Neighbours.. ..With a little The
...SO goes — sorry, so went — the song.
Unfortunately, Channel 5 decided everybody needed good riddance instead. So last night, we said a final goodbye to the TV institution from Down Under which changed the face of British TV forever.
Well, do you remember what daytime telly was like before Neighbours came along in 1986?
Exactly – but now look at “daytime”. It has its own fancy category at the National TV Awards and everything.
As for Neighbours, you can’t say Channel 5 didn’t give it a fitting sendoff – which was very generous when you consider the show’s 20 million
viewer heyday was actually on BBC1. The double episode finale was promoted to an hour-long prime time slot, and it was followed by a pair of wonderfully nostalgic documentaries which outlined just how much of a cultural phenomenon this show was.
Obviously, that still might not have been enough for some fans to forgive Channel 5 for ditching it in favour of Cash In The Attic with Chris Kamara. (I know – unbelievable, Jeff !)
But at least this good thing came to a good end.
I’m guessing the only people who didn’t enjoy every minute of last night’s glorious offerings were the casts of Corrie, Emmerdale and Eastenders, for whom it must have felt like a visit from the Ghost Of Commissionless Future.
Of course, having allowed Neighbours to slip from my weekly planner a good while ago, I can’t pretend that I had a clue who half the cast in the finale were, or what the hell was going on. For the record, it had something to do with Paul Robinson and a business deal involving Lassiters Hotel – which only served to confirm that if you hadn’t watched since 2001, you really
Everybody needs good neighbours
understanding, you can find...
had missed nothing. Luckily, it was the other half of the cast most of us were tuning in for.
Scott and Charlene, biker Mike, Plain Jane Superbrain, big-eared Des, Madge (as a ghost), bumbling Harold, Joe “Ah, ripper” Mangel, Mrs Mangel’s portrait… In that sense it was an absolute treat, with the added bonus of former Ramsay Street stars who became megastars such as Margot Robbie, Natalie Imbruglia, Holly Vallance and Delta Goodrem sending good luck video messages to newlyweds Mel and Toadie.
Storyline-wise, there were no major shocks. However, anyone who ever enjoyed a real-life teenage romance would have been thrilled by the obvious spark that still existed between Mike and Jane.
The fact that you could watch them falling in love all over again without thinking, “That’s actual Guy Pearce from Hollywood right there!” spoke volumes for their enduring chemistry.
Then, half an hour in, we got the moment we’d all been waiting for.
To the strains of Especially For You, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan drove back into Ramsay Street.
Truth be told, we’d already seen enough photos of their return so their brief royal walkabout was something of an anti-climax on screen.
Less “Oh my God!”, more “Oh, there’s Scott and Charlene”.
In a way though, that was fitting. The show was always the biggest star, and it will forever remain a valuable part of TV history.
Which reminds me… Kammy, how much do you reckon I could get at auction for this signed DVD of Bouncer’s Dream?