Neighbours
2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Television
| Neighbours | |
|---|---|
 Neighbours current title card |
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Reg Watson |
| Starring | See Cast section below |
| Theme music composer | Tony Hatch Theme music Jackie Trent Lyrics |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| No. of episodes | 5211 (as of May 14, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Produced by | John Holmes Tony MacDonald Marie Trevor Mark Callan Dave Worthington Sally Anne Kerr Peter Dodds |
| Executive producer(s) | Reg Watson Don Battye Ian Bradley Stanley Walsh Riccardo Pellizzeri |
| Running time | 22 min |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel Seven (1985) Channel Ten (1986-) |
| Picture format | 4:3 ( 1985 - 2000) 16:9 ( 2000 - Present) |
| Original run | March 18, 1985 – Present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
| Common rating | |
|---|---|
| Australia | G |
Neighbours is a long-running Australian soap opera, which began airing in March 1985. It was created by Reg Watson and was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation until the end of 2006. As of 2007, the Reg Grundy Organisation and Crackerjack Productions were merged to become FremantleMedia Australia, who are now producing Neighbours. Neighbours has a G classification, signifying that its content is suitable for viewers of any age.
The series follows the daily lives of several families who live in the six houses at the end of Ramsay Street, a quiet cul-de-sac in the fictional, middle class suburb of Erinsborough. Storylines explore the romances, family problems, domestic squabbles, and other key life events affecting the various residents. More than most serials, Neighbours features a large proportion of children and teenagers amongst its ever-rotating cast.
Neighbours celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2005 with some special episodes which featured appearances from several former members of the cast.
History and popularity
Through its entire run, Neighbours has screened as five 22-minute (excluding commercial breaks) episodes a week, shown each weeknight in an early-evening slot. The 1985 season aired on the Seven Network, at 5.30 p.m. in Sydney and at 6.30 p.m. in Melbourne and other regions. From its second year the series switched to Network Ten. Between 1986 and 1991 the series was screened by Network Ten at 7.00 p.m; since 1992 Network Ten have broadcast the show at 6:30 p.m.
The series originally aired on the Seven Network in 1985, but - unusually for an Australian-produced series - switched networks, moving to Network Ten in 1986 after being cancelled by Channel Seven.
In 1985, the Melbourne-produced programme had underperformed in the crucial Sydney market leading to the Seven Network cancelling the series at the end of that year. Neighbours was immediately picked up by the rival Network Ten . Network Ten began broadcasting the series 20 January 1986 . On Ten, it initially attracted low ratings . The Network worked hard to publicise the series ; they revamped the show, adding several new, younger cast members including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan as Scott and Charlene, while a concerted publicity drive largely focused on these new actors in a star-focused campaign recalling that of the Hollywood star system where stars were packaged to feed into a fan culture . This paid off for the series and by the end of 1987 it was attracting high ratings . Australian audiences waned considerably by the early 1990s , although viewing figures had recovered slightly by the end of the decade .
In the 2000s rival soap opera Home and Away emerged as more popular than Neighbours. H&A, which airs at 7.00 p.m. Monday to Friday in Australia, averages 1.2 million viewers there a night. As of 2004 Neighbours was regularly attracting just under a million viewers per episode, low for Australian prime time television. Neighbours is more popular in the UK, where it screens on BBC One usually attracting between around five million viewers between its two showings.
2007 revamp
In 2007, it was decided that Neighbours should be revamped in order to attract higher ratings. This would include filming the show in HDTV, add a new family to the show, and feature a new version of the show's familiar theme song. It has been said that the quality of storylines should also change. As well as many cast members departing, many new characters will be introduced, including the new family. These changes will come into effect over several months, although latest rumours suggest the new theme music and graphics package could debut in September.
