It's so hard to believe that this week, Australian soap opera Neighbours turned thirty five years old. Or perhaps that should be thirty five years young, seeing as compared to me, it's still only a bubba! Hot on the heels of it's British counterpart, EastEnders who turned thirty five in February, Neighbours has now also reached this milestone occasion, as it first graced screens in Australia on 18th March 1985. It was almost another eighteen months or so before it was launched in the UK.
It took British audiences a little while to warm to this new soap but before the eighties were out, we fell madly in love with this TV show from down under - and I have Neighbours to thank for me wanting to move to Australia long before I ever wanted to move to New England (that was thanks to New Kids on the Block, and what do you know - I live there now!)
Just some of the Neighbours cast appearing on Wogan with Sue Lawley in 1988
Those of us who lived through the late eighties and early nineties will remember the soap in its heyday when we were all nutty about Neighbours. The TV show turned the Neighbours cast into household names and instantly recognisable faces, in Britain and Ireland where Neighbours was said to be more popular than in its native Australia (no way!) The stars were always jetting over to the UK to appear on TV shows such as Wogan or Saturday morning TV programs, and Christmas just wasn't Christmas unless we had some of the Ramsay Street cast in panto! And who could forget their outstanding appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in 1988?
The Royal Variety Performance in 1988... A sign that Des and Jane would be together?
It was around this time that a lot of womens' magazines like Woman or Woman's Own used to feature Neighbours (and Home and Away!) actors on the covers more so than they did with actors from British soaps. I remember this well because, despite being a huge Easties fan, I would only ever buy a magazine if it had someone from one of the Aussie soaps on the cover - and I bought a lot of magazines with an Australian soap star as the cover girl or boy! And don't get me started on when Neighbours brought out a couple of sticker collections. My sis and I insisted on getting a sticker album each, and the playground went Neighbours-sticker crazy, as we'd show off our ever growing collection and would trade our doubles.
And even though it was probably Anita Dobson - EastEnders' Angie Watts - who started the whole soap-star-turned-pop-star phenomenon - that credit goes to a little lady, who until she hit our screens as Ramsay Street's resident mechanic, was a virtual unknown in Britain (though already very established in Oz) but her successful pop career paved the way for other budding musicians who saw that you could do both TV and music. But nobody did it quite like she did, and while many a soap star or pop singer has faded away, this lady's star just continued to shine until Kylie Minogue became the absolute legend that she is today.
Kylie's co-star and on-screen husband, Jason Donovan, came hot on the heels of Kylie's musical success, and also enjoyed a very successful pop career. Kylie and Jason were most definitely the pop stars du jour, and this further heightened the popularity of the characters they played on Neighbours (or could it be the other way round???) And when they released their duet, Especially For You, pop fans went gaga. What then followed was a bunch of soap stars from both sides of the hemisphere aiming for the same level of pop stardom. Some did well, some did fairly well, and some did not so well! But we have Neighbours to thank - in part at least - for seeing so many soap actors have a stab at pop success.
Since Neighbours started thirty five years ago, there have been many memorable moments and characters. There was Scott and Charlene's iconic wedding; Daphne Clarke giving birth to son Jamie with her dungarees firmly strapped on; teenager Todd Landers' tragic death, and Brad Willis and Lauren Carpenter's will-they-won't-they relationship which took place over a period of twenty years; three spouses and eight kids! Neighbours' fans hoped that Mike and Jane would follow their friends Scott and Charlene to the altar (well I did anyway!) that Gail would return to Ramsay Street with the triplets (we had to wait a long time for that!) and that Bea and Elly's mum Liz would realise that Therese Willis used to be her foster daughter in a past life! ;) Who didn't love the double act that was Eileen Clarke and Mrs. Mangle? Or look forward to another slanging match between Madge Bishop and Mrs. Mangle? And whenever handymen Joe Mangle and Henry Ramsay worked on a job, you could always guarantee that some hilarious calamity would ensue!
So what's the secret of Neighbours' thirty five years of success? Well it could be that in a world where most of us consider our five thousand social media followers 'friends;' don't visit our nans as often as we should, and haven't the foggiest who's living next door to us, the residents of Ramsay Street give us some very important lessons in true friendship; community spirit; banding together in a crisis; stepping up to help someone in need; lending an ear... qualities missing in modern day society that we wouldn't mind bringing back, perhaps???
Neighbours saw its thirty fifth anniversary commemorated by the wedding of Paige and Mark which have made 'Park' fans very happy. But despite the five weddings that have taken place this week - loved Des and Jane's - there's one wedding that has stood the test of time; one that has gone down in soap history as the most memorable wedding ever, and one that's still being talked about even today. That's right - we're talking about Bouncer and Rosies's wedding. With Scott and Charlene's a close second!
Happy thirty fifth anniversary Neighbours!
P.S. - Did Ned Willis's mention of his mum always singing Torn make anyone else smile? And loved the old Neighbours theme tune as Des Clarke rocked up on the street!
Photos from YouTube
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I'm not such an avid watcher of Neighbours now but back in the eighties and nineties it was unmissable.
@Sherbette: There's still Paul Robinson! And from time to time characters from back in the day drop by - which is great for us long-time Neighbours' fans.
I was a massive Neighbours fan when it was on in the 80s and 90s but I haven't watched it in at least ten years. I keep meaning to watch an episode for old times sake but probably wouldn't recognize any of the characters now!