The Last Milestone: Happy 40th Birthday, Neighbours!
- Angel Noire
- Mar 18
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 1
British soap opera EastEnders isn't the only soap celebrating turning forty this year. Hot on its heels is it's equally successful Australian counterpart, Neighbours, which first aired on Australian screens on 18th March 1985. It was another eighteen months before Neighbours was first broadcast in Britain, and while it took a little time to get warmed up, it soon took Britain and Ireland by storm, even outstripping the glossy American soap operas to which we were so addicted (although we still watched those, of course!) If you lived in the UK from the mid-eighties onwards, you'll remember just how much of a stronghold Neighbours-mania had on the nation.
Thanks to Neighbours, Australia became a much more sought after destination for British and Irish people to holiday in and even to emigrate to; Australianisms slowly crept into the British vernacular (come on - we all loved telling people to 'rack off!') there was an influx of babies called Kylie or Jason born on British shores, and forget the Farrah flick, or scrunched hair a la Madonna - the Kylie perm was the only hairstyle worth rocking from the mid to late eighties.
Neighbours - whatever would we have done without you!
While Neighbours fans are delighted that the show has been able to celebrate its fortieth anniversary (it very nearly didn't happen!) as everyone has heard the news will know only too well, the anniversary celebrations for this milestone occasion is definitely bittersweet, and tinged with more than just a bit of sadness...
Neighbours - whatever will we do without you...
So as this iconic Australian soap turns forty, we pay tribute - quite possibly for the last time - to the show that eighties' and nineties' Britain took to their hearts...
The Start of Something Good
The TV show that focuses on the lives of the inhabitants of Ramsay Street in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough (an anagram of Neighbours with just a couple of extra letters thrown in for good measure!) was created by TV exec Reg Watson and first aired on the Seven Network before being picked up rival Network Ten (a sign of things to come!) And even before the very first episode aired on British screens, there was already a British connection. The idea for this new soap was inspired by Crossroads, a well-known British soap opera, centred around the goings-on of a West Midlands motel, that Reg Watson had been working on during his time in Britain. Neighbours eventually found it's way to BBC1 on 27th October 1986, roughly eighteen months after it first aired in Australia and despite a slow start, Neighbours gained in popularity with British viewers.
Friends (Or Fathers) in High Places!
Although the show was sold to over sixty countries, Britain and Ireland were probably the two countries outside of Australia where Neighbours proved to be a major hit. So much of a hit in fact that from 1988, the BBC started broadcasting the same Neighbours episode twice a day! That - as far as we know - had to have been a first. And it was thanks to Alison Grade, the daughter of the then BBC controller Michael Grade. After she and her friends got into trouble for watching Neighbours during school hours, Michael discovered that his daughter and her friends were unable to get their daily fix of Neighbours as the show had a lunchtime slot - meaning it was well and truly over by the time they returned home from school.
Neighbours was already being shown twice a day back then - but the 9:25am showing was the repeat of the previous day's lunchtime episode. So Grade made the decision to move the morning repeat to 5:35pm so the kids could watch it after school - and a nation of British eighties and nineties kids rejoiced; never missed an episode again, and have been grateful to Alison and her dad ever since!
Just some of the Neighbours cast appearing on Wogan with Sue Lawley in 1988
Neighbours-mania Hits the UK and Ireland
Those of us who lived throughout the late eighties and early nineties in Britain and Ireland (who were actually something like three months ahead of the UK with regards to Neighbours episodes) 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. Stars who were well-established in their native Australia, appeared on the show, knowing they'd get exposure outside of Oz which was handy for those who wanted to further their career on an international scale. Neighbours actors 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 where the Neighbours cast stole the show
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 - and there were a lot of magazines with an Australian soap star as the cover girl or boy! Oh and don't get us started on when Neighbours brought out a couple of sticker collections. School kids went Neighbours sticker-mad (although to be fair, it probably wasn't just kids!) with everyone showing off their ever-growing collection and trading doubles.
Ah, those were the days!
Scott and Charlene
If you've read our post about EastEnders's fortieth anniversary, you'll know that in the early days of the British soap, Den and Angie Watts, played by Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson were very much the show's star couple. And despite the relatively short time they were on the show, Den and Angie are still considered to be an iconic soap couple. Well Scott and Charlene Robinson were the Aussie teen version!
