Neighbours

Neighbours
Current Neighbours logo
Format	Soap opera
Created by	Reg Watson
Starring	See Cast section below
Theme music composer	Tony Hatch Theme music Jackie Trent Lyrics
Opening theme	See Theme song section below
Country of origin	Australia
No. of seasons	24
No. of episodes	5595 (as of 28 November 2008)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Reg Watson Peter Pinne Don Battye Ian Bradley Stanley Walsh Riccardo Pellizzeri Susan Bower
Producer(s)	John Holmes Philip East Marie Trevor Tony McDonald Margaret Slarke Mark Callan Alan Coleman Dave Worthington Sally-Anne Kerr Peter Dodds Neal Kingston
Running time	Approx 22 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network (1985) Network Ten (1986 - Present)
Picture format	PAL (18 March 1985 - present) 1080i (HDTV) (14 January 2008 - present)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	18 March 1985 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Neighbours is a long-running multiple Logie Award-winning Australian soap opera, which first aired in March 1985. The series follows the daily lives of several families who live in the six houses at the end of Ramsay Street, a short 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 young actors among 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.

The series is produced by FremantleMedia Australia, which was formed in January 2007^[1] by the merger of Grundy Television with Crackerjack Productions.

History and popularity

Through its entire run, Neighbours has screened as five 22-minute (excluding advertisement breaks) episodes a week, shown each week night in an early-evening slot. The 1985 season was broadcast on the Seven Network, at 5.30 p.m. in Sydney and at 6.30 p.m. in Melbourne and other regions. The Melbourne-produced programme had underperformed in the crucial Sydney market^[2] leading to the Seven Network cancelling the series at the end of that year. Neighbours was immediately picked up by the rival Network Ten.^[3][4] On Ten, it initially attracted low ratings.^[5] The Network worked hard to publicise the series;^[6] 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^[7] in a star-focused campaign recalling that of the Hollywood star system where stars were packaged to feed into a fan culture.^[8] This paid off for the series and by the end of 1987 it was attracting high ratings.^[9] Australian audiences waned considerably by the early 1990s,^[10] although viewing figures had recovered slightly by the end of the decade.^[11]

In the 2000s rival soap opera Home and Away emerged as more popular than Neighbours in Australia. Home and Away is broadcast there on the Seven Network at 7.00 p.m. Monday to Friday. As of 2004 Neighbours was regularly attracting just under a million viewers per episode,^[12] low for Australian prime time television. In 2007 Home and Away was averaging 1.4 million viewers in Australia to Neighbours' 700,000.^[13]

Neighbours is more popular in the UK, where it used to screen on BBC One usually attracting an average of 3 million viewers for its lunchtime showing and 2.6 million viewers for its evening repeat.^[14] It is frequently the highest-rating daytime programme in the UK, outside of news bulletins.^[15] In 2008 the UK broadcaster changed to rival channel Five from the 5331st episode. The episode received 2.2m (14.2% share) which was a drop of 300,000 on the BBC's average. However it boosted Five's usual share for the 5.30pm slot by 3 and a half times. Home and Away, broadcast directly afterwards on the same channel, received 1.4 m on the same evening. ^[16] Despite a resurgence in popularity in Australia, the shows ratings in the UK have declined. The 5:30 showing is currently averaging around 1.60 million, with a total of 3 million viewers tuning in each day across the 1:45, 5:30 and 7pm showings.

2007-2008 revamp

A major revamp of Neighbours occurred in 2007. In Australia the show's viewing figures had in early 2007 dropped to fewer than 700,000 a night and the attitudes among long term fans of the show to storylines were negative.^[17]

The revamp included a switch to recording the show in HDTV video, introducing a new family of characters, the departure of several existing characters, a new version of the show's familiar theme song and a new style of opening titles.^[18] In addition the use of titles for individual episodes was abandoned after being the norm for the previous three years. Daniel Bennett, the new head of drama at Network Ten, announced that the crux of the Ramsay Street story would go "back to basics" and follow a less sensational path than of late with the emphasis on family relations and suburban reality. These changes came into effect over several months in 2007; 23 July 2007 saw the introduction of the new theme music and graphics. Ratings for that episode averaged 1.05 million viewers in the 18:30 slot. It was the first time the programme's viewing figures topped 1 million in 2007.^[19] Neighbours was also made available for viewers to watch online via Network Ten's website.^[20]