Broadcast schedule
Australian broadcasts
Through its entire run in Australia it has screened as five 22-minute episodes a week, shown each weeknight in an early-evening slot. The 1985 season aired on the Seven Network, at 5.30 p.m. in Sydney and at 6.30 p.m. in Melbourne and other regions. From its second year the series switched to Network Ten. Between 1986 and 1991 the series was screened by Network Ten at 7.00 p.m., and from 1992 they have aired the show at 6:30 p.m. Neighbours is on air for approximately 49 weeks per year. It airs from early January to late December, and goes off air for three weeks during the Christmas/New Year break.
United Kingdom broadcasts
The show is popular in the United Kingdom where it quickly gained a cult following after it began airing there on October 27, 1986. BBC One began by screening it at 1.25 p.m.-1.50 p.m. until moving it to 1.50 p.m.-2.10 p.m. before moving it to the current 1.40 p.m.-2.05 p.m. with a repeat the next morning at 10.00am. The repeat episode was later moved to 5.35 p.m.-6.00 p.m. by controller Michael Grade on the advice of his daughter. In the mid 1990s during Wimbledon it was shown at 7.00 p.m.-7.20 p.m.. In the late 1980s it regularly had a UK audience of over eighteen million and was watched by more people than the population of Australia. .
In the UK, episodes are currently shown around three months after their original Australian broadcast. The length of time between both broadcasts has decreased significantly from the original 18 months of 1986 due to Neighbours being taken off air over the summer in Australia, for periods of between 2 and 5 weeks, whilst the series originally aired every weekday year round on the BBC. As a result since October 2000 the BBC has frequently removed the show from its schedule during major sports tournaments such as Wimbledon and Bank Holidays.
Accounting for the duplication of viewers across its two UK showings a day, the show rates on average over five million viewers a day, making it the highest rated Commonwealth import on British television and one of the most popular international imports, rating higher than US programmes such as Desperate Housewives and Lost. Rumours are currently circulating that the BBC plans to give 'first-look' Neighbours on the broadcaster's digital channel BBC Three in order to boost that channel's ratings. Most likely, the episode following BBC One's most recent broadcast will be shown after 7 p.m. However, the episode could even be up-to-date with the Australian episodes.
The BBC have confirmed that they are committed to keeping this show when the current contract expires, if the price is right, despite interest from both Five and ITV. In April 2007, it was reported that ITV made a bid of £80,000 per episode; an offer that valued Neighbours at over £20 Million a year. A contract between ITV and Fremantle was just days away from completion, but could not be finalised due to issues regarding Video on Demand and Broadband rights.. On 26 April 2007 it was reported that the BBC had told Broadcast magazine that an agreement would need to be reached in the "very, very near future" otherwise their offer would be withdrawn. . News of the possible change in broadcaster was poorly received by viewers of the programme, and an online petition against the show's move away from the BBC garnered very strong support..
On 5 May, it was reported that the BBC had dropped out of bidding for the show, after Fremantle raised the price to £100,000 per episode. Competition between ITV and Five could lead to the winner paying up to £104 million over four years for the rights to air the show. A spokesperson from the BBC later confirmed this was untrue and negotiations are still underway.
Other international broadcasts
It also airs every evening on Republic of Ireland state TV station RTÉ Two at 5:30 p.m., and is repeated the following day at around 7.00a.m on RTÉ One. These episodes are also about three months behind the Australian network. If the contract with Five or ITV fails and Neighbours is taken off in Great Britain, most viewers in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) will still be able to view the soap opera on the Irish TV station RTÉ Two as most people in Northern Ireland can watch the show on both British BBC one and Irish RTÉ Two TV channels. Sky satelite viewers throughout Ireland (Northern & Republic) can receive all three RTÉ stations.
The show has also been sold to television networks in many other countries. Episodes from 1999 were aired for a six-week trial basis on the American channel Oxygen in March of 2004. At first, it was shown in the afternoon opposite higher-rated American soaps such as The Young and the Restless and All My Children, which gave the show anaemia ratings from the first airing; the people who would be most interested in the show were watching other, more established serials. After a couple of weeks, the show moved to a late-night time slot and eventually left the air entirely. It was not the first Australian soap opera to be aired in the United States: The Sullivans, Prisoner, Home and Away, The Young Doctors, Paradise Beach, and Pacific Drive had also been previously shown.
