Neighbours

Neighbours has been a big part of my life since I was a kid. I used to tune on to BBC1 at 5.35 every day with tea and biccies to watch it. When Channel 5 acquired the rights 14 years ago, I was devastated because I couldn’t get it on my old TV. After being Neighbourless for a year or so, when I got my current TV I could watch it again! To be honest, it took me a while to adjust to the ad break. I still have my cup of tea and, it sounds strange, but the only time I have biccies is when Neighbours is on. It is still a staple of my day, and will remain that way until summer 2022.

We all know why Neighbours is facing the axe after 37 years but if you came down in the last meteor shower and missed why, here is the reason. Channel 5 paid for most of the production costs and they can’t afford it any more. Fremantle Media did its best to get another UK broadcaster on board, but to no avail. Now all I need to do is win the lottery – Euromillions would be better – and fund it myself! But that’s unrealistic, unless Mystic Mel can see it in her crystal ball!

For me, Neighbours has everything – taking us on a rollercoaster of emotions with it’s wonderful storylines. One of the things I love about it is its ability to mix the serious with the silly (and sometimes downright weird!) And at the moment, it is on fire (literally!) with great storylines and brilliant strong characters.

As an actor I know that the industry is unreliable and there will be hundreds of people out of work. My hope is that this is a ‘rest’ for Neighbours and a UK broadcaster will pick it up, but those hopes are, unfortunately, not high.

So I would like to say thankyou to the cast and crew for all their incredible work over the past 37 years. Stefan Dennis is one of my acting idols, and I would love to play a baddie one day (okay, maybe not going to the lengths that Paul does!), Freya Van Dyke, love love love the storyline about the fires and how Zara is turning out to be a bit of a rebel, April Rose Pengilly, aside from being a fabulous name, is most deserving of the best actress in a daytime soap award, and of course, who could forget Jackie Woodbourne and Alan Fletcher – legends of the soap. What is going to happen to happen to Karl and Susan’s blue box now?! Harold is coming back! Although I don’t really know how he is going to come back from the dead this time! And of course, who could forget the awful Finn, one of the best soap villians of recent times? We were all on the edge of our seats when you went on your rampage. Unfortunately, I haven’t got room here to name every single character, but you will be forever in my heart and soul. A final thankyou goes to Jason Herbison, Neighbours’ producer – thankyou for making Neighbours what it is.

Neighbours, you will be missed. You will soon be gone, but never forgotten. So keep on singing that iconic theme tune, and you never know, we may see Neighbours back one day!

And I may write some stories and bring them together in a compendium called Neighbours – What Happened Next?!

To quote the title of a song by a Neighbours legend, there will be ‘Too many broken hearts in the world!’

Neighbours – We Love You!!