Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera that aired from 1985 to 2025. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap Sons and Daughters. Although successful in Melbourne, Neighbours underperformed in the Sydney market and was cancelled by Seven Network four months after it began airing. It was immediately commissioned by rival Network Ten for a second production season, which began screening on 20 January 1986. In 1997, Neighbours became the longest-running drama series in Australian television history, surpassing the previous record held by A Country Practice. In 2005, it was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.
The storylines concern the lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The series centres on the residents of Ramsay Street, a dead end street, and its neighbouring area, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, hotel, café, police station, lawyers' office and park. Neighbours began with a focus on three households created by Watson – including the Ramsay and Robinson families, who have a long history and an ongoing rivalry. Over the serial's early years, three additional houses on the street were introduced as regular settings. Pin Oak Court, in Vermont South, is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street. The houses featured are real and the residents allow the production to shoot external scenes in their yards. The interior scenes are filmed at the FremantleMedia studios in Forest Hill.
Until 2022, Neighbours was screened in Australia as a 22-minute episode on weeknights, in an early-evening slot. It moved to Ten's digital channel, Eleven on 11 January 2011, and was broadcast each weeknight at 6:30 pm. The show was produced by Fremantle Australia and has been sold to over sixty countries around the world, making it one of Australia's most successful media exports. Neighbours had been especially successful in the United Kingdom, where it was first screened on 27 October 1986 on BBC One, and achieved huge popularity among British audiences in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, it moved in the UK to Channel 5; since 2008 it had been largely paid for by the UK broadcaster as it was no longer commercially viable for Ten to fund it alone. In 2018, after a new deal was secured with Channel 5, the show became the first Australian drama to air all year round. In February 2022, Channel 5 announced that it would be dropping Neighbours from its schedule; the cancellation of the show was confirmed the following month. The show's finale was broadcast as a 90-minute episode in Australia on 28 July 2022 on Network 10 and 10 Peach, while the finale in the United Kingdom aired on 29 July 2022 as a normal 30-minute episode in the regular daytime schedule followed by an hour-long prime-time episode. Due to timing, some scenes were cut from the UK showing. The finale was broadcast in Ireland on 3 August 2022 and in New Zealand on 2 September 2022.
In November 2022, it was announced that Amazon Freevee and Fremantle had agreed to a deal that would restart the series. The series also returned to Network 10 on a permanent basis, after 11 years on 10 Peach. Regular production resumed on 17 April 2023, and the show returned on 18 September 2023. In February 2025, the series was cancelled again, with production concluding in July and the final episode airing on 11 December.
History
Neighbours was created by Australian TV executive Reg Watson. Watson got the idea for Neighbours during his time working on Crossroads and watching fellow soap Coronation Street in Britain. He had already created successful Australian made soap operas The Young Doctors, Prisoner and Sons and Daughters. Watson proposed the idea of making a show that would focus on more realistic stories and portray teens and adults who talk openly to each other and solve their problems together. He also wanted the show to appeal to both Australian and British audiences. Several titles were discussed, including People Like Us, One Way Street, No Through Road and Living Together, before Neighbours was chosen. Watson said "In the end it came down to being what it is, a story around neighbours." Reporters from the Herald Sun said that Watson took his idea to the Nine Network in 1982, but it was rejected. Former Nine executive Ian Johnson described the rejection as "one of the biggest 'missed opportunities'" during his time at the network. The show was then offered to the Seven Network, who commissioned the show in September 1984. The serial went into production that November with an $8 million budget. The show's initial premise focused on three households, made up of 12 core characters, living in Ramsay Street, dealing with everyday life with humour and drama. The first episode was broadcast on 18 March 1985 and reviews for the show were favourable. However, the Melbourne-produced program underperformed in the Sydney market and Seven announced on 12 July 1985 that it was cancelling the show. Neighbours continued to air on Seven until 8 November 1985.Neighbours was immediately bought by Seven's rival Network Ten. The new network had to build replica sets when it took over production after Seven destroyed the original sets to prevent the rival network obtaining them. Ten began screening the series with episode 171 on 20 January 1986. In 1986, the series was bought by the BBC as part of their new daytime schedule in the United Kingdom. Neighbours made its debut on BBC1 on 27 October 1986 starting with the pilot episode. It soon gained a loyal audience and the show became particularly popular with younger viewers, and before long was watched by up to 16 million viewers – more than the entire population of Australia at the time. In 1988, Neighbours became the only television show to have its entire cast flown over to the UK to make an appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen. Neighbours has since become the longest running drama series in Australian television and the seventh longest running serial drama still on the air in the world. In 2005, Neighbours celebrated its 20th anniversary and over twenty former cast members returned for a special episode, which saw the characters sitting down to watch a documentary about Ramsay Street and its residents. At the Logie Award ceremony that year, the show was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.
In 2007, the show underwent a revamp, which included a switch to recording in HDTV, the introduction of a new family, the departure of several existing characters and a new version of the show's theme song and opening titles. In addition, episode titles were abandoned, having been in use for the previous three years. Daniel Bennett, the new head of drama at Network Ten, announced that the crux of the Ramsay Street story would go "back to basics" and follow a less sensational path than of late with the emphasis on family relations and suburban reality. Executive producer Ric Pellizzeri said new writers, actors and sets would bring the soap back to its glory days. He added "We moved too far into event-driven stories rather than the character-driven stories that made Neighbours what it is". The relaunch failed to attract more viewers in Australia. Pellizzeri left the series at the end of 2007 and former Neighbours scriptwriter, Susan Bower, became the new executive producer. In 2008, Neighbours was branded "too white" by black and Asian viewers in Britain and in Australia there was talk of a "White Australia policy" when it came to casting actors for soaps. In response to the criticism, Bower made a decision to add more ethnically diverse extras, small walk-on roles and speaking parts, as well as introducing the character of Sunny Lee, an exchange student from South Korea.