The show aired in Canada on regional television channel 47, Toronto-based CFMT (now part of the OMNI network owned by Rogers Communications Inc.), for a period of about five years in the early to mid- 1990s, starting in September 1990. The channel started the series right from the beginning and aired two episodes back to back for the first several months. It never achieved the audience that youth-oriented cable network YTV saw at the same time with Home and Away and was dropped.
It has been long aired by Television New Zealand and screens twice daily at 11:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. It was initially aired by TVNZ when Neighbours started showing in New Zealand in 1988, but by 1996 it had been removed from the schedule. Canwest's TV4 (now C4) picked it up and aired it from 1997 to 2000. They dropped it in 2000, and it returned to TV2 in 2002, where it stayed till early 2007, until moving to TVOne in February 2007, and screens at the time of 3:50.
Neighbours is aired in Belgium on the VRT at 5:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. The show has been broadcast in Belgium since 1988; they are one year behind Australia. In Kenya, Neighbours airs on the KTN network at 12.30 p.m., Monday to Friday with an omnibus on Sunday mornings. They are approximately three years behind Australia. Neighbours is also aired in Barbados on CBC8, Monday to Friday. They are approximately four years behind Australia
Storylines
In the beginning, the show mainly focused on two families, the Robinsons and the Ramsays (after whom "Ramsay Street" is named) who were - as the name of the show suggests - neighbours. The show initially gained notoriety for its depiction of the teenage romance of Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell (played by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue respectively). Their Romeo and Juliet-style romance culminated in a wedding that was keenly anticipated by viewers and is still fondly regarded by fans as being one of the high points of the series. Another popular couple in the show's early days was the pairing of Des Clarke ( Paul Keane) and Daphne Lawrence ( Elaine Smith), a couple who also lived on Ramsay Street alongside the Ramsays and the Robinsons. Daphne's death in 1988 is still considered as one of the most emotional moments on the show. Daphne's final words were the croaked 'I love you, Clarkey'. It was the first death of a main character.
Until recently, both the Ramsays and the Robinsons had been written out of the series, with the sole exception of the Bishop family, who are related to the Ramsays through the marriage of Harold Bishop ( Ian Smith) to the late Madge Ramsay ( Anne Charleston). However, one of the original cast members, Stefan Dennis, made a return to his signature role as Paul Robinson as a regular in the final episode of 2004. Today the show revolves around the Robinson, Hoyland, Timmins, Bishop, Cammeniti, Brown/Yeats and Kennedy/Kinski families, along with several other residents who live in Ramsay Street.
In the late 1990s, Neighbours gained the reputation as being a somewhat conservative soap with topics such as sex generally not being included in the storylines due to its early evening timeslot (Earlier storylines involving controversial topics such as incest and teenage sex were often censored by the BBC in the UK, which may account for the reluctance on the part of producers to depict controversial issues). In the past two years, this has started to change, with the show now regularly featuring its teenage characters discussing issues such as sex and contraception in a manner which has not been seen on the show since the mid 1990s. In late 2004, the show depicted a lesbian storyline involving Sky Mangel ( Stephanie McIntosh) and Lana Crawford ( Bridget Neval). In early 2006, a relationship started between the 18-year-old Stingray Timmins ( Ben Nicholas) and 14-year-old Rachel Kinski ( Caitlin Stasey), although the two did not actually sleep together. There were also two borderline incest storylines; the first saw Lucy Robinson (Melissa Bell) in a relationship with her half brother Glen ( Richard Huggett) - whom her dad had fathered during the Vietnam War - despite both knowing that they were related. They ended things however, as they knew they should act like brother and sister. The second involved Serena Bishop ( Lara Sacher) and Luka Dokich (Keelan O'Hehir), who embarked on an intimate relationship, blissfully ignorant of the fact that they were half-siblings, sharing a mother, Liljana Bishop ( Marcella Russo). The character of Sindi Parker ( Marisa Warrington) was also involved in storylines involving stripping and prostitution. More recently, there have been strong indications that Katya Kinski ( Dichen Lachman) had been involved in the pornography industry and had taken hard drugs. She was also shown stealing cars for shady associates from her past.