By the end of 2007 it was reported that producers had hoped the Neighbours revamp would push the ratings up to between 900,000 to 1 million an episode. It had, however, resulted in a more modest boost, with ratings hovering at about 800,000 a night. The same viewing period had shown an increase in ratings for Home and Away, which was now averaging 1.4 million viewers every night.^[21]

In February 2008, new executive producer, Susan Bower, announced that she would be implementing further changes to the programme in a bid to keep it competitive and make it a social talking point once again. The argument she cited was that the highly publicised 2007 revisions promised much, but ultimately did not present themselves as a significant enough change. Bower promises to retain the return to traditional Neighbours values but with an injection of drama that remains recognisable and relevant. Ratings boosted to almost 900,000 in mid-2008, but generally ratings begin to fall towards the end of each year, usually averaging around 700,000, and the end of 2008 ratings are currently reflecting that.^[22]

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 show currently airs at 6.30pm, going up against rival current affairs shows Today Tonight on the Seven Network, and the Nine Network's A Current Affair. Ten HD broadcasts the previous week's episodes back to back from 2pm Sunday, and the Neighbours official Australian website allows the last five episodes to be viewed online^[23], as a part of Network Ten's Catch Up TV service^[24].

Previously, the 1985 season was broadcast on the Seven Network, at 5.30pm in Sydney and at 6.30pm 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 7.00pm, and from 1992 they have broadcast the show at 6.30pm.

Neighbours is on air for approximately 48 weeks per year. It is broadcast from early January to late December, and goes off air for three weeks during the Christmas/New Year break. Repeat episodes of the series were broadcast between 2000 and 2003. The 1988-1991 episodes were shown in this run in the 3.30pm timeslot, and later screened at 11:30am instead. The repeat run ceased in June 2003.

United Kingdom broadcasts

As of 2008, Neighbours is shown on two UK channels: Five and Fiver. Five and Fiver are currently behind Australia by 3 months (59 episodes). ^[26] .

History

The show began broadcasting in the UK on Monday 27 October 1986 on BBC One, where it quickly gained a cult following.

The BBC originally screened the programme from 1.25pm to 1.50pm, before moving it to 1.50pm and later to 1.40pm, with a repeat the next morning at 10.05am. The repeat episode was moved to 5.35pm on 4 January 1988 by controller Michael Grade on the advice of his daughter. In the late 1980s it regularly had a UK audience of over 18 million (from a total population of around 58 million), which was, at the time, a figure greater than the population of Australia.^[27]

On 2 November 1992 Neighbours began showing on the joint BBC and Thames Television satellite channel UK Gold which became UKTV Gold (now GOLD) from episode 1. In 1994 during Wimbledon, it was shown at 7.00pm.

The length of time between the Australian and terrestrial UK broadcasts decreased significantly from the original 18 months of 1986 due to Neighbours being taken off air at Christmas in Australia, whilst the series was originally broadcast every weekday year round on the BBC. As a result, from October 2000, the BBC frequently removed the show from its schedule during major events such as Wimbledon, Bank Holidays and Christmas.

Taking into account the duplication of viewers across its two UK showings a day, the show rated 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 acquisitions, rating higher than US programmes such as Desperate Housewives and Lost.

In July 2006, it was reported that the BBC planned to give 'first-look' Neighbours on the broadcaster's digital channel BBC Three in order to boost that channel's ratings. ^[28] however this never happened.

In April 2007, it was reported that ITV had made a bid of £80,000 per episode; an offer that valued Neighbours at over £20million a year. A contract between ITV and FremantleMedia was days away from completion, but could not be finalised due to issues regarding video on demand and broadband rights.^[29] 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.^[30].^[31] 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.^[32] On 5 May, it was reported that the BBC was set to drop out of bidding for the show, after FremantleMedia raised the price to £100,000 per episode following a bidding competition between ITV and Five.^[33]

On 18 May, then BBC One controller Peter Fincham announced on the One O'Clock News that the BBC had pulled out of negotiations for Neighbours due to the asking price of £300 million over eight years (three times the price previously paid by the BBC) and that it would end on BBC One during early 2008. The same day it was announced that RTL Media company Five had won the UK rights to broadcast the show.^[34]. Five then commissioned Talkback Thames to produce a documentary called Neighbours on Five which included interviews with cast members about their experiences on and off set and sneak previews of upcoming storylines.

