Neighbours - Australian Soap

I used to watch it when I was young-er. Bold, grand and simplistic? Can you give an example?

That show was always mentally challenged and simplistic.

Never heard of it.

I stopped watching when they switched to Eleven. And i was always more of a Home & Away fan. But i think their storylines are more progressive. Though Home has hotter actors.

OP it’s the people who watch Neighbours who are mentally challenged.

I loved Home and Away in its first few seasons when it was very much a topical show. And quite beautifully put together with its mini-story arcs. Then it became more character-based in the 90s when Melissa George joined the cast as Angel. And what a dull character she was too, never got her popularity. Apparently, it was never an easy show to work on which somewhat explains the high turnover of cast.

Some background of H&A's early years, also its competition with Neighbours and its popularity in the UK:

Gina, Magda, Jane and Marg nailed the simplistic nature of Australian soaps in the sketch Dumb Street:

From where do you stream this OP? Is it on YouTube?

Very big with us as kids in the UK, haven't watched it since I was a teen though. Used to love matriarch Susan Kennedy.

Lots of hots guys have been in it including Dean Geyer

OP, I asked you a question. Why not provide an answer?

He probably has a life, and probably hasn't seen your question yet.

Stone the flamin' crows!

R12 that's my catchphrase now!

Jelly Belly!

The credibility of Home and Away was already being stretched when Carly's glamor model twin Samantha shows up in Summer Bay.

Neighbours and Home and Away actor Craig McLachlan was found not guilty of all charges today relating to accusations from co-stars about sexual misconduct during the Melbourne stage production of "The Rocky Horror Show".

The magistrate told the court the four female complainants were "brave and honest witnesses" and did not consent to multiple incidents of inappropriate touching. However, she said prosecutors did not meet the standard of proving the crimes had occurred.

McLachlan maintained his innocence throughout a contested hearing which began last year. In a short statement outside his lawyer's office in Sydney, McLachlan thanked his "24-carat gold" legal team for the court win.

R16 Craig needs to lay off the botox.

OP - not even Australians watch Neighbours.

I know there are nudes out there of the Hendrix actor and his big super curved cock.

Australian soap cleans my digeridoo and kangaroo quite well.

Dean Geyer has a video on the Internet of him having sex. Also, pics of his big cock!

[quote]The credibility of Home and Away was already being stretched when Carly's glamor model twin Samantha shows up in Summer Bay.

Poor Carly. The storyline where she was raped put me off hitchhiking for life.

Didn't her rapist come back and end up mysteriously dead at the bottom of some cliffs?

And then there was Roo who was one of the kids in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome who got pregnant by some rich kid who ended up sterile from mumps and that was his only shot at having a baby, Did she try and pass it off as the Alex(?)s baby - the guy Bobbie was in love with? And then there was the stunning reveal about how evil Donald Fisher was her father (her name should have been Bobbie Fisher!) and evil Morag was her mother.

There was a boy called Stephen who lived with Tom and Pippa and his parents had died in a fire, and then his handsome and muscled uncle came to visit but his uncle then died in a fire too! Dierdre Chambers, what a coincidence!

But then the super muscled uncle turned up in Home and Away as someone called Macca. I think he was Neighbour's first openly gay character. Despite being handsome and muscled he was totally sexless and he was only gay because it meant he could reject the awful Debbie's advances, and she dealt with her rejection by becoming bulimic.

Ruth "Roo" Stewart was the original "mega-beach" of Home and Away's early years. Her exposing her dad Alf's soon-to-be wife Ailsa as a murderess was the first big storyline that Summer Bay rocked. Evil Aunt Morag was introduced in this storyline. Justine Clarke was the original actress who played Roo. The character is still on the show being played by Georgie Parker.

No he doesn't R21.

R22 Phillip (John Harvie Morris) was Steven's hunky uncle who was so often in a state of undress during his one year on the show. He was a hot model before he joined H&A and his coming out on Neighbours didn't go down all that well with his female fans, if I remember.