The break up of long time married couples Karl and Susan Kennedy ( Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne respectively) and soon after Joe ( Shane Connor) and Lyn Scully ( Janet Andrewartha) has also been a great source of interest to viewers, especially since it has led to a long running storyline in which Isabelle "Izzy" Hoyland ( Natalie Bassingthwaighte) duped Karl into believing that he was the father of her unborn child continuing the charade long after she tragically miscarried in November 2004. After over a year of manipulation, Izzy's lies came to light in a spectacular fashion, and despite a last ditch attempt by Izzy to gain Karl's sympathy by falsely claiming that she was raped, Karl finally dumped Izzy for good.
Late in the 2005 season came one of Neighbours' most popular and dramatic storylines (as part of Neighbours' 20th anniversary) where a large contingent of Ramsay Street regulars went on a joyflight on a Douglas DC-3 aircraft over Bass Strait. A time bomb had also been planted in the plane's undercarriage. During the flight Izzy discovered a note in her seat pocket addressed 'To my one and only' which read 'Think about your life and everything you've done.' The bomb went off, sending the plane down into the Bass Strait. Most of the residents were rescued, but David ( Kevin Harrington), Liljana and Serena Bishop were missing and presumed dead, except David who's body was found. This storyline started to introduce Paul Robinson's son Robert, who planted the bomb on the plane to try and kill his father, and his comatose twin brother Cameron (both played by Adam Hunter), who were introduced in early 2006. This storyline was resolved in 2006 when it was revealed that Robert planted the bomb as a start to a long line of plans to kill him, his sister Elle ( Pippa Black) and Izzy.
The 2006 season was marked as a highly controversial year due to the number of highly dramatic storylines, as well as the introduction of many villains, such as Paul's son Robert, which made a long-running storyline where Robert was scheming to kill Paul after failing on the plane crash. This story also triggered many other events such as Max Hoyland ( Stephen Lovatt) been driven insane after he accidentally killed Cameron in September 2006, thinking that it was Robert, leading to Max leaving the show until February 2007. The one other main villain in 2006 was Guy Sykes ( Fletcher Humphrys), an old acquaintance of Katya Kinski (who was heavily involved in the Robert/Cameron storyline). This led to Katya been shot and arrested after being blackmailed by Guy. The 2006 finale week marked the wedding of Paul and Lyn Scully, however she broke up with him hours after the wedding after Paul told Lyn that he cheated on her. She left the show after seven years on Neighbours.
The 2007 season saw the third wedding of Karl and Susan Kennedy in London. This story also saw the re-introduction of Isabelle Hoyland, who had left the show pregnant with Karl's baby (unknown to Karl and Susan) in 2006. She fell into labour at their wedding, though she never confessed the truth to them. Karl and Susan left London, with Susan knowing the knowledge of the baby's father, as she heard Izzy telling her new boyfriend Pete Gartside ( Daniel Schutzmann) that the baby is Karl's. Susan told Karl back in Australia, and he returned to London for several weeks to spend time with his new daughter Holly.
