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Reference > Merchandise: Books by Billy

Original Novels

Neighbours: 1
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32110 5
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1987
Original Retail Price: £2.25

The trouble started when Daphne moved in. A stripper lodging with the Clarkes! For Max Ramsay next door it was just too much. As if they didn’t have enough problems of their own, with Shane and Danny in the car crash, and then Danny running away after being falsely accused of mugging Mrs. Brown...

On the other side of the fence love is blossoming between Jim Robinson, a widower with a young family, and Anna, Maria Ramsay’s sister. But it is a love doomed from the start, thwarted by the interference of... neighbours.

Note: This book was re-issued in hardback format under the name Neighbours: Indiscretions

Neighbours: 2
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32149 0
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1987
Original Retail Price: £2.50

Danny Ramsay – trying desperately to keep the family together, is shattered by a terrible revelation...

Julie Robinson – in love for the first time, but will it last...

Helen Daniels – suffers a brutal disillusionment after believing she has found true love again...

Jim Robinson – how can he come to terms with the feelings he has for his mother...

Max Ramsay – still separated from his wife, finds he has his own crosses to bear – and sometimes life isn’t made any easier by... neighbours.

Note: This book was re-issued in hardback format under the name Neighbours: Home Truths

Neighbours: 3
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32201 2
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £2.50

When Max Ramsay’s sister, Madge, moves in uninvited, the sparks really begin to fly, but there is pandemonium – including a wedding that goes disastrously wrong – when a gorilla also takes up residence in the street.

Meanwhile Shane Ramsay meets an attractive young divorcee with a sinister obsession – and when Des Clarke’s past catches up with him in the most alarming way, the whole street is up in arms against him.

As if that wasn’t enough, Scott Robinson, who is facing a rape charge, suddenly disappears – and Max Ramsay finds himself preparing to meet his maker!

Note: This book was re-issued in hardback format under the name Neighbours: Testing Times. The covers to both the Australian and UK paperback editions are shown.

Neighbours: 4
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32284 5
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £2.50

Des Clarke has an agonising decision to make for the sake of the boy he believes to be his son, while Jim Robinson’s involvement with a much younger woman sparks off a family crisis that almost ends in tragedy.

Lucy Robinson comes close to death and there are unforeseen consequences when Nikki Dennison poses as Lucy for a dinner date with a sporting star.

The dreaded Mrs. Mangel moves into the street and Madge Mitchell is forced to face a bitter truth. Meanwhile Mrs. York from down the street begins to behave very strangely.

Note: This book was re-issued in hardback format under the name Neighbours: Family Matters

Neighbours: 5
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32285 3
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £2.50

Zoe’s pregnancy presents Jim with a dilemma and Scott’s chauvinism is brought to heel. Des and Daphne are finally married though there’s still the honeymoon to get through…

Clive Gibbons explains his career move and becomes a tourist guide with a difference. Mike Young falls in love and Charlene turns up with a baby she claims is her own.

And there’s panic in Ramsay Street with rumours of a possible mass poisoning.

Note: This book was re-issued in hardback format under the name Neighbours: Special Friends

Neighbours: 6
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32379 5
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £2.50

Mike Young is viciously slandered in a poison pen letter and Jim Robinson becomes romantically entangled with a woman with a secret. Consequently Helen Daniels begins to feel redundant in her own home until an old friend comes back into her life and reveals some shattering news.

Des Clarke blames Clive when Daphne is struck down by a potentially fatal disease and Nikki Dennison’s mother’s health is also giving cause for concern. Meanwhile the efforts of Scott and Mike to become rich and famous prompt a cruel practical joke that has surprising results.

And finally Paul Robinson is involved in a major building development that threatens the very existence of Ramsay Street!

Neighbours: 7
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32384 1
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £2.50

When Warren Murphy is brutally assaulted after a party, Charlene’s loss of memory places her under a cloud of suspicion. In the meantime, Helen Daniels is abducted by a maniac masquerading as a clergyman and Daphne Clarke takes in a delinquent girl with a predilection for snatching old ladies’ bags.

The whole street becomes involved with the grudge boxing match between Shane Ramsay and Mike Young over Jane Harris, much to the disgust of zany doctor Clive Gibbons, who has his own ideas about putting a stop to mayhem.

