Inside Neighbours’ return to screens including an explosive storyline featuring the ENTIRE cast
MILLIONS of fans around the world rejoiced when Aussie soap Neighbours was saved from TV’s graveyard by Amazon.
For the huge team who worked on the show, it meant a return to the jobs they loved.
And some canny cast members also dared to dream how the streaming giant’s huge budgets could boost the show further — by bringing back its megastars of yesteryear.
Global names such as Guy Pearce, Margot Robbie, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan first found fame in the soap’s Ramsay Street.
Stefan Dennis, who plays Paul Robinson, said with a laugh: “Maybe Amazon has even more money than we think, and they’ll get Guy back.”
While that might be one storyline too far, the opportunities presented by the soap’s rebirth on Amazon have not escaped the cast, who have been speaking for the first time about the news
Ryan Moloney, who plays Toadfish Rebecchi, thinks it will have new appeal for younger viewers.
He said: “The way we watch TV has changed.
“They’d rather watch Amazon and Netflix, it’s so exciting that we’ll be part of that. They can watch Neighbours whenever they like.”
Alan Fletcher — known to viewers as Dr Karl Kennedy — joked: “They’ll be no students cancelling their lectures any more.”
Neighbours followed the lives and loves of folk in the fictional Australian town of Erinsborough, and after it first aired in Britain in October 1986, its afternoon screening quickly became a favourite among students.
The soap aired twice a day on BBC1 until February 2008, when it moved to Channel 5, whose payment for screening it largely paid for its production.
But in February last year The Sun revealed that its makers were unable to reach a deal to renew the contract with 5.
Many of Neighbours’ army of loyal British fans — some 1.4million viewers a day — signed a petition to try to save the show, but it bowed out with huge fanfare last July.
Four months later came the shock news that Amazon’s Freevee streaming service had bought the rights for the soap and will begin production of new episodes next month.
Alan said: “It was actually the fans that got the show back in the first place. Amazon has said to us that they saw the outpouring of grief.
“They saw the petition, they saw how many people were saying, ‘No, this can’t happen’. That’s fantastic, because it stimulated the recovery. It was pure joy.
“My inbox changed from ‘Oh my god, my favourite show has been taken off air’ to ‘Oh my god, it’s coming back’.
Ryan said: “It was disbelief. And then it’s that thing of mentally I’d spent 28 years on the show, it was most of my life, mentally making that adjustment to, ‘Who am I, what am I doing? What does life look like now?
“Starting to make those steps and look at a different kind of future, and then to go, ‘We’re going back to do it again’. But you had to say yes.”
Executive producer Jason Herbison visited key members of the cast to break the news of the soap’s revival in person, but couldn’t resist adding a little drama to the occasion.
The way we watch TV has changed. They’d rather watch Amazon and Netflix, it’s so exciting that we’re going to be part of that.
Ryan Moloney
Stefan, who has played Paul on and off for 25 years since the first episode, said: “I got a visit, Fletch, Jackie (Woodburne, who plays Susan Kennedy) and Ryan, we all got a personal visit.
“It was a real surprise. Jason just said he wanted to come round for coffee and bring us a present — metaphorically he was bringing us a present — but he said he wanted to give us a framed picture, that was his excuse.
“And then he told me. I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, not even my family.”
Annie Jones, who plays Jane Harris, is also up for the reboot and said: “We were all on a group WhatsApp and there was a little rumour — ‘Apparently there’s a big announcement in 20 minutes’.
“Somebody said maybe they’re going to show old episodes. Stefan and the others were keeping quiet, they didn’t say a word.
“And then they starting ringing round to everyone.
“It was a no-brainer to go back. I was so thrilled, first of all for the fans, because I knew how much it meant to so many people, and then secondly to get a job again and to be Jane again.”
The euphoria is a far cry from the sad days when the cast gathered to film what they believed would be the soap’s final scenes.
Breaking into tears, Stefan, 64, added: “It was really hard. That last week was very emotional. The studio became a ghost town.
“The thing that actually broke everybody was when our first assistant director, who has been with us for like forever, he had the task of saying the final ‘That’s a wrap’.
“I know it’s only a TV show, but it gets me every time, just thinking about it.”
It was actually the fans that got the show back in the first place. Amazon has said to us that they saw the outpouring of grief.
Alan Fletcher
The final episode saw stars old and new gather on the cul-de-sac for Toadie’s wedding to Melanie (Lucinda Cowden) — some in person and some via a Zoom call.
It meant big names including Natalie Imbruglia as Beth, Holly Valance as Flick and even Hollywood star Margot Robbie as Donna played a part.
Fellow movie A-lister Guy Pearce made more than just a cameo, rekindling an old screen romance with Jane and confirming fan speculation that Sam (Henrietta Graham) was his daughter all along.
It left viewers with a hint of what could be in store when the soap returns this autumn.
With filming just days away, the cast are eagerly awaiting the first script, and Annie teased: “Who knows? Maybe Jane will be heartbroken, maybe I’m only in the show for a couple of weeks and I go off with Mike.
“We’ve seen a script cover, that is it.”
Alan said: “They are keeping it completely under wraps. We’ve been told one thing and that’s when we come back it’s going to be huge.
“It’s a big story and will involve a lot of people but we don’t know anything about it.
“There will come a day when your inbox goes ‘ping’ and it will say first script. Everyone will read it and the WhatsApp group will go mad.”
Ryan added: “We’re going to have a big Zoom meeting, and in that meeting we’re going to see people’s faces pop up on the screen, and we’re going to be like ‘Oh my god, that person is back.’
“We don’t know who they’ve got. Nobody knows. It’s all very exciting.”
For now the cast are busy on what had originally been the official farewell tour, taking in speaking dates across the UK.
But the gang are instead using the time to celebrate the show and thank fans for bringing back the jobs they loved.
And they have high hopes for what the new dawn may bring.
Ryan said: “I’d like to see more diversity, more multiculturalism, something that’s more representative of modern day life as much as we can.”
Alan reasoned: “Neighbours had the first gay wedding on television, we have a trans character — she’s returning — the cultural diversity is very important.
“It’s a very exciting time.
“The most wonderful thing about being on Neighbours is you get to do high drama one minute and high comedy the next.
“I love the comedy and am quite happy to be the street buffoon… I think Dr Karl should be this huge rock star.”
Neighbours timeline
March 18, 1985: First episode airs on Seven Network in Australia
October 27, 1986: First aired in UK on BBC One
1988: Entire cast flown to UK to appear in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Show
2007: A revamp, switching to HD filming and a new version of the iconic theme tune and opening titles
February 2008: The show moved to Channel 5
July 2008: A diversity row as the soap is called “too white” by black and Asian viewers in UK
April 2011: Became the first show to have its own iPhone app, where the soap could exclusively be viewed. It celebrated with a special episode marking the wedding of Prince William and Kate
February 2022: Channel 5 announces it has chosen not to renew the soap deal
March 3, 2022: Production company Fremantle confirms the show would end after 37 years on air
November 17, 2022: Amazon Freevee announces it has bought Neighbours’ back catalogue and would begin production on new episodes