Cast
Current cast members
| Actor | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Aulsebrook-Walker | Charlie Hoyland | 2006- |
| Pippa Black | Elle Robinson | 2005- |
| Natalie Blair | Carmella Cammeniti | 2003-2005 (recurring); 2006- |
| Carla Bonner | Stephanie Hoyland | 1999- |
| Sam Clark | Ringo Brown | 2007- |
| Stefan Dennis | Paul Robinson | 1985-1993, 2004- |
| Nell Feeney | Janelle Timmins | 2004 (guest); 2005-2007 |
| Alan Fletcher | Karl Kennedy | 1994- |
| Claudine Henningsen | Kerry Mangel | 2006-2007 |
| David Hoflin | Oliver Barnes | 2007- |
| Adelaide Kane | Lolly Allen | (#3) 2007 |
| Ben Lawson | Frazer Yeats | 2006- |
| Kyal Marsh | Boyd Hoyland | 2002-2007 |
| Stephanie McIntosh | Sky Mangel | (#2) 2003-2007 |
| Ryan Moloney | Toadfish Rebecchi | 1995 (recurring); 1996- |
| Daniel O'Connor | Ned Parker | 2005- |
| Tom Oliver | Lou Carpenter | 1988 (guest); 1992- |
| Natalie Saleeba | Rosetta Cammeniti | 2006- |
| Sianoa Smit-McPhee | Bree Timmins | 2005-2007 |
| Ian Smith | Harold Bishop | 1987-1991; 1996- |
| Caitlin Stasey | Rachel Kinski | 2005- |
| Eliza Taylor-Cotter | Janae Hoyland | 2005- |
| Matthew Werkmeister | Zeke Kinski | 2005- |
| Nicky Whelan | Pepper Steiger | 2006- |
| Jackie Woodburne | Susan Kennedy | 1994- |
Recurring cast members
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Rachel Gordon | Charlotte Stone |
| Andrew Larkins | Tom Scully |
| Zen Ledden | Kevin Casey |
| Tim Phillips | Fox |
| Rowena Wallace | Mary Casey |
Coming and going cast members
Coming
| Actor | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Hart | Adam Rhodes | Debuts May 2007 |
| Penny Cook | Prue Brown | Debuts June 2007 |
| Jane Hall | Unknown | Debuts June 2007 |
| Fletcher O'Leary | Mickey | Debuts June 2007 |
| Steve Bastoni | Unknown | Debuts July 2007 |
| Nikki Coghill | Unknown | Debuts July 2007 |
| Eloise Mignon | Unknown | Debuts August 2007 |
| Sweeney Young | Unknown | Debuts August 2007 |
| Maria Mercedes | Lucia Cammeniti | Temp. returns 7 June 2007 |
| Fiona Corke | Gail Robinson | Temp. Returns 2007 |
Going
| Actor | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Kane | Lolly Allen | Exits May 2007 |
| Nell Feeney | Janelle Timmins | Exits July 2007 |
| Sianoa Smit-McPhee | Bree Timmins | Exits July 2007 |
| Kyal Marsh | Boyd Hoyland | Exits August 2007 |
| Stephanie McIntosh | Sky Mangel | Exits August 2007 |
| Claudine Henningsen | Kerry Mangel | Exits August 2007 |
Before they were stars
| Actor | Role | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Alan Dale | Jim Robinson | 1985-1993 |
| Kylie Minogue | Charlene Robinson | 1986-1988 |
| Jason Donovan | Scott Robinson (#2) | 1986-1989 |
| Guy Pearce | Mike Young | 1986-1989 |
| Russell Crowe | Kenny Larkin | 1987 |
| Craig McLachlan | Henry Ramsay | 1987-1989 |
| Natalie Imbruglia | Beth Willis | 1992-1993, 1994 |
| Jesse Spencer | Billy Kennedy | 1994-2000, 2005 |
| Brooke Satchwell | Anne Wilkinson | 1996-2000 |
| Radha Mitchell | Catherine O'Brien | 1996-1997 |
| Nathan Phillips | John 'Teabag' Teasdale | 1999 |
| Holly Valance | Felicity Scully | 1999-2002, 2005 |
| Delta Goodrem | Nina Tucker | 2002-2003, 2004, 2005 |
| Stephanie McIntosh | Sky Mangel (#2) | 2003-2007 |
| Natalie Bassingthwaighte | Isabelle Hoyland | 2003-2006, 2007 |
Deceased cast members
| Actor | Role | Duration | Date of death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myra De Groot | Eileen Clarke | 1985-1988 | 4 April 1988 |
| Francis Bell | Max Ramsay | 1985-1986 | May 1994 |
| Brian Blain | Michael Daniels | 1991 | 1994 |
| Anne Haddy | Helen Daniels | 1985-1997 | 6 June 1999 |
| June Salter | Bess Robinson | 1985 (guest) | 15 September 2001 |
| Olivia Hamnett | Hilary Grant | 1998 (guest) | November 2001 |
| Esme Melville | Mrs. York Jean Halliday Moina Beresford Rose Belker |
1986 (guest) 1992 (guest) 1994 (guest) 2002-2006 (recurring) |
14 September 2006 |
| Richard Morgan | Damon Gaffney | 2000 (guest) | 23 December 2006 |
Shane Connor's sacking
After being fired from the series in 2003, former cast member Shane Connor (who played character Joe Scully) filed for wrongful dismissal. Evidence presented in court in October 2005 described alleged on-set problems such as arguments with the cast and crew, lateness and absenteeism. This behaviour has been connected to the actor's period of drug use, after the death of his brother. Connor admitted that he'd had problems in that period, prior to receiving a final warning in April 2003, but contested Grundy's claims that he had acted unprofessionally immediately before his dismissal in September 2003. He won the case and was awarded AUD $196,709 plus interest and costs. Connor is now living in the UK, where he is appearing in commercials and makes appearances at university students' unions.
