Australia is officially in its flop era with the cancellation of Neighbours, a beloved cultural export and evening network TV stalwart.
After being moved from the Channel 10 home it enjoyed for most of its 37-year run in favour of sister channel 10 Peach, Neighbours was mostly being produced for devoted overseas viewers, and as such was funded largely by UK’s Channel 5. But with dwindling viewership, Channel 5 controller Ben Frow explained his choice to stop financing Ramsay Street drama: “I could spend the money on other things, which is what I decided to do.”
Everybody needs good Neighbours, and a good Aussie soap needs a lavish, drawn-out finale. Over four nights, fans can watch the last four, super-sized episodes. On July 25, 26, and 27, the penultimate 90-minute episodes will air at 6.30pm on 10 Peach—before the very last episode of Neighbours premieres on main channel 10 and 10 Peach on Thursday July 28. Vale, Toadie.
In the emotional clips collated below, you might roll your eyes at the sheer amount and melodrama of the weddings, break-ups, makeups, meetings, explosions, slaps, car-crashes, stripteases (??), and tearful goodbyes as each actor was either killed off or moved onto bigger, brighter Hollywood projects.
But there’s a genuine sense of loss to Neighbours end, too. The show has been an industry powerhouse, especially as original Australian TV programming becomes ever more rare, employing vast amounts of local talent and giving rise to many of film and TV’s starriest names.
8903 episodes over 37 years is nothing to sniff at! And the early appearances of Chris and Luke Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, Delta Goodrem, Holly Valance, Caitlin Stasey, Russell Crowe and more in the finale’s trailer remind us of Neighbours‘ powerful impact.
Oh, and who could forget OG Aussie power couple Jason Donavan and Kylie Minogue?? The pop queen tweeted the cute behind-the-scenes pics below, hinting at the vast amount of returning Neighbours alum we should keep our eyes peeled for in the final episodes.
‘Now we’re back together’ @neighbours pic.twitter.com/fFoo2ndIfx
— Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) July 11, 2022