And the question of everybody’s lips is could the prying and self-righteous Mrs Mangel really have committed murder most foul?

Neighbours: 8
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 3242 4
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £2.50

All hell breaks loose when Scott bases a series of newspaper articles on his neighbours. Helen Daniels is placed in an awful dilemma by her daughter's wedding plans, and what starts as a harmless cross-country race between Jim Robinson and Des Clarke turns into a desperate battle for survival.

On the eve of an important convention at the hotel, Paul has to contend with a strike and the ensuing chaos when neighbours rally to his assistance. And Charlene has a job offer but it means a separation from Scott...

Neighbours: 9
Author: Carl Ruhen
ISBN: 0 352 32587 9
Publisher: WH Allen & Co Plc
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £2.50

While having a blazing row with Harold, Madge throws his engagement ring into the lake without realizing its true value. Jim buys a jinxed racing car which he intends to drive in the Classic 500 race despite pleas for him not to do so. And Scott and Charlene create a sensation when they announce their plans to live together.

On the eve of Scott and Charlene’s wedding, everything goes wrong. Daphne’s baby arrives at an awkward moment, Lucy shows disturbing signs of clumsiness and Mrs Mangel takes to reading tea leaves...

Neighbours: The Untold Stories: The Ramsays – A Family Divided
Authors: Valda Marshall and Ray Kolle
ISBN: 0 7493 0055 8
Publisher: Mandarin
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £2.99

It is 1965. Nineteen year-old Madge Ramsay leaves her beau, Harold Bishop, for dashing young Fred Mitchell… and her life is changed forever. An errant husband, a tomboy daughter and a charming larrikin son are the ingredients for... “A Family Divided”... until Madge returns to the scene of her childhood – Ramsay Street, Erinsborough.

Note: Valda Marshall and Ray Kolle worked extensively as storyliners and scriptwriters on the show throughout its history

Neighbours: The Untold Stories: The Robinsons – A Family in Crisis
Author: Valda Marshall
ISBN: Unknown
Publisher: Mandarin
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £2.99

The Year is 1975. Jim Robinson, engineer, family man, seems to have everything going for him. He has a house in Ramsay Street, Erinsborough, next door to his childhood friend Max Ramsay. His marriage to his teenage sweetheart Anne is blissfully happy. They have three beautiful children (Paul, Julie and Scott) and are expecting a fourth. Then a chance encounter with a fellow student from his University days changes his life...and brings tragedy and heartbreak. This is the story of the Robinson family... “A Family In Crisis.”

Reference Books and Annuals

The Neighbours Factfile
Authors: Neil Wallis and Dave Hogan
ISBN: 0 207 16382 0
Publisher: Angus and Robertson Publishers
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £2.99

Fascinating facts and inside stories – Neighbours as you’ve never seen them before.

Are you a Neighbours expert? Do you know what Kylie Minogue’s house looks like? Or who’s the best saxophone player in the cast? Do you know what Jason Donovan or Craig McLachlan looked like as a baby, or who’s going to die in which car crash?

Test your Neighbours knowledge and find out lots more about the stars on and off the set. Everything you always wanted to know about Australia’s most successful TV series.

Neighbours: Behind the Scenes
Author: James Oram
ISBN: CN 4025 (reference number)
Publisher: Guild Publishing
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: Unknown

Behind the scenes of Ramsay Street – now the most famous street in Australia!

British and Australian TV fans have taken the Ramsays, the Mitchells, the Clarkes and the Robinsons to their hearts in their millions. But just what is the secret of the extraordinary popularity of the inhabitants of Ramsay Street?

Originally billed as a cheap day-time ‘filler’ – and nearly axed by two TV networks – Neighbours is now one of the most popular TV series ever screened.

How did it happen? What do the stars think about their success, their gruelling schedules, each other, and the characters they play? And is it true about Kylie and Jason?

James Oram, award-winning Australian journalist and author, is uniquely placed to get behind the scenes to examine the truth behind the Neighbours phenomenon. Punchy, entertaining and revealing, this book is a must for every Neighbours fan.