Celebrity guest appearances
- Warwick Capper as himself (1986)
- Molly Meldrum as himself (1986)
- Grant Kenny as himself (1986)
- Derek Nimmo as Lord Ledgerwood (1990)
- Darryl Cotton as himself (1990)
- Mike Whitney as himself (1994)
- Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys (1995)
- John Hinde as himself (1995)
- Iain Hewitson as himself (1995)
- Clive James as a postman (1996)
- Barry Sheene as himself (1997)
- Dave Graney as himself (1998)
- Robert DiPierdomenico as himself (1999)
- Peter Chapman as himself (1999)
- Human Nature as themselves (2000)
- The Wiggles (2001)
- Glenn Wheatley as himself (2002)
- Jude Bolton as himself (2002)
- Brett Kirk as himself (2002)
- Karl Kruszelnicki as himself (2004)
- Shane Warne as himself (2006)
- Rove McManus as himself (2006)
- Brodie Holland as himself (2006)
- Andrew G as himself (2007)
- Emma Bunton as herself (2007)
- Michael Parkinson as himself (2007)
- Julian Clary (2007)
- Neil Morrissey as a priest(2007)
- Terry Nutkins (2007)
- Jo Whiley (2007)
- Jonathan Coleman (2007)
- Sinitta (2007)
- Matt Lucas (2007)
- David Walliams (2007)
- Daryl Braithwaite (2007)
- David Spade as himself (2007)
Theme
The Neighbours theme music was written by Tony Hatch with lyrics by his then wife, Jackie Trent. Since 1985 there have been five distinctly different renditions of the theme broadcast on television. They were sung by the following artists:
- Version One: Barry Crocker (1985-1989)
- Version Two: Barry Crocker (1989-1992)
- Version Three: Greg Hind (1992-1998)
- Version Four: Paul Norton & Wendy Stapleton (1999-2001)
- Version Five: Janine Maunder (2002-present)
Each version has received during its stint some minor changes to keep it fresh. For example, version one received a few edits following the "day", "away", "blend" and "friends" climaxes during its run on Channel Seven in 1985. The following years on Network TEN used an unedited version.
The opening theme of version two changed frequently: for part of 1990 there was a full length song, however, mid-way through 1990 this changed to a 10-second instrumental piece used in episode 1 for a few weeks, before being replaced by a vocal version of the same short piece until version three debuted in mid-1992.
Version three used a funky 23 second opening song until 1994 when a slightly longer piece was implemented. This piece was used as a closing theme for United Kingdom broadcasts from 1995 onwards, despite the original full version being retained in Australia.
Version four debuted in 1999, again with a shortened theme for UK transmission. The only changes made to the full-length closing theme during this era was the removal of the backing line "that's when good" from mid-2000 onwards, although this remained outside of Australia.