Gerry Sont, who played the rich kid Brett Macklin who impregnated Roo also can be glimpsed in the clip at 1:40.

The first Lucy Robinson was great - remember when she swallowed a bee and Dr Clive had to give her an emergency tracheostomy with a biro and some vodka? And then there was that time she was left cruelly blinded when she fell down the storm drain and lay there for literally hours, but being the tinker she was she didn't tell anyone when her sight came back.

The second Lucy Robinson was blah but the third Lucy Robinson was a real sexpot who ended up shagging Hot Glen, her half brother from Dirty Jim's liaison when he was in the army.

R24 Check Lpsg once in a while!

In the UK, Neighbours was huge when I was a kid in the late 80s to early 90s. Iconic characters like Madge and Harold, Mrs Mangle, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan (who was so handsome back in the day) as Charlene and Scott. It all went downhill in the 90s and I stopped watching back then. Home and Away was never quite as big here but there were spells where it was better written. Haven’t watched that in 20 odd years either though.

So it seems Jason Donovan had a shocking mullet haircut for most of Neighbours, but I remember when he got a decent haircut he became one of my first crushes as a young gayling

Jason went from a 6 in the video for Nothing Can Divide Us to a 9 in Especially For You and a 10 in Too Many Broken Hearts.

He's at his most attractive in the Another Night video. He was 22 at this point.

R26 I totally forgot Lucy had sex with her half brother Glen. Funny how that was such a big scandal in the UK but hardly raised any concern in Australia. Probably because it was disclosed that they were brother and sister before those episodes aired in the UK, them being six months behind. Also, nobody paid much attention to what these characters were up to back at home.

The first Lucy on the show was the know-it-all little kid with the nasal voice. The second was smart but boring, she marginalized the character the years she was on. The third (Melissa Bell) was the blonde bombshell.

I'll be glad when David goes away so Aaron can get a hot boyfriend.

[quote]I totally forgot Lucy had sex with her half brother Glen. Funny how that was such a big scandal in the UK but hardly raised any concern in Australia.

Perhaps it's because they weren't the first incestuous couple on Australian television.

Scott and Charlene send their love.

Lucy's half brother was played by Richard Huggett, who also played bad-boy Sonny Bennett on E Street. You can't really blame Lucy for wanting some of the forbidden fruit with him, can you?

R26 It just goes to show how casting can change a character. Lucy the brainiac and the baby dyke Lucy never had interactions with males except for the most innocent and awkward kind. By the time Mellisa Bell left Neighbours, the character had matured.

The second Lucy was cast when Neighbours jumped ship to Channel 10. Jason Donavan was cast as Scott at this point too. Kylie came on board as the tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson shortly after. Channel 7 was so outraged that the rights of the show had been purchased by 10 they burned down all the sets that had to be rebuilt at considerable expense.

Kylie's Debut:

My god, Sasha Close's acting in that debut scene is totally Logie worthy. She looks like someone dressed her in the dark with a bag of charity shop rejects.

Kylie's final scenes on Neighbours, sad and adorable. She already had a couple of UK hits at this point, and her version of the Loco-Motion would be in the American top #5 within a couple of months of her leaving the show.

R36 the Melissa Bell Lucy looked like a ho. Can’t even remember what it was about her, but her introduction caused quite a stir.

They sent Charlene to Brisbane. It goes to show at R40, that the producers did not have a lot of faith in the long term capabilities of Kylie's music career. Usually, it's off to "London or "New York" as the final destination when they know an actor will not return.

R41 She was very sexy. Her character could be shrill and kind of a klutz, but she always had 10 guys chasing after her. After she had sowed her wild oats, she turned out to be a respectable businesswoman like her brother Paul Robinson had been.

Was it Julie who was conceived during rape?

