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Reference > Neighbours: A History by Rhys

Uttering the term Neighbours more than 20 years ago would have meant very little In the English speaking territories it would, perhaps, have conjured up images of those people living in the house next door or a little farther down the street. However, since 1985, Neighbours has become to mean far more than that. These days that word is likely to conjure up the image of a long-running television serial, which has developed far beyond realms its creators ever thought possible.

The story began back in the 1960s when television producer Reg Watson was working on Associated Television’s Crossroads programme in the UK. Having spent a long time working in Britain, Watson was as good as judge as any as to what sort of serial would work in Britain. By the mid-1970s Watson was back in his native Australia and was keen to pursue the idea of a serial which, although set in Australia, would be marketable in Britain, if not in other countries. The premise behind Neighbours was to try and comine a mix of the formula used for early years of Coronation Street and also drawing on his own experiences growing up in the Brisbane suburbs in which he would be familiar with many of his neighbours, unlike in urban Britain or Sydney, for instance.

Reg Watson was, by 1984, an executive within Reg Grundy’s media empire, the Grundy Organisation. As head of TV Drama he was given the opportunity at last to further develop the Neighbours concept. One of the first things to be considered was the show’s title, with some intial suggestions including: No Through Road, One Way Street and The People Next Door. Surprisingly, according to legend, Ramsay Street was never a contender for the show’s title. In the end they settled on the simple, and catchy Neighbours which, more than anything, enables the programme to branch out from time to time beyond the constraints of the street setting. In trying to make the show popular in Britain, the developers wanted to present Australia as a contrast to the stereotypical images of sandy beaches and dry deserts. The location used for Ramsay Street and the surrounding fictitious neighbourhood is as fertile and luscious as anywhere in Europe, and the tropical setting of the Lassiter’s Hotel is exploited to the full in further presenting this image. Australia had already become famous for its production of such programmes as Prisoner which had, and still has a very large cult following in Britain. It is interesting that the studios, much of the crew as well as many cast members employed on Prisoner were later transferred onto Neighbours, lending both programmes a very close relationship with each other that persists to this day.

Pin Oak Court is the name of the cul-de-sac which doubles as Ramsay Street, and is located in the suburb of Vermont South in Melbourne, close to the fire-prone Dandenong Range. Owners of the houses on Pin Oak Court were assured that Neighbours was unlikely to last more than a couple of years, and were guaranteed regular payments by Grundy in return for the use of their houses’ exteriors. One of the final operations before production began in Melbourne was to cast the roles, with the experienced Jan Russ appointed as casting director. A mix of well-known Australian performers (Anne Haddy, Alan Dale and Francis Bell) were cast alongside relative newcomers (Darius Perkins, David Clencie and young Kylie Flinker). Reg Watson wrote the first batch of scripts, and John Holmes was drafted in as series producer.

Neighbours went to air for the first time on the 18th March, 1985 on Australia’s Channel Seven to an audience unsure of what to expect. The initial reactions were promising, and it looked like “Neighbours” would have a happy run on the network. Yet, despite quite favourable reviews, Neighbours wasn’t pulling in the audiences that Seven were hoping for, and before long the series was axed. Seven broadcast a total of 170 episodes before the programme bowed out at the end of 1985. Most people have put the low audience figures down the fact that Seven had many others serials running at the time – notable ones such as Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice. The decision to axe the show’s original run was taken a good while before many of the 170 Seven-commisioned episodes had aired, so it was understandable that the network was furious when its rival, Network Ten, decided to screen the soap. Neighbours' turbulent private life was making media headlines in Australia, because never before had one series left one network to be screened by another. Worse still for Seven was that they still had many weeks’ worth of episodes left to screen when the transfer took place.

New episodes were filmed and were ready for airing on Ten at the start of 1986, with a number of changes to the format. For the sake of believable continuity, the majority of characters remained… for a while at least. Darius Perkins was replaced by Jason Donovan in the role of Scott Robinson. David Clencie as Danny Ramsay was gradually written out, as was Francis Bell as Max. Among other additions were Kylie Minogue as Charlene Mitchell, Anne Charleston as Madge and later Ian Smith as Harold Bishop. Seven’s outrage at Ten for cashing in on the Neighbours brand was evident to all when rumours circulated that all the show’s sets had been burned, so as to slow down new production. This was another noticeable change in the ‘new Neighbours’. The interior sets were either very realistic reproductions, or they had been rebuilt with any differences explained to the viewers by on-screen redecoration storylines to hide the fact that some of the original furnishings were impossible to replicate. Ten took this opportunity to add another location to the series, apart from Ramsay Street: the Lassiter’s Hotel Complex, in reality a disused outdoor set from the early 1980s serial, Holiday Island. It was pure convenience that this set had been built in the grounds of the Channel Ten studios in Nunawading, which meant quick and cheap ‘location’ filming was right on the doorstep.

Under the guidance of publicity chiefs at Ten, Neighbours soon worked its way up the ratings – achieving quite remarkable audience figures for the time slot. Reg Watson had always had the idea of making Neighbours a co-BBC production, such was his belief it would work in the UK. However, the BBC didn’t manage to organise drafts of their daytime schedules in time for the show’s launch and as such it was more than year after its Australian debut that Neighbours went to air on the BBC. It originally screened in Great Britain at 12:30pm with a repeat of that lunchtime episode the following morning. After a year or so of attracting not only housewives and out-of-work people, but also students and children, Michael Grade, of the BBC, was persuaded to give “Neighbours” new timeslots of a lunchtime showing, and a repeat at 5:35pm. This early evening timeslot has never altered in almost twenty years. Although Neighbours no longer achieves the 16 million plus viewers a day it used to on the BBC (a combined twice-daily episode total figure even beating EastEnders and Coronation Street) it continues to achieve a very healthy audience for its timeslot. In an age of stiff competition from rival programmes, digital and satellite broadcasters, it is testament to the programme’s popularity that it regularly gains the maximum share of viewers in its timeslots. Neighbours' huge success on the BBC enabled the cast to fly over to London in 1988 to appear before the Royal Family in a Royal Variety Performance. Prince Charles infamously asked Kylie Minogue “What is the series you are in?” When Kylie replied Neighbours, the Prince of Wales assured her that he would make a point of watching it!

Without doubt Neighbours is a global phenomenon. From humble beginnings it has developed into one of the world’s most popular television serials – with a its record daily audience standing in excess of 120 million viewers around the world. Its famous, catchy theme tune, composed and written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, has been voted one of the world’s most recognized television theme songs many times over – a testament, if any were needed, to the programme’s enduring global popularity. Neighbours has been the launch pad for some of the world’s most recognisable artists – most famously, Kylie Minogue; Jason Donovan; Guy Pearce; Natalie Imbruglia and, more recently, Holly Valance, Delta Goodrem and Stephanie McIntosh. Even Oscar-winning actor, Russell Crowe, once guest-starred in the series before breaking into movies. Its unprecedented success ensured a large number of the cast are able to appear in pantomime in Britain every Christmas, as well as providing the success of merchandise based on the series – everything from annuals; board games; records and videos. In early 2006, Neighbours celebrated the filming of its 5000th episode – firmly establishing it as Australia’s longest running serial.

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