Version five again used a shorter piece of closing music for the UK market, with the rest of the world using the same 76 second variant.
During 2005, producers of the programme suggested there would be a new theme tune the following year with new opening titles to match. New titles, and a slightly remixed theme tune debuted the following year. All markets began transmitting the same 45 second edited version of the closing theme (UK broadcasts retained the previous 35 second arrangement for a few weeks). However, by mid-2006, the UK had received a slightly edited version of the new closing bringing it back in line with the 35 seconds allowed by the BBC, whilst Australia had gone back to a near-full length track, albeit with minor edits at various sections to keep running time to a minimum. The opening theme has remained unchanged throughout this run.
Several articles in the international press have hinted at there being a new version of the theme tune which will likely debut in September 2007 as part of a revamp of the show.
Locations
Neighbours is taped in Melbourne. Interior scenes are taped at the Global Television studios in Nunawading, Victoria in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. These studios were previously the Network Ten studios; Ten moved to South Yarra selling their previous studios but continued to tape some of their programmes there, leasing the facilities from the new owners. Pin Oak Court in nearby Vermont South has been used for outdoor taping to represent the fictional Ramsay Street through the programme's entire run, including the episodes produced by the Seven Network.
In the story Ramsay Street is situated in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough. Throughout most of the series' run it has not particularly been implied which city of Australia the suburb was set in. Occasionally, however, evidence appears on screen and in dialogue that suggests that Erinsborough is a suburb of Melbourne. In 1997 much was made of a group of residents leaving for a day trip to attend the Melbourne Cup, and several of the characters show their support for AFL teams (a sport endemic in Melbourne), there have also been several guest appearances by AFL players, and Melbourne landmarks and features can be identified in some scenes outside of Ramsay Street.
In the story, Erinsborough is often contrasted with the neighbouring, and equally fictitious, suburb of Eden Hills. Other locations often mentioned (and sometimes seen) in the show include West Waratah, Waratah Heights, Elliot Park and Anson's Corner, as well as real towns in the state of Victoria (the capital of which is Melbourne) such as Colac, Shepparton, and Oakey in Queensland.
Filming in the United Kingdom
Neighbours' second UK-shot storyline aired in Australia during the weeks commencing 19 and 26 March 2007 and will be broadcast in the UK approximately around June 2007. In the story Susan and Karl visit the UK on holiday and accidentally meet Izzy, who had moved there after leaving Ramsay Street. Karl also proposes to Susan in the London Eye, and they were married for a third time, with Neil Morrissey acting as a priest. This story also featured many celebrity cameos such as Emma Bunton, Michael Parkinson, Jonathan Coleman and Sinitta.
Awards
The show and some cast members have won several Logies in its time. Winners of the Logies are listed below:
- 1986: Peter O'Brien, for Most Popular New Talent.
- 1987: Peter O'Brien, for Most Popular Actor
- 1987: Kylie Minogue, for Most Popular Actress
- 1987: Most Popular Drama Series
- 1988: Kylie Minogue, for the Most Popular Personality ( Gold Logie)
- 1988: Peter O'Brien, for Most Popular Actor
- 1988: Kylie Minogue, for Most Popular Actress
- 1988: Most Popular Drama Series
- 1989: Craig McLachlan, for Most Popular Actor
- 1989: Annie Jones, for Most Popular Actress
- 1989: Most Popular Series
- 1990: Craig McLachlan, for Most Popular Personality ( Gold Logie)
- 1990: Craig McLachlan, for Most Popular Actor
- 1990: Rachel Friend, for Most Popular Actress
- 1990: Most Popular Series
- 1991: Richard Huggett, for Most Popular New Talent
- 1998: Brooke Satchwell, for Most Popular New Talent
- 1999: Daniel MacPherson, for Most Popular New Talent - Male
- 2003: Patrick Harvey, for Most Popular New Talent - Male
- 2003: Delta Goodrem, for Most Popular New Talent - Female
- 2005: Natalie Blair, for Most Popular New Talent - Female
- 2005: Hall of Fame (the series)