Two of Neighbours' hot babes, Beth (Natalie Imbruglia) and Annalise (Kimberley Davies) talk about which boys they fancy.

R42 For a while, it seemed like every soap character "went off to Brisbane" when they left the show. I remember it well because I lived in Brisbane at the time and wondered what was attracting them all.

What is Kimberley Davies up to these days???

R46 your loose sloppy hole perhaps?

R47 I had to laugh at one of the interviews she did here when she arrived in the US. Having grown up in Australia, I actually knew who she was so imagine my surprise when, in the interview, she tried to pass herself off as an award-winning playwright and big time sitcom star among other imaginary achievements.

R47 She did try Hollywood, she was in an episode of Friends, and was an Aaron Spelling fave for a while. He cast her in one of his shows, I can't remember which one but Joan Collins played her mother in it. Kimberley is now 47 and is still quite beautiful. She lives in Melbourne with three kids and her husband, former model, now orthopedic surgeon Jason Harvey.

I liked Analaise

Sam Kratz was the tall, good looking biker who Annalise got engaged to, and eventually left the show with (he's at one minute thirty seconds in the video). Played by Richard Grieve, another pretty face from the 90s I had almost forgotten.

R50 Pacific Palisades.

R52 Like Emily Symons, Richard Grieve also played parts in Home and Away and the UK soap Emmerdale where he played the show's first openly gay character Jonny Foster. I did not recognise him with completely white hair, although it was already white when he was on Neighbours and he dyed it black.

[quote]Melissa George joined the cast as Angel. And what a dull character she was too, never got her popularity.

Melissa George disowned Australia after a reporter dared. DARED, ask her about her famous role on a soap opera. She'd much rather be having a croissant in Paris, it seems.

She's no Julianne Moore, seriously.

R50 thanks for answering.

R55 she apologized for that during her last interview talking about her abusive ex.

She deserved much better than what happened with her ex, but Melissa George would frequently allow herself to express immense frustration (about her career) in front of media, even to the point of bursting into tears if someone asked her about her character on Home and Away. This has gone on for DECADES.

[Quote] She deserved much better than what happened with her ex

I mean no one deserves to be treated like that. But there were a bunch of red flags going off when she described him. He didn't even want kids for starters.

I have never heard that Melissa George was unprofessional on set, she is just extremely humorless about herself. People would ask her to braid her hair like her Angel character on Home and Away and she'd become shitty with them. She watched her co-stars like Naomi Watts and Heath Ledger become A-Listers, but they were willing to talk about starting on a soap opera.

Melissa George got her baps out for a lads mag to shed her good-girl "Angel" image. She didn't go fully minge like Mary-Ellen from The Waltons

We preferred the wooden acting and bizarre plotlines of A Place to Call Home.

One of the River Boys is returning to Home and Away. Dan Ewing now aged 35, played Heath Braxton. I wonder if this real-life bad boy has mellowed with age?

Melissa George tried Hollywood. She gave it a good try but I just don't think she has that special quality to put her on the A-list. But in the 2000s she was everywhere - Alias, Grey's Anatomy, In Treatment, feature films, but she never caught on. She's going to be in the TV adaptation of The Mosquito Coast.

Kimberley Davies was in the Spelling series Pacific Palisades co-starring Scieno cunt extraordinaire Michelle Stafford.

It's amazing to remember that Kylie, Jason Donovan, and Guy Pearce were on Neighbors at the same time.

Alan Dale had one of the best second acts of a career I've ever seen. When he moved to America in 2000, his career became bigger than ever. He was practically on every popular show of the 2000s - Jag, The O.C., Ugly Betty, 24, Entourage, Lost.

R63 hopefully?? I had no idea he had a movie coming out until i saw the trailer on TV today.

R64 Alan was great on The OC. Especially after he got married to Julie Cooper.

Rahart Adams played Alistair O'Loughlin on Neighbors in 2013.

he's adorable; any gossip? family?