On 1 December, the BBC confirmed that it would replace Neighbours with a new Sydney based soap from Southern Star Entertainment called Out of the Blue, of which it had ordered 130 episodes.^[35] On 26 November 2007 in anticipation of the loss of Neighbours, the afternoon showing was moved to 2.10pm and the internally produced soap Doctors was rescheduled in its place.

Neighbours ended on BBC One on 8 February 2008 with episode 5330 and began broadcasting on Five on 11 February 2008 with episode 5331, with an unprecedented number of screenings each day. Five began screening each episode at 1.45pm, then again at 5.30pm, and then again the following morning at 5.35am. Five also began a weekly omnibus edition on Saturday afternoons. In addition to this, Five's then digital sister channel Five Life also showed each episode each day at 7.00pm and then again the following morning at 9.00am, as well as a full weekly omnibus each weekend. From 28 April 2008, with the rebranding of Five Life to Fiver, Neighbours 9.00am showing was rescheduled to 10.00am. Currently, taking into consideration all Fiver's shows are repeated again an hour later on Fiver+1, each episode of Neighbours is screened a total of ten times by the company. In addition to these showings, Five's internet on-demand service Demand Five has episodes available to view for free at any time after the episode has aired for up to 2 months. Weight Watchers are the current sponsors of the programme.

On 6 November 2008 G.O.L.D.(formerly UKTV Gold) ended it's 16 years re-run of Neighbours after reaching 5330 episodes.

Other international broadcasts

Neighbours has long been broadcast by Television New Zealand and screens twice daily at 2.30pm and 5.00pm on TV2. It was initially broadcast by TVNZ when Neighbours started showing in New Zealand in 1988, but by 1996 it had been removed from the schedule. TV4 (now C4) picked it up and broadcast it from 1997 to 2000. They dropped it in 2000 and it returned to TV2 in 2002.New Zealand are currently a month behind Australia.

Neighbours is broadcast on Republic of Ireland TV network RTÉ at 1.55pm on RTÉ One, and repeated on RTÉ Two at 5.35pm. RTÉ are 60 episodes behind the Network Ten transmission.

Neighbours is broadcast in Belgium on the VRT at 5.30pm from Monday to Saturday. The show has been broadcast in Belgium since 1988; they are currently 321 episodes ^[36] (almost 17 months) behind Australian broadcasts.

In Kenya, Neighbours is broadcast on the KTN network at 12.30pm, Monday to Friday with an omnibus on Sunday mornings. They are approximately three years behind Australia. Neighbours is also broadcast in Barbados on CBC8, Monday to Friday. They are approximately four years behind Australia. In Catalonia, the first 1518 episodes were dubbed into Catalan and broadcast in the regional TV channel TV3 as Veïns from 1989 to the mid-1990s. The show was also broadcast in Galicia, dubbed in the Galician language.

The show is broadcast in Iceland on Stöð 2 at 12:45 and 5:53 pm from Monday to Friday, with an omnibus at 12:25 on Sundays. These broadcasts are approximately 10 months behind Australia.

In March 2008, Neighbours began a temporary run on the Norwegian TV channel NRK3, which is the first time Neighbours has been broadcast in Norway since it was cancelled by TV3. Episode 5261 was the first to screen on NRK3, which is airing episodes eight months behind Australia.^[37]

Neighbours has been screened in Israel on Channel 23 since April 2008 .

Former broadcasts

The show has also been sold to television networks in many other countries. In the Summer of 1991 WWOR in New York City aired late 1980s episodes of Neighbours in the late afternoons. Episodes from 1999 were broadcast for a six-week trial basis on the American channel Oxygen in March 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 anemic ratings from the first broadcast; 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 broadcast 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 was broadcast 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 broadcast 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.

In Germany, episodes from the years 1985 through 1989 ran on the SAT.1 daytime schedule from October 1989 to August 1993.

Neighbours was also broadcast in Cyprus, on the PIK network.

Storylines

Main article: Storylines of Neighbours

Cast

See also: List of Neighbours characters

Current cast members

See also: Current characters of Neighbours

Recurring cast members

See also: Recurring characters of Neighbours

Upcoming cast changes

Notable cast members

A number of actors have either started their career or used it as a springboard to further success. These include

• Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Isabelle Hoyland)
• Alan Dale (Jim Robinson)
• Kimberley Davies (Annalise Hartman)
• Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson)
• Delta Goodrem (Nina Tucker)
• Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Willis)
• Stephanie McIntosh (Sky Mangel)
• Angus McLaren (Jamie Clarke)
• Kylie Minogue (Charlene Robinson)
• Guy Pearce (Mike Young)
• Jesse Spencer (Billy Kennedy)
• Holly Valance (Felicity Scully)

Celebrity guest appearances

Shane Connor's dismissal

After being fired from the series in 2003, former cast member Shane Connor (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.^[42] 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.^[43] Connor is now living in the UK, where he is appearing in commercials and makes appearances at university students' unions.

