End of a soap opera era
Goodbye Neighbours. We look back at the Australian TV show’s top moments
Neighbours launched the pop careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan and set Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie (right) on the path to Hollywood, but Aussie soap Neighbours is being dropped by Channel 5 this summer after nearly four decades on our TV screens.
2 The soap about the Melbourne residents of Ramsay Street was first shown in the UK in 1986 on BBC1. A whopping 20 million Britons tuned in to watch Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell (played by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue) tie the knot on November 8, 1988. The pair later had a number one single with Especially For You.
3 Harold Bishop was blown out to sea while on holiday with wife Madge in 1981. He came back five years later as a man with amnesia called Ted but later regained his memory.
4 Todd Landers also returned from the dead in 1992, but this time as a ghost in the mirror to his bereaved girlfriend Phoebe Bright after he was fatally hit by a van.
5 Elvis-obsessed Marlene Kratz (played by Moya O’Sulliva) left for a threemonth cruise in 1997 but never returned and was never mentioned again. In 2005 it was revealed she decided to stay at sea.
6 In 2002, Susan Kennedy slipped on a bowl of cereal sustaining a head injury, which caused her to lose 30 years of memories including her life with on/off husband Karl.
7 Hapless Toadfish Rebecchi accidentally drove his car over a cliff while mid-kiss with Dee on their wedding day. She appeared to have died, but reappeared 14 years on.
8 Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth, played paraplegic Josh Taylor in 2007 and his older brother, Thor actor Chris, also appeared in the soap.
9 Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe played ex-con Kenny Larkin in four episodes between 1987 and 1989 in his first recurring TV role.
10 A tornado in 2014 left Lou Carpenter’s life in danger after the coffee shop roof fell on him. Susan did an emergency op as hubby Dr Karl talked her through it on the phone.