John Dew happened to listen to the first episode of “Neighbors” when he contracted chicken pox as a child. This is Thorpe’s opera that follows the life of a family group living in a fictional cul-de-sac in Melbourne, Australia.
the sun was shining. The drama with a touch of hilarity was captivating. A lonely child in Wales, Dew was instantly hooked and has been for 37 years.
“It taught me about understanding, relationships and identity,” said Dew, now 42, adding that the show’s various story lines gave insight into both himself and the world.
Dew is currently gearing up for the final episode of the show, which airs in Australia on Thursday and in the UK on Friday. It will be the swan song of the program that became.
Earlier this year, Channel 5, the show’s UK broadcaster, announced it was discontinuing “Neighbors” and the soap opera was unable to find another station willing to finance the production. Despite complaints from fans, it led to a cancellation — including petition — Save your show.
While ‘Neighbors’ has attracted more Australian audiences in recent weeks, the majority of the show’s audience is in the UK, where it now averages 1.25 million plays daily. So while ‘Neighbors’ typically lagged behind its British rivals such as ‘EastEnders’ and ‘Coronation Street’, he has become one of the most watched shows in the country. .
Richard Carr, a senior lecturer in history and politics at Anglia Ruskin University, says one of the reasons “neighbors” have been popular over the decades is their consistency. increase. The show also benefited from portraying an uncontroversial, amiable and wholesome Australian view of life, he added. “It’s safe to put your child in front of ‘Neighbors’.”
Lesley Renshaw says he became a fan of ‘Neighbours’ when he was a student in North Wales and now watches it with his 13-year-old daughter. Thanks to her soap, her daughter “has a little more understanding of what’s right and wrong about human behavior. It grows with you.”
The show’s early hype was fueled by a thriving cast that included a stormy romance with Jason Donovan onscreen and Kylie Minogue, whose offscreen relationship captivated fans. In 1990, approximately 20 million people watched the show every day. According to Carr’s studyabout 80 per cent of UK 12-15 year olds.
At the time, the world of ‘Neighbors’ provided an antidote to the controversial impact of Britain’s conservative Thatcher legislation, which favors a ‘do it yourself’ economic policy that opponents say has increased inequality. Mr. Kerr said. “Neighbors” provided “a very different and very positive vision of what the community could be like,” Carr said. “Everyone tends to work together instead of against each other.”
In Ramsay Street, the fictional cul-de-sac in which the show is set, kindness was rewarded while characters who put their own interests first were punished, like the villainous Paul Robinson played by Stefan Dennis. Character issues were also relevant, including relationship troubles and family tensions.and there was Enough quirkiness and comedy to keep it lighthearted.
It also provided an illusion of what a classless world might look like, Jeff Payne said. added.
“We didn’t push the boundaries when it came to storytelling. It wasn’t a diverse show,” admitted Jason Harbison, who became the show’s lead producer in 2013.
Aware of the criticism, Harbison said he tried to create a more contemporary ‘Neighbors’ that was more reflective of Australian society. It’s my family,” he said.
In recent years, more LGBTQ and ethnically diverse characters have moved to Ramsay Street. Just as Australia was debating same-sex marriage laws in 2017, producers began planning the soap opera’s first wedding between gay characters, a fictional ceremony shortly after the legalization was confirmed off-screen. ‘Neighbors’ also made headlines when it became one of the first English-speaking shows to resume filming during the pandemic.
Still the program Newly scrutinized last year rear Indigenous actor said They have experienced discrimination and racism on set and have accused management of not doing enough to protect them. Harbison said an external investigation was initiated and is now resolved.
For thousands of actors, producers and screenwriters, the speed of producing hours of television programming per week has made Neighbors a useful training ground.
“It was a wonderful baptism by fire,” Payne said of playing Dr. Gibbons, his first role out of drama school, and the pace of production meant he often didn’t have time for a lot of reshoots. I pointed out that I was Alumni who have appeared on screen over the years include Hollywood Australian celebrities such as Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth, Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie.
While “Neighbours” has had plenty of tried-and-true soap opera twists over the years (multiple instances of return from the dead, cheating, and amnesia), fans and crew are more likely to appreciate the show’s real appeal. said that was the trick. It reflects life’s exaltation and disappointment.
Philippa Byrne, a lecturer in film and television at the University of Melbourne and former Neighbors screenwriter, said, “For those who say, ‘I literally grew up with these characters,’ over the years. I’ve met a lot,” he said. The show’s impending end was just drowning.”There will be a lot of grief.”
Excitement is growing Donovan, Minogue and Robbie return in the prelude to the show’s finale. minutes run time extended ～90 minutesHarbison, who helped write the finale, said it took the writers four weeks to finish the characters’ stories once they knew the show was ending.
For Dew, a lifelong fan who has missed only a handful of the show’s thousands of episodes, the impact of “Neighbors” is hard to overstate. “I was saddened by the show,” he said when he passed away.
Saying goodbye to soap opera feels like a bereavement in itself. “‘Neighbours’ was just a TV show, they say,” Dew said. But for fans like him, “it was more than that,” he added.
