This March we celebrate the 30th birthday of the popular Australian soap, Neighbours.
Set on a residential street, the show’s storylines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne.
Neighbours was first broadcast in Australia on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. Many of us have grown up with the soap and watched as it has launched the careers of global superstars including Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodram, Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia, Russell Crowe and Jason Donovan.
Stefan Dennis (who plays Paul Robinson) is the only actor remaining in the soap who appeared in the first episode. He left Neighbours in 1993 (remember is short-lived shot at being a pop star?), before returning in 2004, making Paul the longest-running character on Australian television.
According to the BBC, since the show was first broadcast in 1985, it has been watched in more than 60 countries around the world. Its 7,083 episodes have seen 41 marriages, 15 births, 34 deaths, two resurrections and one plane crash.
Neighbours is still hugely popular in the UK. Approximately one million people tune in every day to watch the show, compared with just 350,000 in Australia. These days it is screened twice a day, Monday to Friday, on Channel 5. It’s particularly popular with students across the UK who often tune in to both episodes, despite them being exactly the same!
To mark the 30 year anniversary, Harold and Madge Bishop will be returning to Neighbours for a special episode on 18th March. Fans will know that Madge died on screen in 2001 after a battle with pancreatic cancer and it is not yet known how the pair will reappear, though the long-running soap has previous experience of surreal interludes involving dream sequences.
Congratulations – everybody needs good Neighbours!