It's impossible to discuss Neighbours' success without mentioning the phenomenon that was Scott and Charlene, played by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. While it might have been slow-burn with regard's to the soap's popularity, could it be coincidental that once Kylie and Jason appeared on the show, Neighbours popularity skyrocketed to unprecedented levels! Coincidental or not, many considered the coupledom (if that's even a word!) of Scott and Charlene to be the turning point of Neighbours success. It also proved to be the turning point in the careers of Kylie and Jason.
Jason and Kylie playing Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell (soon-to-be-Robinson!)
The two former child stars were already well-known in Australia. But starring in Neighbours brought them international stardom beyond their wildest dreams. And when they launched their pop careers, Kylie and Jason mania was off the scale! Kylie Minogue was many boy's ideal girl-next-door. Many a teenage girl dreamt of becoming Mrs. Donovan. How many young ladies rushed out to the salon to get a Kylie perm? And when Kylie got her hair straightened - everyone got the straighteners out! Scott and Charlene's wedding in 1988 is still considered this day to be one of the most iconic weddings in soap history. There have been many weddings that have taken place among the residents of Ramsay Street but none - in our opinion at least - has ever come close.
Kylie and Jason are still very much in the public eye with Jason delighting his army of loyal fans by touring and starring in stage shows such as The Rocky Horror Show and Priscilla. Kylie Minogue is a music icon who i s not incomparable to the likes of Madonna and Lady Gaga. Her career has gone from strength to strength over the years, even completing a coveted residency in Vegas.
Soap-Star-Turned-Pop-Star Phenomenon
Although it was probably Anita Dobson - EastEnders' Angie Watts - who started the whole soap-star-turned-pop-star phenomenon, many people attribute that credit to Kylie. 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 he 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. Over the years, this included Neighbours' Stefan Dennis; Craig MacLachlan; The (Blakeney) Twins; Holly Valance; Stephanie MacIntosh (Jason's little sister) and even Ian Smith and Anne Charleston who played Kylie's o-screen mum and stepdad, Madge and Harold, released a one-off record! 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.
Magic Moments
Since Neighbours started forty years ago, there have been many memorable moments and characters, aside from Scott and Charlene and their much-talked about wedding: Daphne Clarke giving birth to son Jamie with her dungarees firmly strapped on; teenager Todd Landers' tragic death, Paul Robinson's liaison with his wife's twin sister, 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; 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!
The End is Neigh, We Mean, Nigh!
For a show that has lasted forty years, it sure has faced the chop more times than many other TV programmes. In fact in 2022, after thirty seven years, it was announced that Neighbours would be coming to an end due to British channel, Channel 5, dropping it from its schedule. Fans were distraught, especially those who had been watching Neighbours since its heyday. They hoped and prayed that the show could be saved. But it wasn't to be, and in the summer of 2022, after a grand finale of an episode that saw many an iconic character return, including our beloved Kylie and Jason (and believe us, fans lost their $#1T when it was announced they would be returning after more than thirty years away from the show; something both stars said would never happen) the soap about one of the the most famous cul-de-sacs in the world was no more.
Until about four months later...
Before 2022 was even out, it was announced that Neighbours had found a new distributor and the show would be returning the following year and would be broadcast on streaming channel Freeview. Neighbours fans cheered; the soap returned to our screens, and all was well with the world again!
Until just before the show's fortieth anniversary celebrations when it was revealed... that Neighbours would be axed yet again, with the final episode going out just before Christmas. Argh, Neighbours - what are you doing to us??? While there are many who are no doubt keeping their fingers crossed that Neighbours can and will be saved yet again, there are also many others who have resigned themselves to the fact this may well be the end for Neighbours and for good this time. It appears that there's more drama going on behind the scenes than in front of the camera with more twists and turns than your average rollercoaster. But right now our thoughts are with all those who on Neighbours as they face losing their job yet again. And as for the fans, well, we can console ourselves in the knowledge that Neighbours survived long enough to celebrate another major milestone, and that we have forty years worth of episodes to binge-watch!
So what's the secret of Neighbours' forty 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???
Happy fortieth anniversary, Neighbours! We're so sorry to lose you again. Thanks for the memories...
Photos from YouTube
Wordcloud by Angel Noire
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