On 18 March 2010, Neighbours celebrated its 25th anniversary. In April, Channel 5 in the UK launched a search to find a female actress to play the part of Poppy Rogers. The search was similar to the Dolly magazine competition in Australia. August saw Neighbours air its 6,000th episode. Digital Spy revealed that the week-long 6,000th episode celebrations would see the wedding of regular characters, Donna Freedman and Ringo Brown. It was later announced that an attempt on the life of long term regular, Paul Robinson would be the focus of the actual 6,000th episode. Bower said "Last week I saw episode 6,000. This marks Australian television history. The 6,000th episode falls on a Friday so the whole week is a special one. As Stefan Dennis – Paul Robinson – was in the first episode 25 years ago, it was decided that his character play a most important role in this very special event".
In late 2010, the TV Tonight website reported Neighbours was to reduce crew operations in 2011 so production could be upgraded. The changes meant that the location manager and catering team were no longer required, studio shoots would be reduced from three cameras to two, and location shooting would be restricted. Of the changes, FremantleMedia said "Neighbours is undergoing a work flow upgrade to accommodate advances in technology and production techniques to ensure we are at the forefront of professionalism and efficiency." They added that the show's production model had been in place since 1985 and that it was time to evolve it. On 14 March 2011, The Australian reported that Neighbours has become the first television show available to watch on a free iPhone application. Viewers are able to watch whole episodes within three hours of them airing on Eleven. Nick Spooner, the head of Ten digital media said "This is part of what we call our 'three-screen approach' – broadcast, online and mobile – and it is intended to build viewer engagement with a show and our brand. This is a way for us to stay in touch with our audience and to keep them coming back." To celebrate the wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton, Neighbours filmed a specially commissioned scene for the UK episode airing on the same day as the wedding. The episode, which had already aired in Australia, marked the first time an Australian show recorded extra scenes for a UK broadcaster.
On 25 October 2011, it was announced Bower would leave Neighbours in December 2011 to move into a new international role with FremantleMedia. Of her departure, Bower told Colin Vickery of the Herald Sun, "I love Neighbours, it is a wonderful show and because of this I felt it was important that fresh eyes and brains take over to keep this Australian icon contemporary. Having said that, I'm really excited about the new role and thank FremantleMedia for this wonderful opportunity." Former City Homicide producer, Richard Jasek, took over Bower's role, while Alan Hardy took over the role of producer. On 4 December 2013, it was announced that Jasek would be leaving Neighbours and Jason Herbison would replace him, initially with the title of series producer. FremantleMedia's head of drama Jo Porter became executive producer, while Laurence Wilson became the associate producer. The show celebrated its 7,000th episode on 24 October 2014. In March 2015, Neighbours celebrated its 30th anniversary and twelve former cast members returned for the anniversary episodes that revolved around an Erinsborough Festival. Network Ten and Channel 5 aired a documentary special titled Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, which featured interviews with current and former cast members, including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce, reflecting on their time on the show. Natalie Lynch succeeded Wilson as producer in early 2016.
In 2017, there was speculation that Neighbours would cease production following the breakdown of its deals in the United Kingdom, and Network Ten entering voluntary administration. On 9 October 2017, Stewart Clarke of Variety reported that Channel 5 and FremantleMedia had agreed a new deal that would see the yearly episode count increased from 240 to 258, as well as plans for new primetime specials. The deal meant that from 2018, Neighbours would run across the full year for the first time in its history, including over December and January. Herbison stated, "We value our global audiences and are delighted to stay on this journey together. Come the end of 2018 we will also make history by becoming the first Australian drama series to screen all year round." Following the departure of Sonya Rebecchi in 2019, actor Eve Morey stated that the killing off of her character was a measure to reduce production costs for the program as part of its new negotiations. When the cast and crew returned from their annual production break on 13 January 2020, they filmed a scene addressing the Australian bushfires for the episode airing on 15 January. The scene features the characters Sheila Canning, David Tanaka and Aaron Brennan discussing the fires and a charity event Sheila is organising. Channel 5 directed its viewers to a dedicated information page on their website at the end of the episode. Neighbours suspended production for two days amid the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, after a crew member came into contact with someone who had the virus. Production shut down early for the scheduled Easter break before resuming after four weeks on 27 April 2020, making Neighbours the first mainstream scripted show to resume production during the pandemic. In order to adhere to government guidelines and social-distancing, Neighbours created separate areas to spread out the cast and crew. They removed intimate scenes between characters and editing allows producers to give the illusion of large crowds and groups. Daily temperature checks for cast and crew will also be carried out. Herbison said that the pandemic would not be included in storylines. He stated, "We are currently plotting episodes that won't air until much later in the year, so anything we write now might feel very outdated. Further to this, there's a creative question: will our viewers want to switch on Neighbours and relive it again, or is our job to provide escapism? I tend to feel it's the latter."