Stars of Neigbours finish filming for the final time as the show comes to an end. Pic: Fremantle Media
Neighbours has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember – literally. The earliest recollection I have of this beautiful Austrialian soap is when poor Kerry Bishop was caught by a stray bullet and killed. That was, incredibly to me, all the way back in 1990 – some 32 years ago. Given I write this as a 36-year-old, you have a small picture as to the ever-present place Neighbours has had in my life.
If you have never seen Neighbours, you’ll probably find it hard to fathom its popularity and, with that, the immense sadness that greeted the news that the show has ceased production – its last day of filming down under being today, 10th June 2022. The magic will still be on our screens for a while longer as episodes will air there and here in the UK until August, at which point it will be gone, and gone for good.
Yes, on the face of it, it is just a television programme, so any sadness I feel over its demise is very much in context. Beyond August I’ll carry on as normal and life on the whole will continue untroubled – the real pain and upheaval is felt by the cast and crew of the show who found out very abruptly and, it seems, unexpectedly recently, that they were months away from being out of work. So most of all, let’s keep our thoughts with them.
Nevertheless, Neighbours will leave a gap when it goes. If we guess and say I was, according to Kerry’s tragic passing, around four or five when I began watching Neighbours, I can tell you with certainty that I’ve seen every episode since. Not always on a daily basis – the rigors of life resulted in some mammoth catch-up sessions over the intervening years – but I haven’t missed a moment of Ramsay Street’s dramas for well over 30 years. To me, it still seems implausible that it just isn’t going to be there anymore. It hurts because as people we form emotional attachments through the comfort of routine. No matter what was happening in my life – growing up, teenage years, upheaval at home, school, work, starting my own family and everything in between – Neighbours was a dose of escapism. I’ve carried it through life with me to the age where I’m staring at my 40th as my next milestone birthday – it’s a heck of a connection. As part of my career, I’ve amassed a substantial body of work as a freelance journalist, covering pro wrestling. I can’t tell you how happy I was when the opportunity arose to interview Ramsay Street’s resident wrestling fan, Ryan ‘Toadie’ Moloney about his and his character’s fondness for wrestling. It really was a career highlight. Off the record and at the end of the chat, I thanked him for being part of something I’d loved for my whole life. I wish I had the chance to repeat that to Ryan and the entire cast.
There was a time as a kid that I watched all soaps. For me as a Brit that meant EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. I took in the lot, but Neighbours was always special. Initially it’s probably simple enough to say I was most fond of it because it came on the television first each day. At lunchtime if you happened to be home but repeated by tea-time if you weren’t. It wasn’t just scheduling, though. Neighbours looked different, felt different. It gave you what British soaps couldn’t – not least the fact it was almost always sunny in Australia. While EastEnders dabbled in the wet and dreary, you could bank on a trip to Erisnborough for a dose of blue sky and sunshine. Neighbours has always been relentlessly positive at heart, too. In fact, for many, many years, nobody ever got killed in the quiet cul-de-sac in one of of Australia's most famous streets. There were deaths, of course, but there was scarcely any salacious scandal, no brutality, no wailing and very little violence. Albert Square had each of those qualities as standard – Neighbours was, at its very heart, just much happier. It got to a stage many years ago that I gave up on British soaps for good. You could never start an episode of EastEnders without someone either crying or screaming within the first few seconds. I wanted to keep my ever-decreasing soap time as a happy time, so Neighbours stood the test of time.
While also being a force for good and a show with an innate ability to make you feel positive about life, it was also inherently, unashamedly stupid. I mean, farcical. I say that with all the fondness and love I could muster, too – it’s probably what I loved most about it. The astonishing amount of times you’d have to shake your head and laugh at the absurdity of some of the scenarios that unfolded – elves chasing each other around a hotel complex, a husband and wife inadvertently driving themselves off a cliff they somehow didn’t see, you get the picture. Yet another thing that made beautiful, wonderful, maddening Neighbours unique.
What began as my tea time viewing with my brothers and parents has evolved over the years. After a while, it soon became the staple viewing for just my Mum and I while we lived alone. I distinctly remember bawling my eyes out with Mum watching two pieces of television – Princess Diana’s funeral, and the heart-breaking exit of Madge Bishop from Neighbours. I’ll never, ever forget the amazing performance of Ian Smith as Harold as he wept, saying goodbye to his beloved wife. Now, many years later, it remains the only show my wife and I don’t miss. She loves to be gently ribbed by the fact that when we first met decades ago, she couldn’t understand why I loved watching Neighbours so much – it was distinctly unfashionable compared to the most popular programmes here in the UK – but she herself has now been an addict for years and is equally as torn as I am that we’ll no longer have it to enjoy together.
As I write this, our daughter is two. She’s never seen an episode of Neighbours and, to be honest, what brings tears my eyes as I write tis is the reality that she never will – short of the inevitable repeats of course. I have in my mind’s eye envisioned watching as a family, just as I did as a kid myself decades ago, debating the rights and wrongs of each storyline and staying invested in our favourite characters. Knowing she’ll never feel the warmth the show brought to her parents’ lives is such a shame.
In a way, I have to come to terms with the fact that it’s probably a good thing that Neighbours has ended. The right thing, in fact. After all, as a soap and drama, its biggest job and responsibility is to imitate real life – that’s the most fundamental principle of any such programme. It mimics the ups, downs, highs and lows of reality. The biggest reality any of us face is that all things come to an end. Our time on this planet, much like that of Neighbours, is limited, it is finite. Perhaps the absence of my favourite show will act as a timely reminder to enjoy the people and things you have in life while you have them – everything will be gone soon enough.
I’ll really, really miss it, but in life we have to laugh, cry, smile, grow and mourn. Arguably more than anything else in my life, Neighbours has helped teach me how to do each and every one, and I’ll forever be grateful.
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