Australian ‘godfather of the modern soap’ created Neighbours and Crossroads
Reg Watson was greeted with incredulity when he told Australian TV executives that his idea for a soap opera about the everyday lives of the residents of a quiet cul-de-sac in a fictional suburb called Erinsborough had the potential to run for 20 years.
‘‘I knew from the looks on their faces that they thought they’d heard it all before,’’ recalled the producer who would become known as the ‘‘godfather of the modern soap’’.
Watson – by then already responsible for launching Britain’s first daily soap opera, Crossroads, in 1964 – was being over-modest in his prediction. At the time of his death, aged 93, Neighbours had sailed past
8000 episodes and was closing in on its 35th anniversary.
In that time
Ramsey St, the fictional location for Watson’s serial, not only provided the stepping stone to stardom for Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, but also helped to launch the careers of the Hollywood actors Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe.
At its peak, Neighbours screened in more than 60 countries and was particularly successful with younger viewers in Britain, where it launched in 1986 as a lunchtime show, with a morning repeat the following day. When there were complaints that students were repeatedly late for afternoon classes because they were watching Neighbours, the BBC moved it to a late afternoon slot.
The timing was ideal for those coming home from school, college or work, and exponentially increased the viewing figures. The 1988 episode in which Minogue and Donovan’s characters, Scott and Charlene, married was watched by 20 million people in Britain.
Watson’s first inkling of the spectacular success Neighbours was enjoying came when he landed at Heathrow for a holiday. ‘‘A rather superior official checking my passport looked me up and down and said, ’So you’re a television producer. And just what do you produce, Mr Watson?’
‘‘I mentioned that something I had devised was currently running called Neighbours. His reaction was amazing. He begged for an autograph for his wife, and brought two buddies over to meet me.’’
An intensely private man who guarded details of his personal life with an almost obsessive secrecy, Watson was nearly 60 when he devised Neighbours. His early ideas for it were rooted in nostalgia for his teenage years in Brisbane. He later spent 20 years living and working in Britain and, by the time he returned home in 1974, the Australia of his youth had almost ceased to exist.
‘‘I was surprised at the changes in people. The happy neighbourly atmosphere had gone and there no longer seemed to be the bond between parents and teenagers. I thought it would be interesting to do a serial where modern viewers could be reminded of the ’old days’.’’ In later years Neighbours’ plot lines tackled more controversial issues, yet the show’s original character was never entirely lost.
Reginald James Watson was born in Maryborough, Queensland. He grew up on a sugar farm, before going into acting and directing with the Brisbane Repertory Theatre and then on to radio, before he moved to Britain in 1955, just before the launch of ITV.
Before the launch, he and future Crossroads star Noele Gordon were sent to America to study US television. The trip would have a profound influence on him.
A week before the launch there was still an unfilled half-hour slot in the schedule, so Watson hastily devised a chat show, which he presented on the opening night. He also created Britain’s first live daytime chat show, Lunchbox. He first suggested a daily soap opera in 1959, based on the serials he had seen in America. It took five years and the success of Granada’s Coronation Street before he got the green light.
Critics panned Crossroads when it launched in November 1964, and it became a byword for dodgy plot lines, rickety sets and wooden actors who fluffed their lines. But nobody cared, least of all the viewing public, because Crossroads was soon matching Coronation Street in the ratings.
After more than 2000 episodes, Watson was persuaded to return to Australia to head up a new drama department for the production company run by the Australian media mogul Reg Grundy. His first Australian shows included Prisoner: Cell Block H, which became a cult classic.
Neighbours launched on Australia’s Channel 7 in 1985 but was scrapped only seven months later. The rights were sold to Channel Ten, which continues to screen it to this day.
Watson retired in 1992 and became a reclusive figure, rarely giving interviews. ‘‘You must make a determined effort to give it all up and not look back,’’ he said. ‘‘Otherwise you will be the doddering old ‘know-all’ who keeps interfering. That’s not my style.’’ – The Times
‘‘I thought it would be interesting to do a serial where modern viewers could be reminded of the ‘old days’.’’