Pass the tissues! After 37 years, Neighbours is officially ending. Despite an outpouring of love, a passionate fan campaign and attempts by production company Fremantle to find a new broadcaster, the soap will conclude later this year.
For a show that's defied the odds so many times before, it is a huge shame to see Neighbours end its run, but fans have been promised that the soap will receive the send-off it deserves.
So, as we celebrate Neighbours on its 37th birthday today (March 18), let's look back and see how this legendary programme changed not only the soap genre, but the TV landscape as whole during its time on our screens.
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1. It popularised more episodes per week
When Neighbours hit UK screens in 1986, it's fair to say that the five weekly instalments may have come as a bit of a shock to viewers. It's hard to believe now, but when Neighbours premiered, Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale all only aired two episodes per week.
This increased level of commitment to stay up to date with the goings-on in Erinsborough could well have been off-putting to viewers, particularly in an era where it wasn't as simple as catching up with on-demand services.
Of course, Neighbours was a huge hit, and after proving that it wasn't just a flash-in-the-pan fad, the other soaps gradually took notice, with Coronation Street introducing a third episode in 1989, EastEnders in 1994 and Emmerdale in 1997. Further increases in output followed for the UK soaps beyond that.
Would our TV schedules look the same today if Neighbours hadn't proved there was an appetite for more soap? It's doubtful.
2. It ushered in an era of youth-focused soap
Now we don't want to generalise, but for many years, soaps were not a young person's game. That's not to say that younger characters weren't present, but at the forefront of the show? Rarely.
Enter Neighbours with its bright, young attractive cast of teens and 20-somethings. Characters like Scott, Charlene and Jane were every bit the equal of the likes of Jim, Madge and Mrs Mangel.
Neighbours' multi-generational approach was key to its success and there's no denying it was unlike anything on British soap at that time.
Flashforward to the '90s and beyond and the needle had moved forever. The soap heartthrob had been established and become a genre staple and an influx of young characters began to pull focus. Look at Corrie alone, with characters like Nick, Leanne and Sarah leading stories and becoming faces of the show.
Neighbours' huge success with younger audiences was impossible to ignore and for Phil Redmond, who had spent years trying to get a British youth-focused soap off the ground, the time was right.
Ahead of Hollyoaks' launch in 1995, Redmond made a point about the lack of a youth-focused soap on British TV, quoted as saying: "We haven't got one. Why do we just have to have the Australian stuff?"
Well, we wouldn't put it quite like that, but the success of that "Australian stuff" could well be the reason Hollyoaks exists and continues to thrive today.
3. It paved the way for other long-running dramas in Australia
Clocking in at 37 years, Neighbours is Australia's longest running soap, but prior to the show, the idea of any drama having such a lengthy run was a foreign concept on Australian television.
Looking back at all of Australia's hit soaps: Sons & Daughters, The Young Doctors, Prisoner – they all tapped out at under a decade on screens. Only A Country Practice survived longer, with 14 years before its cancellation.
Largely due to Neighbours' huge success abroad, the show was too much of a money-maker to bite the dust the minute the ratings began to slide. So, instead of cutting their losses, Channel 10 revamped and retooled the soap several times over the last three decades to ensure its survival.
Neighbours' success as a long-running TV institution paved the way for Home and Away's similarly long run over the last 30+ years. Without Neighbours proving there was value in persevering, both soaps may well have found themselves in the Australian TV graveyard a long time ago.
4. It broke new ground for LGBTQ+ representation in Australia
For UK viewers, particularly in the last 15 to 20 years, our soaps have had many LGBTQ+ characters at the forefront but the same could not be said for our Australian soap counterparts.
And while representation in Neighbours may not always have been perfect, there's no denying it's been an absolute trailblazer in recent years on Australian TV.
Under executive producer Jason Herbison, Neighbours broke boundaries when it aired Australian TV's first ever same-sex wedding in 2018. At the time, Herbison wrote in a piece for The Huffington Post that "until recently, our [LGBTQ+ community] own love stories haven't been told, out of fear of offending some of the viewing audience".