Neighbours Annual 1989
Authors: Brenda Apsley, Clive Hopwood and Nick Pemberton
ISBN: 0 7235 6841 3
Publisher: World International Publishing Ltd.
Year of Release: 1988
Original Retail Price: £3.95

A few years ago nobody could have questioned the undoubted supremacy of Coronation Street as Britain’s No. 1 soap, a position it held almost outright. Rivals came and went, or ambled along in its shadow, content with vastly inferior viewing figures.

Then along came EastEnders and suddenly the Street was no longer at the top. Neighbours was never intended as a rival, having been bought in as a cheap daytime soap by the BBC, but...

Little did they know that Neighbours mania was going to break out all over Britain. Once it was rescheduled to show at lunchtime and early evening the programme really began to take off.

Almost overnight viewing figures doubled, and then kept climbing, overtaking the Street, breathing down the neck of the residents of Albert Square. Now, more people in Britain watch Neighbours each day than the entire population of Australia!

Visiting stars from the soap draw enormous crowds wherever they go, and the craze has begun to spread throughout Europe. America, Africa and the Far East are next. The dedicated fans, of course, always knew the soap from Down Under would come out on top.

And now – the very first Neighbours annual, packed with photos and features of your favourite soap. By the time you read this annual, who knows, Neighbours may have tipped EastEnders from the top spot. They are, after all, only a footstep away from becoming the No. 1 show in the UK!

Neighbours
Authors: John Kercher, with additional material by Melanie J. Clayden
ISBN: 0 86227 672 1
Publisher: Grandreams Ltd.
Year of Release: 1989
Original Retail Price: £3.95

Note: Details to follow

Neighbours may come and neighbours may go but Neighbours goes on forever. With each departing face comes a new arrival – just like in any real street.

And Neighbours fans have continued to increase in number, both here in Britain and in other countries. The show is more popular than ever, and still the UK’s No. 1 soap, no matter what anyone says.

Back in January, Coronation Street, which had been whingeing about EastEnders and Neighbours cheating with numbers, did a bit of their own imaginative adding up. The veteran soap began its own omnibus edition on Sunday afternoons.

The world waited with bated breath for the result. They lined up as follows:

Coronation Street (Weds/Sun) 22.97 Million
Coronation Street (Tues/Sun) 21.50
EastEnders (Thurs/Sun) 19.76
Neighbours (Tues) 19.16
Neighbours (Mon) 18.81
Neighbours (Thurs) 18.54
Neighbours (Fri) 18.50
Neighbours (Weds) 18.29
EastEnders (Tues/Sun) 17.62

(Come on you poms! There’s 3.81 million out there who should be trying harder!) “We always knew we were the top soap,” said a Coronation Street regular. Top soap when it comes to how many people watch a single, repeated episode. Sure.

But how many people watch per week? Coronation Street 44.47 million. EastEnders 37.38 million. And Neighbours? 93.30 million. Now which would you say is the most popular soap? And That’s Official, as they say.

G’day Neighbours!

Welcome to World International’s third Neighbours book. The flagship of Australian soaps stays firmly at the top with the greatest number of weekly viewers. Since last year it has gained over a million new daily viewers.

Latest Aussie arrival Home and Away has made an impressive start, climbing straight into Number 4 position in the soap league, with an audience now beginning to climb over the 14 million mark – still a good 5 million plus behind good old Neighbours, mind you!

The late eighties British love affair with things Australian looks set to continue in increasing measure into the nineties. With Australian films and film stars, Australian pop singers, and Australian TV mini-series all making inroads into popular Western culture, Neighbours, Home and Away, and their soap stablemates, are the foretaste of what is yet to come.

The invasion of the Aussies, with their amber nectar, barbies, blues and Bondi beach, began with the likes of Mel Gibson, Barry Humphries, Paul Hogan and others. The pioneer soaps The Sullivans, The Young Doctors and Sons and Daughters paved the way. Neighbours hit the jackpot. Prisoner: Cell Block H, The Flying Doctors and Home and Away have all reaped the rewards of Australian popularity... often with the same actors.

Maybe it’s all that sunshine and greenery, just like Anne Charleston says, or maybe it’s a desire for a fresh approach, a change from the glossy fantasy of the American supersoaps and the gritty realism of the home-grown British soaps. Whatever it is, the Poms are certainly hooked on Neighbours!