Rahart Adams;

ug; posted link in wrong field

Who was the cute guy who played the gay guy?

And the actor who played Jack Scully was so fine. Mmmm

I was hooked on Neighbours in the mid 80s during the Kylie Minogue and Guy Pierce days in the UK. Do they still drag the story lines out forever?

[quote]We preferred the wooden acting and bizarre plotlines of A Place to Call Home.

I tried binge watching that mess a few months ago. It was the most excruciating week of my life and I never made it past the middle of season 3.

R64 Lisa Lackey was another early Home and Away actress to move to Hollywood. She lived with Simon Baker and worked on projects with Naomi Watts and Melissa George including Mulholland Drive. She does not really even make the top 50 of big stars these shows have cranked out, but was a very busy working actress in Hollywood between 1995-2012.

I watched for a few years in the early nineties. Back then I liked it for being so low key compared to other daily soaps. What's Neighbors like today? Is it a good show these days? Is it doing well in the ratings?

Are there any non-white people on TV in Australia? It seems that everyone is as lily white as can be. Is being white a requirement?

[Quote] Is being white a requirement?

It doesn't hurt.

I watched Neighbors as well as Home & Away when I lived in Thailand in the 90s. I was mesmerized by how boring the plots were. I kept waiting for the usual adultery, affairs, alien abduction, evil twin, amnesia, etc. and all they ever had was some dull jealousy and betrayal. The pot-stirrer on one of those shows was an old battle ax named Morag who seemed to be some sort of dubious relation with money to everyone.

The one cast member from Neighbours I do remember was Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) whose unseen first wife was in prison---I think that was about as juicy as the plot line got while I watched. The theme song was infectious in its awfulness--the other thing I remember about the show. Brits seemed to enjoy hate watching it.

I think what you describe actually made the appeal of the show. It was TV just right when you came home from work and running errands and getting ready preparing dinner. That twilight time of the day was just not right to deal with rape and financial ruin. Although, didn't they have all that plus incest?

[quote] I'll be glad when David goes away so Aaron can get a hot boyfriend.

I'll be glad when Aaron stops wearing those fugly print shirts.

R73 This show is designed as entertainment with space for adverts.

It doesn't seek to preach to its audience and try to make them feel guilty.

It's from Australia, what do you expect? What can you say where they all wear flip flops to funerals and weddings? Nothing but trash.

^ There is that xenophobia again. What took you so long?

I remember liking the story where gay doctor, David, got involved with secretive Raf - with it coming out that Raf was hesitant about having sex, because of the scarring on his back from a fire he' been in.

R6, Angel was my favourite character as a kid. I was surprised when I rewatched those episodes as a teenager and found her so unpleasant. She was always whingeing, always nagging Shane, always behaving like a princess. And no matter how poorly she behaved, all the other characters idolised her (a true sign of a Mary Sue). With retrospect, I think the only reason I liked her back then was she was so pretty, had a unique style, and got all the most dramatic storylines. On rewatch, I realised I much preferred Shannon (Isla Fisher).

R80 they were probably triggered by the kettle thread.

R80 It's not xenophobia if it's toward you white nasty Brit adjacents who slaughtered half the world.

R84 give it a fucking rest 🙄

Jason Donovan. Gotta appreciate he doesn't use filters.

^How about you jump up my ass and fight for air, bitter bitch.

Kylie is back in Australia.

R73, it was announced in the late 90s that a family from Hong Kong would be joining Home & Away... and even THEY turned out to be white. The only black character I ever saw was Stephanie, who had an Australian accent even though she was from Somalia.

I remember the Asian family R89 Julie Martin accused them of stealing the family dog and eating it!

What happened to that big piece of meat, Cassius?

I remember Dichen Lachman on Neighbours. She played Caitlyn Stacey's sister. And they've both done ok in the US. It was kind of weird seeing Caitlyn and Sianoa play gfs in some horror movie. She's lost a lot of weight.