Locations

See also: Erinsborough

View of Pin Oak Court, Vermont South, the filming location used to represent the fictional Ramsay Street in Neighbours

Neighbours is recorded in Melbourne. Interior scenes are taped at the Global Television studios in Forest Hill, Victoria in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. These studios were previously the Network Ten Nunawading studios, used frequently by Fremantle (then Reg Grundy). External scenes of the building and its grounds have been used in several TV series, including Neighbours, but perhaps most notably as the fictional setting for Grundy's Prisoner. 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 is used for outdoor taping to represent the fictional Ramsay Street. This location has been used since Neighbours began and is a popular tourist haunt. In the story Ramsay Street is situated in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough. Throughout most of the series' run it was not emphatically stated which city of Australia the suburb was set in. Occasionally evidence appears on screen and in dialogue that suggests that Erinsborough is a suburb of Melbourne. In 1996 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 to Melbourne), there have been several guest appearances by AFL players, and Melbourne landmarks and features can be identified in some scenes outside of Ramsay Street. In 2004, Libby Kennedy was seen travelling from Adelaide back to Melbourne, and she made reference to this fact when she bumped into Rocco Cammeniti in a country hospital. In a July 2007 episode where Janelle Timmins evaluates visits to her children now residing in Queensland she explicitly names her current residence as being in "Melbourne". Since the revamp episodes began airing in July 2007, several references have been made to the Parker family moving to Melbourne from Queensland. These episodes have also been presented with a new titles sequence which clearly makes use of the Melbourne city skyline and the Yarra River.

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 such as Colac and Shepparton, and other real Australian locations such as Oakey in Queensland.

Filming in the United Kingdom

Neighbours' second UK-shot storyline was broadcast in Australia during the weeks commencing 19 and 26 March 2007 and was broadcast in the UK in late May/early 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 by a priest played by Neil Morrissey. This story also featured many celebrity cameos such as Emma Bunton, Jo Whiley, Michael Parkinson, Jonathan Coleman, Julian Clary and Sinitta.

Theme song

The Neighbours theme music was written by Tony Hatch with lyrics by his then wife, Jackie Trent. Since 1985 there have been six distinctly different renditions of the theme broadcast on television. They were sung by the following artists:

Depending on the broadcaster, each theme has received various edits for timing purposes, the most edited versions being broadcast by the BBC in the UK. To begin with this was due to the fact the BBC could not broadcast the advertising featured at the end of Neighbours credit roles but more recently it was also due to a 30 second timing restriction imposed on all programming. ^[44]. Other broadcasters have usually shown the credits uncut leaving the theme song at its original length.

Version 1

The full closing theme of version one that was attached to Seven Network-commissioned episodes received a few edits following the # day #, # away #, # blend # and # friends # climaxes when it was shown on the BBC, but was left untouched in the rest of the world. When Network Ten episodes aired on the BBC the full uncut version was used.

Version one was released in 1988 as a single, charting at #84 and remaining on the chart for 5 weeks.^[45] This version contained the full closing theme and the last verse being repeated twice. The opening also featured a guitar section, as well as additional piano chords (which was also heard in 1990 often during the pre-titles episode recap)

Version 2

The opening theme of version two changed frequently. From the introduction of the revised song until mid-way through 1990 there was a full length opening song, however, mid-way through 1990 this changed to a 10-second instrumental piece with two primary instruments, a Harmonica and an Electric Piano, used in the first episode shown on Channel 7. This was used for a few weeks before being replaced by a vocal version of the same short piece. This lasted until version three of the theme debuted in May 1992.

Version 3

Version three used a jazzy, funky 23 second opening song. This was arranged by Peter Sullivan, debuted in 1992 essentially as a re-record of the 1989 Barry Crocker theme with Melbourne-based singer Greg Hind. Its closing theme differed significantly from the previous two arrangements in that it concentrated solely on repeating the second verse of the song to make up the song's length, thus discarding lyrics such as # Just a friendly wave each morning... # and # Next door is only a footstep away #. This song was heavily edited and used as a revised opening theme from part-way through the 1995 season onwards, and was adopted as the BBC's closing theme from 1995.