The Australian success story has only just begun.

Neighbours: The Playscripts
Authors: Alan Hopgood (Adaptation)
ISBN: 0 4352 2961 3
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Secondary Division
Year of Release: 1990
Original Retail Price: £2.99

This series offers a range of plays specially written or adapted for 11- to 14-year-olds for easy acting or reading aloud in class. Many have large casts. This book presents four plays based on the TV series written by a member of the Neighbours cast

Note: Author Alan Hopgood is a long-term scriptwriter for Neighbours, having contributed many instalments over the years.

Neighbours is the television success story of the eighties. A year into the new decade, it seems likely that it will maintain this prestigious position for a long time to come. Nearly every British household has at least one devoted Neighbours addict. It’s not uncommon for whole families to be glued to the screen for each and every showing of this Australian soap phenomenon. In Britain, where the same episode is shown twice a day, some avid viewers make time for both screenings!

The series began in Australia on 18 March 1985. The ups and downs of life in and around Ramsay Street reached Britain on 27 October 1986. The series was already a resounding success on its home turf. Nobody could have predicted the massive popularity of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan who have taken the world’s pop charts by storm. Where once British soaps like Coronation Street and EastEnders topped the television ratings, the friends and families of Erinsborough almost seemed to barge their way to the front of the ratings queue. A side effect of the programme’s remarkable success is the fact that the clichéd view of Australians as lager-swilling, cork-brimmed, koala-hugging degenerates is now completely out of date. Instead Neighbours shows our friends down under as caring, sharing human beings with their fair share of life’s joys and disappointments. In common with the new breed of British soap operas like Brookside and EastEnders, the characters and events here are as true to life as television ever gets.

This is not to say that Neighbours doesn’t take its fair share of comic moments. Who can forget the antics of accident prone Henry (Craig McLachlan) and devilsome due Todd and Katie (Kristian Schmid and Sally Jenson) who always seem to end up in another fine mess.

To many viewers, the inhabitants of Erinsborough seem as familiar as our real neighbours. It’s doubtful that you’d mind Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) or Jane Harris (Annie Jones) popping next door to borrow a cup of sugar from you. The next best thing is tuning in every day to catch up on the latest adventures of the colourful characters that live on Ramsay Street. Drama! Romance! Comedy! Spray-painted cars called Bertha! Welcome to the wonderful world of Neighbours! G’Day!

Neighbours Annual 1992
Author: Ian Morrison
ISBN: 0 6005 7311 7
Publisher: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.
Year of Release: 1991
Original Retail Price: £4.25

Since Neighbours was first seen in Britain in October 1986 there are many fans who have seen every one of the one-thousand plus episodes. And many even watch both showings each day! That’s over 2,500 times that they have shared in the trials and tribulations of the residents of Ramsay Street.

Many videos are set in the morning for the lunch-time broadcast so kids can take up position in front of the TV when they come home from school at four o’clock. And less than two hours later they watch the same episode again. That’s the appeal of Neighbours.

The episodes bring their share of dramas, heartaches and sadness. But we also share those brighter moments in the Erinsborough sunshine of our Neighbours more than 10,000 miles away. And many of us feel as though we know the likes of Madge Bishop, Jim Robinson, and Des Clarke as much, if not more, than our own neighbours.

When the characters have problems, we feel as though we are sharing them. We sympathise when things go wrong, like Des and Paul being unlucky in love or Harold’s dogged attempts to put the world to rights. And how we empathise with Helen; she tries so hard to make everybody else’s life run as smoothly as possible.

Residents may come and go from Ramsay Street, but the most famous street in Melbourne never changes. It is that one place that rules our lives twice a day for five days of the week. And such is the pulling power that it not only stays top of the ratings but, at the start of the Gulf War in January 1991, when many programmes were taken off air, Neighbours, while re-scheduled occasionally, never lost a single episode – a testament indeed to the popularity of Australia’s top drama serial. Even wars can’t stop Neighbours!

The Neighbours Programme Guide
Author: Josephine Monroe
ISBN: 0 86369 831 X
Publisher: Virgin Books/Virgin Publishing Ltd.
Year of Release: 1994
Original Retail Price: £4.99

Were Kylie and Jason really dating? What is Scott Michaelson’s secret ambition? Where is the real Ramsay Street?