What do you get when you combine four Australian soap opera actresses with a wind machine?

A part of the story of how Kylie scored her first hit, was influenced somewhat by Chantoozies. They had scored a big hit in Australia the year before Kylie's Locomotion, with a cover of Redbone's 'Witch Queen of New Orleans'.

Alexandra from Chantoozies was in Neighbours at the same time as Kylie (she played Zoe Daniels) and was offered the lead vocals for The Locomotion with the Neighbours' band during a charity concert. Because she was already in a band she passed and Kylie picked up her first record contract.

When I was a teen I used to watch it when staying home truant from school, because nothing else was on in the day except the depressing mainstream news, kids’ cartoons, syndicated gameshows and home makeover shows, and HSN.

All I remember of it is some sort of angsty arc with two loud obnoxious competitive sisters named Serena & Skye, and a friend they had named Stingray who may or may not have had some kind of mental disorder. I only watched for about a year and with only half my attention on it, so I have no idea what it was all about or what happened to the characters in the end. Anyone want to fill me in on what I missed?

Stingray croaked, as they say.

R96 oh no, really? How’d it happen?

R97 He died unexpectedly at a street party. Can't remember, natural causes

[Quote] All I remember of it is some sort of angsty arc with two loud obnoxious competitive sisters named Serena & Skye, and a friend they had named Stingray who may or may not have had some kind of mental disorder.

You just reminded me of when Stephanie had a "singing" career during her stint on Neighbours.

R99 that music video features Ryan Carnes, the hottie from Desperate Housewives who bared his cock in that gay movie Eating Out

R100 i knew he looked familiar 😆

Stefan Dennis was another of Kylie's costars to have a crack at musical fame using her London hitmaking team.

'Don't It Make You Feel Good' was infamous, the Australian version was awful with its heavy rock soundtrack, but the Hi-NRG version in the video is a bit better.

I totally forgot Craig McLachlan had several hits and several duds in the UK. He also played Danny in the hit West End version of Grease opposite Deborah Gibson, and their version of YTOTIW was a hit too.

Deborah Gibson makes a surprisingly decent Sandy.

[quote]I was mesmerized by how boring the plots were. I kept waiting for the usual adultery, affairs, alien abduction, evil twin, amnesia, etc. and all they ever had was some dull jealousy and betrayal.

Sons and Daughters and Return to Eden had that in the 1980s. Also, 90s soaps E-Street and Chances had some really "out there" plots.

Sons and Daughters was a little slow-moving to start, but it got much better when the show's main villainess Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton started to really take off.

Sons and Daughters also benefited from its duel cities setting, with half the action taking place in working-class Melbourne and the other half in flashier Sydney. This becomes a plot device later, with stories brewing in both cities.

Sons and Daughters was at first about twins, John (Peter Phelps), and Angela (Alexandra Fowler) separated at birth and falling in love as young adults later.

The incest romance was the focus of Sons and Daughters in its first few years. And the actors had unquestionable sexual chemistry.

I remember by the time the audience had been informed that the characters were related, there was this one scene they are out on a kind of date outdoors, holding hands and it's getting a bit intense and then they wander off behind some tennis courts where it's implied they have sex. Even after they find out they are brother and sister, they move on to other partners but the attraction is always still there.

One of the best/worst Neighbours single releases was Gayle and Gillian's Wanna Be Your Lover.

The Alessi sisters look like the two long lost Corr sisters, staring into a circus mirror.

The Prince cover was their third attempt at a hit and their finest moment. The first single was All Mixed Up, written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman when their star was really fading. Then there was Mad If Ya Don't which even lovers of shit pop acknowledged was shit.

Holly Valance's Naughty Girl should have been a bigger hit.

Just reading about her and I'd completely forgotten about her turn in Prison Break.

Now she's married to a billionaire British property developer so doesn't need to work.