Version 4

Version four, arranged by music director / screen composer Chris Pettifer, debuted in 1999 essentially as a re-record of the 1992 theme with two Melbourne-based singers Wendy Stapleton and Paul Norton. Pettifer changed it to a more rock & roll key to suit the vocalists and introduced overdriven electric guitar, giving it a rockier feel. The opening theme reverted to 23 seconds and replaced # Everybody needs good neighbours # with # Should be there for one another #. Once again there was a shortened closing theme for UK transmission. One of the major changes made to the theme heard in Australia during this era was the removal of the repeated backing vocal # That's when good... # from mid-2000 onwards, although this remained on episodes broadcast outside of Australia and the UK.

Version 5

Version five was launched in 2002 and once again a shorter piece of closing music was edited for the UK market, with the rest of the world using the same 76 second variant. This was sung by Janine Maunder and arranged by Steve Wade. The opening and closing songs followed the same lyrical and verse arrangement introduced in 1992. In the show's 20th anniversary episode broadcast, The song was reduced to an instrumental in the end credits so past characters who made cameos would be audible when they made parting messages.

In 2006 a very slightly remixed version of the same closing theme debuted. The intention was for all territories to begin transmitting the same 45 second version at the end of their episodes, however UK broadcasts retained the previous 35 second arrangement for a few weeks until they received a newer batch of episodes with the revised theme attached. Despite a brief period of uniformity, by mid-2006 the BBC had requested further edits to be made to their version of the song to bring it back down to 35 seconds. Australia then reverted to an almost full length track, albeit with minor edits at various sections to keep running time to 55 seconds, whilst other markets, including New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland, continued to receive the original 45 second arrangement launched at the start of 2006. This meant that for over a year between 2006-2007 there were three different edits of the closing theme tune being broadcast around the world as well as three different closing credits designs to accompany them.

Despite the many edits made to the 2002-2007 closing song, the opening theme remained unchanged for the duration at 23 seconds.

Version 6

A new version of the theme tune sung by Sandra de Jong debuted in Australia on 23 July 2007 as part of a revamp of the show. This was arranged by Neighbours Music Director, Chris Pettifer and song writer - producer Adrian Hannan. The opening song is longer than in recent years at 29 seconds and is also notable for re-introducing # Everybody needs good neighbours # to the opening song after an eight year absence. The full edition of the closing theme continues to solely use the second verse of the Neighbours song, as has been the case since 1992. The new version does not repeat the verse however, using instead a repetitive technique applied to the # That's when good neighbours become good friends # line and an additional instrumental piece to make up the theme's length which remains unchanged at 55 seconds. For the 2008 season onwards, Australian TEN episodes were followed by a shorter 18 second instrumental arrangement of the new theme tune, accompanying shortened closing credits on Monday-Thursday episodes. Friday episodes transmit with the full closing sequence. In the UK the 18 second closing credits were adopted as of episode of 5331 for all episodes broadcast, including Fridays and omnibuses, whilst New Zealand and Ireland currently follows the playout arrangement used by Australia.

Sombre version

A sombre piano version of the theme is reserved to close episodes surrounding the death of long-standing or original characters. In the early years, it was often used for tender moments. This version has accompanied a relevant photo montage during the closing credits, starting in 1992 with Todd Landers, in the episode after his death, and was used again for the deaths of Jim Robinson and Helen Daniels. Madge Bishop also received the sad theme tune over the regular 2001 season closing sequence. A montage of clips featuring Madge during her final year (since the show had started filming in 16:9 widescreen) were shown in the recap of the next episode.

DVD releases

Awards

The programme is the fourth most successful series in the history of the Logie Awards, having won 22 Logies. It sits behind such programmes as Home and Away (31 Logies) and Blue Heelers (25 Logies). Winners of the Logies are listed below:

Criticism

Neighbours has been criticised by academics and politicians due to that its cast does not reflect the actual demography of Australian society. The casting of Neighbours has been likened to the White Australia Policy as opposed to British and New Zealand soap operas such as Shortland Street, EastEnders and Coronation Street which have casted actors from ethnic minorities successfully for years. ^[46]

References

External links

• Neighbours: The Official Site
• Neighbours at Network Ten
• Neighbours at TV.com
• Neighbours at the Internet Movie Database
• The Official Neighbours Night
• The Official Tour Site
• Weekly episode and picture guide (UK screenings) and cast interviews