. But it was Sons and Daughters that the British viewing public became very engrossed in very quickly. And it was because we were already very familiar with these soaps that when Neighbours finally came along, the cast read like a who's who of Australian veteran actors! There was Anne Haddy (then better known in Britain as Sons and Daughters' Rosie Andrews) Vivean Gray (The Sullivans' Mrs. Jessup) and Ally Fowler (Sons and Daughters Angela Hamilton) among many, many famous faces who found their way to Erinsborough.

But when Neighbours began to warm up, it heated up to the point where it absolutely exploded! Neighbours soon became the most watched, most talked about show on British TV. Not bad for an Australian import! And forget about the Ewings and the Carringtons, it was the Robinsons and Ramsays that everyone was interested in. Furthermore when Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue joined the cast as Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell, theirs was a popularity that has never been seen - before or since - which helped to propel the soap to even further heights of success. You cannot talk about Neighbours without mentioning the phenomenon that was Kylie and Jason. I would go as far as to say that never in the history of soap operas have two huge talents emerged from a humble soap and gone on to conquer the world - or so it seemed! OK so you could argue that Russell Crow and Margot Robbie are even bigger stars as they've made it big in Hollywood, but when was the last time anyone encountered Russell or Margot mania? Right! For those of us who were around when Kylie and Jason were at the pinnacle of their fame, we know how much they dominated the late eighties and early nineties. Not only did Scott and Charlene become an iconic soap couple (don't get us started on that wedding!) But Kylie and Jason became mega stars! And even today they've still got quite a following.

Those of us who grew up in eighties/nineties Britain will know that everything revolved around Neighbours. Forget everything stops for tea; everything stopped for Ramsay Street! As soon as we heard that familiar theme tune, we dropped what we were doing and settled down to see that day's going's on in Erinsborough. Great Britain may be a very diverse nation, but you could bet your life that at 5:35pm every weekday evening, everyone up and down the country (well OK, most people up and down the country) would be doing the exact same thing - watching Neighbours! It really did unite families and members of different generations of twenty five minutes every day - more if you watched it twice a day! Oh and for us kids of the eighties and nineties, we knew that the ultimate indulgence during the school holidays wasn't an unlimited supply of potato Smiley Faces but getting to watch Neighbours twice a day! Who cared that we'd already seen it at lunchtime? We needed to watch it again in the evening to see if there was anything we missed the first time around!

For me, I'd say that the glory years were from the start of the show to about the mid-nineties. After that the original cast started to get a bit thin on the ground and it was starting to become a different show with some of the gloss beginning to wear off. That doesn't mean that Neighbours was no longer watchable but some of the magic was starting to fade but then I guess nothing lasts forever. Before long Neighbours stars stopped gracing the covers of magazines or appearing on chat shows and Saturday morning TV programs. But we still watched the soap even if some of us did dip in and out for years due to this little thing called work! And even though it wasn't the same show as when it was in it's 'glory years,' Neighbours was still very entertaining. In more recent years it's brought us a lot of very engaging storylines and unforgettable characters like the dastardly Izzy Hoyland; the solid and dependable Mark Brennan; the big-hearted Sonya Rebecchi, and the strong-willed Therese Willis - probably the only woman who could put Paul Robinson in his place!

And another reason why we're so sad that Neighbours is over... Because to us, the fans, the long-time viewers, it represented the perfect world. Aside from the Finn Kelly's and the Izzy Hoylands who sadly exist everywhere, it gave us what we as human beings strive for: friendship, a safe place to live, community, that sense of belonging, where people look out for each other, having someone have your back, pick you up when you're down. Unfortunately we live in a world where we barely know our own neighbours, let alone look out for the more vulnerable living among us. I suppose most of us are guilty of that. But for twenty minutes every day, we saw what it was like to live in a near-perfect world where loneliness, discord, and lack of unity didn't seem to exist. As we return to the real world, and one without Neighbours, perhaps we can put into practice what we've learned from something that was 'just a TV show.' Unless of course you live next door to a real-life Finn or Izzy, in which case you bolt that gate!

We all remember what was going on in our lives when Scott and Charlene tied the knot; When Jim Robinson took his last breath, and when Susan slipped on some spilt milk (and they say there's no point crying over spilt milk - well Susan Kennedy would beg to differ!) It's these memories and connections that make Neighbours so special to so many of us. Another part of our TV history has gone forever. It feels as though a chapter of our lives has come to an end and the show will definitely be missed.

Neighbours was more than just a TV show. It was escapism; it was contentment after a hard day; it bridged the gaps between different communities and generations... Neighbours was a way of life. And it put Australia well and truly on the map, introducing as to a whole host of talented stars we may not have come across if it wasn't for the show. Thank you Neighbours for the memories and thirty seven amazing years of entertainment. For storylines and characters that we have taken to our hearts and that will stay with us forever. For mega stars who got their big break on the show and are now known the world over. And for life-lessons that changed us without us even realising. Neighbours, it's been great - we will never forget you.

Love,

Angel

Photos: YouTube

Blog graphics: Angel Noire