Holly's Kiss Kiss (a cover) was a really good pop song.

State Of Mind is great too.

If I had to list the top 5 best musical acts that have come directly from Neighbours, It would be:

1. Kylie Minogue

2. Natalie Imbruglia

3. Rouge Traders

4. Chantoozies

5. Holly Valance

The Rouge Traders big hit was written for the group by Elvis Costello, it was to celebrate Neighbours actress Natalie Bassingthwaighte becoming their new lead singer.

Anybody who watched that creepy 90s Channel 10 kid's show Mulligrubs will recognize where they got the idea for the video.

Mulligrubs:

R93 The Chantoozies 1988 debut album is surprisingly solid and consistent. Unfortunately, the video for Wanna Be Up was the last time all four original girls appeared together. They did release a second album as a threesome in 1991, which was soft rock-oriented at a time they should have been embracing their inner disco divas and jumping on the Kylie bandwagon.

R114. Actually, they did do one more video together as a foursome. They had to splice in footage of Ally, who wasn't available to film that day.

The thing about Australian soaps that always struck me the few times I saw them was how down-market they were. Americans soaps (at least of the 70s and through the 80s) were always set in these bizarre high-stakes universes where everyone dressed in eveningwear to eat breakfast and it wasn't unheard of for murder, blackmail, arson and rape to be part of doing the dishes afterward. The Australian soaps in comparison were a bit like watching (again, comparatively) realistic paint dry. Ooh, Bruce has stubbed his toe. Ooh, Shelia chipped a nail. No worries, etc, mate.

The Aussie soap Number 96 was the best.

Even the trannies got in on the action way back

As children we were never allowed to watch Neighbours or Home and Away. I used to be confused, most other kids at school watched them.

Then I grew up and saw some episodes and I see exactly why our parents didn't want us watching them. Utter dreck.

[quote]it wasn't unheard of for murder, blackmail, arson and rape to be part of doing the dishes afterward

Number 96 was doing all that and more back in the early 70s. It was way ahead of its time in its depictions of sexuality and nudity. The buxom Abigail was so famous in Australia that she only needed one name, and was the big star of Number 96 in the 70s, Sons and Daughters in the 80s, and Neighbours in the 90s.

The pantyhose strangler!

The Bomb blast!

R119, thanks for the intro to this campfest - but I think you misunderstood my post - the American soaps were a fantasy of the upper class. The show you linked to is simply sleazy.

[Quote] Then I grew up and saw some episodes and I see exactly why our parents didn't want us watching them. Utter dreck.

The eye candy doesn't hurt 😋

When Australia did try big-budget fantasy, it usually bombed. So we were stuck with sleaze (Number 96, Prisoner Cell Block H, The Box), or simplistic fluff like Neighbours.

Return to Eden, although great and perhaps even more lavish than Dynasty, did not garnish high enough ratings to justify another season. Sons and Daughters was successful in its mixing of rich and poor, and combining the more audacious storylines with the drab. Sons and Daughters was also financially successful, filmed between 82-87, it was marketed overseas well into the 2000s.

'The Power, the Passion' (1989) was an attempt at a US-style daytime drama modeled on the show it tried to compete with 'The Young and the Restless'. Starring hunky Julian Mcmahon, the real-life son of a former Australian Prime Minister. Unfortunately, it was a massive bellyflop that lost millions, and stopped the development of other shows for years.

See also: 'Arcade'. A 1980 show which almost bankrupted Channel 10 by the time they had finished building the sets. A huge, almost fully functioning mall that nobody tuned in to see.

It is worth noting that the only reason this show (which I've never seen) is still getting made is largely because of a loyal audience in the UK.

If it wasn't for them the show would have been axed before the 00s.

I have noticed that Channel 7 has started to air repeatings of 80s show 'A Country Practice' recently.

I must say this series has aged very well, and is surprisingly better than anything on today. Despite its immense popularity, ACP was taken for granted back in its day (sometimes referred to as "A Cunt of a Practice").