Neighbours is Australia’s most popular TV show and it’s now shown in over fifty countries. For 2000 episodes, millions of fans worldwide have been hooked on the lives and loves of the Ramsay Street regulars. The Neighbours Programme Guide is the essential companion to Australia’s hottest show! Featuring:

• a month by month calendar of events
• detailed character histories
• amazing behind the scenes facts and gossip
• real life romances of the stars

The Neighbours Programme Guide is written by Josephine Monroe, senior writer on Inside Soap, Britain’s most authoritative TV magazine devoted to the wonderful world of soaps. She has interviewed most of the past and present cast of Neighbours and has been a fan of the programme since it started.

My Diary: Intimate Secrets of Neighbour Dan Falzon
Author(s): Dan Falzon
ISBN: 0 7522 0113 1
Publisher: Boxtree Ltd.
Year of Release: 1995
Original Retail Price: £5.99

G’day! Dan from down under here, with a big surprise for you; a squiz at my diary which I’ve kept secret since my first audition for Neighbours.

I’ve also written all about my childhood years, you can discover how I shared a bunk with my brothers until I was twenty and what it was like living by the beach and enjoying the sun and surfing.

You’ll see how much hard work and pressure was involved in being in Neighbours and how difficult it was coping with all the attention and fame while I was finishing school. I survived on next to no sleep yet I still found time to write down my most secret thoughts.

I reckon you’ll have a laugh at some of the things I get up to on the journey through life. Sometimes I surprise myself!

Seriously though, these days I have my own production company and I’m concentrating on my music career. ‘Have a go’ is what I say, so I am, and life is cool!

Congratulations on turning the book over. Now I dare you to read it!

Neighbours: The First Ten Years
Authors: Josephine Monroe, with an introduction by Anne Haddy (Helen Daniels)
ISBN: 0 7181 4212 8
Publisher: The Penguin Group/Michael Joseph Ltd.
Year of Release: 1996
Original Retail Price: £9.99

It is ten years since Neighbours first appeared on our television screens and over the years the lives, loves and dramas of the residents of Ramsay Street have become real and part of the daily experience of millions of viewers around the world.

This official tenth anniversary book highlights the memorable characters and events from Ramsay Street. From the originals to the latest, all your favourite character are here, arranged in a house-by-house tour of the street showing who lived where, with whom and for how long.

Special features focus on the weddings, the births, the deaths, the feuds, the issues, the boys and the babes that have all contributed to the show’s enduring popularity. Behind-the-scenes information reveals unknown facts to even the most ardent fan.

The romance of Scott and Charlene’s wedding, the tragedy of Todd’s death, the explosive love triangle between Brad, Beth and Lauren are all remembered; together with the minutiae of everyday life that have enthralled so many people over the past ten years.

For anyone who has ever been a Neighbours fan, this definitive book is a fascinating souvenir of the characters and the events that have made Neighbours such a huge global success.

Neighbours: The Official Book
Author: Various Contributors
ISBN: 1 876176 78 4
Publisher: News Custom Publishing
Year of Release: 2005
Original Retail Price: £14.95 (UK), $24.95 (Australia)

Twenty years, 25 weddings, 4775 episodes, countless funny moments and endless dramas along the way: Welcome to Ramsay Street, Erinsborough.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Neighbours, Australia's favourite soap, here's the inside story on all your favourite characters, great moments, controversial plot-lines, and the actors who went on to become household names.

Discover the true history of Neighbours and enjoy Ramsay Street for what it truly is: more than a fictional street in suburban Melbourne, but a way of life for millions of fans worldwide.

Notes: Currently, this book is only available in Australia.

Summer Harvest
Year of Release: 2005

Rising Star
Year of Release: 2005

Sisters In The City
Year of Release: 2005

Facing Tomorrow
Year of Release: 2005

These short novels looked at the post-Ramsay Street lives of Flick and Michelle Scully (Sisters In The City), Libby Kennedy and Darren Stark (Facing Tomorrow), and Jack Scully and Nina Tucker (Rising Star). The fourth novel, Summer Harvest, looks at the early stages of Liljana and David Bishop's relationship.

Notes: More details to follow

Special thanks to Andrew Sainsbury

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