That fear was cast aside with David and Aaron's wedding: a celebration of an iconic Neighbours romance, and an episode every bit as special as that Scott and Charlene moment.
In 2019, cast and crew from Neighbours took part in Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, with a Ramsay Street-themed float, shooting scenes for the soap.
The special moment, described as a thank-you to the LGBTQ+ audience by Fremantle, made it clear that this was no longer Mrs Mangel's conservative Neighbours of old but modern, diverse and representative of contemporary life and viewers.
2019 also saw the introduction of Mackenzie Hargreaves, which marked another landmark moment for the soap as the show's first ever trans character.
While Mackenzie may not be the first trans character on Australian soap (Number 96 featured a trans character for a guest stint in the 1970s), trans representation is still rare.
Actress Georgie Stone works closely with producers and scriptwriters to ensure that Mackenzie's story is portrayed authentically and it's refreshing to see trans people helping to create and tell trans stories.
At the time of her casting, Georgie told the Herald Sun about what the opportunity meant to her and a trans audience: "There was no-one on Australian TV screens, on any TV screens really, that had a positive depiction of a trans person, specifically a trans young person.
"There was no one who I could connect to and I felt quite isolated because of that, so that is why I am so excited about this opportunity."
Viewers have followed Mackenzie's journey since her arrival as she has travelled a path never seen before on Neighbours. Storylines such as Mackenzie undergoing her gender confirmation surgery and navigating her sexual identity with Richie and Hendrix are important firsts for the soap.
As for the rest of the time? Mackenzie is treated like every other teenage girl, experiencing the typical trials and tribulations of teenage life but through a trans lens – and that is truly ground-breaking television.
5. It helped remove the soap-star stigma
It comes as no surprise when we say that there can be a bit of snobbery when it comes to soap stars. And for a long time, any soap actor that decided to pursue further opportunities was met with an eye-roll.
So, to say that loads of Neighbours alumni have had success after the show is a bit of an understatement at this point. You don't need us to list the former stars who are working consistently in film and TV since their departures from the soap, but what's notable is the open gratitude many have to Neighbours and the experience it offered.
Guy Pearce tweeted he'd "always appreciate this incredible opportunity" when he celebrated 35 years since he began filming and Margot Robbie credited Neighbours as a "brilliant training ground" that prepared her for Hollywood during an appearance on Lorraine.
Not only have these stars proved that 'soap actors' are every bit as talented as any other, but that finding success in other mediums is a realistic prospect.
Soap as a genre is a fantastic breeding ground for new and upcoming talent and the continued success of former Neighbours stars shows that the larger acting world is taking notice.
6. It led the way forward for TV and film production during the pandemic
Warning, pandemic discussion incoming. When COVID-19 hit the world at large in early 2020, Neighbours, much like life itself, was put on hold. Production shut down on March 27and despite optimistic hopes that it would initially be for two weeks, that wasn't the case.
Cue the surprise when Neighbours announced it would resume production in late April becoming one of, if not the first television dramas in the English-speaking world to try and get back on track after the onset of the virus.
Camera trickery, no physical contact, crew members doubling as extras, and splitting cast and crew into smaller bubbles were just some of the methods employed to ensure that Neighbours could resume filming, while keeping cast and crew safe.
At the time, Fremantle Media's chief exec Chris Oliver-Taylor admitted: "It's going to look a bit odd. [But] Neighbours is a show that can get away with it. It's important we continue to produce a show that reaches millions of people in the UK and a significant audience in Australia."
The show's return to filming even made impact worldwide, with a piece in The New York Times suggesting that Neighbours' filming safety protocols could show "a way forward for the struggling entertainment industry". Even in the middle of a worldwide crisis, Neighbours found a way to innovate and blaze a trail.
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.
Read more Neighbours spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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