But the show's wit, compassion, and its leisurely pace have definitely left me feeling nostalgic for more simplistic times.

I used to watch A Country Practice as a kid and loved it. Then we lost it because only the north of the state had the channel it was on while some TV merger thing happened. I remember getting the book out from the school library to read and being startled by the explicit sex scenes in it between Frank and Shirley.

Are you in a northern US state R127? I had heard A Country Practice, as well as several other Aussie shows, had built up loyal followings in select markets in US border areas because of the transmission spillover from Canadian stations.

Don comes out of the closet on Number 96 in 1974/75

R128, nah, I'm in Australia.

E Street (Eden Street) was made by some of the same people as A Country Practice, and featured many of the same cast like Penny Cook (the vet from ACP). What started as A Country Practice transplanted to an urban area became a much more action-packed, darker and edgier show. E Street was extremely popular with teens, unlike the old-fashioned show that inspired it.

Just makes me think of this:

Do any DLers know the inside story on Craig? It seemed like he had been absolved, at least legally, and then this year another fresh accusation was made.

I’ve wanked many a time to Cassius shirtless . Smoking

R133 I can remember Anne Charleston, who played Craig's mum 'Madge', saying some uncomplimentary things about Craig when she left the show. Something like "he had a dark side, and we were all fooled".

She also said Kylie Minogue had a brain like "a cash register" and she was shocked at the business-like way Kylie (then 16-17) would conduct herself when it came to money. But she also said Kylie was basically a sweet girl.

Craig only got the part on Neighbors because according to the producers he looked like Kylie Minogue "with muscles".

Another classic scene from Number 96 where Arnold Feather discovers Carlotta is not a she.

Fuck Australian TV in the 70's was certainly ahead of it's time.

A Country Practice kept me going through my first severe depression. Sad but true.

The Australian soaps are very trivial and banal. They don't have the creative storylines or interesting characters of American and British soaps and I would say they are more like documentaries about white suburban life. I think only in recent years they have stopped having all-white casts.

The two main UK soaps are dreary and depressing. Who wants to spend thirty minutes, five days a week listening to people talk about how shitty their lives always are.

The US soaps were naughty fun for a while in the 70s, and 80s. Glamourous escapism.

The Australian soaps still have decent production values. They still shoot outdoors regularly (beaches, mountains, cities) to highlight the natural beauty of where they are set. And they are still churning out the stars of tomorrow.

r139 Australian soaps never go beyond the surface, hence the banal label. In the UK they aired them when the kids came home from school so they were moulded for family watching, without being provocative or challenging on any level. And the less said about the actors, the better.

R140 Some Australian soaps from the 1970s like Number 96, The Box and Prisoner were aimed at the adult audience but kids watched them too.

The stuff made in recent decades (none of which I have watched) appeared to be made as you say for a young audience.

When some British move to Australia, they feel their lives will not be complete without living the Neighbours/Home and Away lifestyle.

Many stubbornly hold onto this dream without realizing many Australians now live in apartments, or in townhouses, and are not friendly with their neighbours. But they desire to live in a cul de sac, with a large swimming pool, close to a nature reserve with kangaroos, and five minutes to the nearest beach. Many choose to return home when they find out the way it's portrayed in the shows is pure illusion.

Australian Real Estate agents love their UK soap fans. Cul de sacs have not been built in Australia since 1981, the existing ones are all in boring areas and containing aging, overpriced housing stock.

The only Down Under soap which had any quality IMO was Sons and Daughters primarily because it followed the format created by the American soaps: the contrast of families at different ends of the economic spectrum, characters with interesting and quirky psychology, and decent stage trained actors.

A Country Practice had a reputation as an old people's show, but it was actually an issues-based, and very topical show, and if it was in the news they would be talking about it.

Being a medical show they were the first in Australia to tackle AIDS, also environmental issues were a big part of the show decades before it became topical. As well, the show featured the usual rape, murder, surrogate wives, drug addiction, kidnapping stories. ACP also used stage-trained actors who were able to lovingly craft well-drawn, realistic, very relatable characters.

Nicole got her first break on ACP.

In this, she's with the original 'Scott' from Neighbours (Darius Perkins), and the original 'Simon' from Hey Dad (Paul Smith). And she definitely had undeniable star quality even back then.

Paul Smith was one of the Henderson Kids, starring alongside Nadine Garner in the teen drama.... also starring Mrs. Kylie Minogue in an early supporting role with a very bogan hairstyle.

How could you all forget this moment

I re-watched Body Melt (1993) a while ago and realised that I’m quite attracted to Ian Smith, who played Harold on Neighbours 😳

Who’s got love for Something in the Air?

[Quote] I think only in recent years they have stopped having all-white casts.

Neighbours beat Home & Away to the punch in terms of diversity. But Home & Away still wins all the Logies.

"Never call me during the middle of Neighbours, pet."

R111. What am I, chopped liver? I was a regular in Neighbours too.

Adventure island.

Quality Aussie television!

R154 Featured drag too.

R153 I don't know why she felt the need to mess with her nose and lips. Her face was distracting on The Voice.

These kids have NO SENSE of deportment.

[quote] I can remember Anne Charleston, who played Craig's mum 'Madge', saying some uncomplimentary things about Craig when she left the show.

I used to watch Neighbors quite a bit in the eighties and nineties, and her character stood out and is still the one I remember best. (I liked the grounded in real life setting of the show.) Charleston seemed to be quite open expressing her opinions about the show. Didn't she have a pretty public fallout with the producers? If anybody remembers the details of her gripes with the show I'd appreciate you posting it here.

R158 Anne thought her character served no purpose when she returned the second time, mostly she was being written as a judgemental old busybody, serving the purpose of Ramsey St. snoop/killjoy much like the Mrs. Mangle character did before her. Anne still has her distinctive, husky vocals, though her accent has changed from 30 years of living in the UK.

Megastar Kylie Minogue rejoins her Neighbours family - Anne Charleston, Ian Smith, and Jason Donovan (Craig is missing) for a 2021 podcast, where she said she only joined the show to avoid being on the dole!

Especially interesting are Ian Smith's recollections of the cast being invited to the UK by the Queen Mother, and them being unprepared for the reception; 20 million Brits had just tuned in to watch the Scott and Charlene wedding, and they were being chased in their bus by hundreds of fans where ever they went.

The interview with Jason Donovan starts at around 15:00

Kylie joins in at 20:45

A tad off topic but I had no idea Kylie has a wine line.

[quote]ACP also used stage-trained actors who were able to lovingly craft well-drawn, realistic, very relatable characters.

Not all of them - in fact some were old vaudevillians - but NIDA-trained Anne Tenney was remarkable. Playing Molly, the most beloved character on ACP, she completely avoided the almost inevitable slide from playing a character to playing yourself that we see all the time from actors in very long-running roles, and remained as purely Molly at the end as she was at the start. She then turned around and played Sal in The Castle, which was an equally iconic role (for Australians, anyway) and completely different.

This interview was in 1988, at a time when Neighbours mania was exploding across the UK, and you can see how unprepared the cast was to be dealing with this level of interest. The actors in the interview are Anne Haddy (RIP), Annie Jones, Fiona Corke, Alan Dale, Stefan Dennis.

Part 2:

Part 3. The interview continues with Ian Smith, Anne Charleston, Elaine Smith, and Craig McLachlan:

Who’s had Ian Smith?

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Australian Real Estate agents love their UK soap fans. Cul de sacs have not been built in Australia since 1981, the existing ones are all in boring areas and containing aging, overpriced housing stock.

I live in a cul de sac that is two years old, fuckwit

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