Celebrate Neighbours turning 35 with our A-Z guide to the iconic Aussie soap

NEIGHBOURS is the UK’s ultimate guilty pleasure. Thirty five years after the Aussie soap first aired, we’re still fascinated by what’s going on in Ramsay Street.

To mark the special anniversary, here is our A-Z guide to give you a little understanding of how the show managed to steal our hearts.

Angry Anderson

The Aussie band’s power ballad Suddenly is the greatest TV wedding song of all time. It managed to overshadow Charlene Mitchell’s wedding dress, Scott Robinson’s mullet and Harold and Madge Bishop blubbing. Nearly 20million people watched the childhood sweethearts marry in 1988 and every one of those viewers still has the epic song stuck in their head.

Bouncer

As soap pets go, you don’t get much bigger than this Labrador retriever. He called the emergency services to save Madge from a fire, has survived several road accidents and fathered two litters. But his greatest moment was his own storyline, dubbed Bouncer’s Dream, in which he imagined marrying Rosie, the border collie who lived next door.

Celebrity cameos

Bagging one of these on Ramsay Street is a career highlight for some, especially in the case of Lily Allen in 2009. Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys popped in in 1995 to ask pensioner Helen Daniels directions to a music studio and Clive James played a postie a year later. Matt Lucas and David Walliams, as Little Britain duo Lou and Andy, had a random walk-on part in 2007.

Daphne's death

For many young fans, this was their first big tear-jerker. Loveable Daphne Clarke was left in a coma for months after a car crash while on her way to her dad’s funeral in 1988. With husband Des, the father of her young son Jamie, at her bedside, she woke briefly to say: “I love you too, Clarkey” before having a fatal cardiac arrest.

Erinsborough

The fictional suburb in Australia where the soap is set is a clever anagram of Neighbours. As well as Ramsay Street, key places in the area include the Coffee Shop (renamed Harold’s Cafe), Erinsborough High and Carpenter’s Mech­anics (now Fitzgerald Motors). It is only in recent years writers have confirm­­ed Erinsborough is a suburb of Melbourne, rather than Sydney.

Face transplant

The show was a pioneer of face-changing characters, with Lucy Robinson the poster girl. Over six years, three actresses played the part, each noticeably different in looks. But the most famous change was that of Cheryl Stark. After actress Caroline Gillmer fell ill, Colette Mann — five years her senior and half the size — stepped in for eight weeks until her return. On-screen husband Lou Carpenter didn’t even flinch.

Grundy, Reg (creator)

Known as “the father of Australian television”, the TV producer created the soap in the 1980s with his company’s head of drama, Reg Watson, on the back of his other success story, Prisoner: Cell Block H. British audiences were also familiar with his gameshows, which included Going For Gold, presented here by Henry Kelly.

Harold Bishop

The tuba- playing, tee-total, veggie coffee shop boss who came back from the dead in 1996. Harold, played by Ian Smith, vanished during a coastal walk with Madge but it turned out he was swept out to sea and picked up by a trawler, suffering amnesia in the process. His return five years later was a genuine shock in the pre-spoiler era. He stayed for the following 13 years, making further cameos in 2011 and 2015.

Infidelity

Like any soap, the main characters in Neighbours have a tendency to stray from their partners. The biggest culprit in Ramsay Street is super-smooth doctor and father of three Karl Kennedy, who had romances with stunning receptionist Sarah Beaumont and flirty neighbour Izzy Hoyland — both of whom were far younger than his headmistress wife Susan. Somehow Karl and Susan, who joined the soap in 1994, are now remarried.

Jim Robinson

The original Neighbours dad, played by Alan Dale, who shocked diehard fans by starring in blockbuster US dramas 24 and the West Wing following his long spell on Ramsay Street. It’s likely his new casting bosses didn’t check out his death scene in 1993, which is one of the least convincing heart attacks in soap history. He left on bad terms, falling out with bosses over pay and claiming they made him “miserable”.

Kylie Minogue

The show’s breakout star and undoubtedly the best looking female mechanic ever to appear on TV. Kylie was only in the soap for two years but she will be forever associated with tomboy Charlene and her on and off-screen relationship with co-star Jason Donovan, who played husband Scott. Record label Stock Aitken Waterman exploited her popularity on the soap and turned her into a chart-topping singer.

Lassiters

The shopping and hotel complex in Erinsborough has been a focal point of the soap from its first episode. It’s been involved in its fair share of drama too, having been blown up twice, the latest in 2016, when three characters perished. Lassiters Lake has also been a regular place for reflection for Neighbours characters.

Mrs Mangel

A huge killjoy, she managed to carve herself out as the soap’s villain by being a massive grump. Her constant moaning about noise levels and gossiping to fellow Ramsay Street residents made her an unpopular figure outside the soap as well as in. The actress who played her, Vivean Gray, quit after two years in 1988, tired of abuse she was getting from fans for her character ruining everyone’s fun.

Naked (Henry Ramsay locked out of house)

Usually you have to wait after 9pm to see nudity on TV but Neighbours wasn’t so shy. In 1988, ex-jailbird Henry Ramsay, played by Craig  McLachlan, found himself locked out of girlfriend Bronwyn’s house in just a towel, which got caught in a door. Henry was then forced to run naked across Ramsay Street to his house, baring his backside to millions of viewers.

Original cast member

Stefan Dennis is the Ken Barlow of Neighbours, having made his debut in the first episode in 1985. Playing businessman Paul Robinson, he’s been a teacher, mayor, air crew, newspaper editor, motel owner and prop­erty developer during his time on Ramsey Street, which has also seen him marry six times, have countless affairs, father seven kids and have his leg amputated. No wonder he needed an 11-year break halfway through.

Plain Jane superbrain

Never has a character so drama­t­ically transformed just by removing their glasses. In a bid to im­press Mike Young — Hollywood star Guy Pearce’s breakout role — straight-A student Jane Harris ditched her geeky image by glamming up. The character, played by Annie Jones, made a shock return to Ramsay Street in 2018, 32 years after first appearing.

Queuing round the block

During the Neighbours boom in the early Nineties, British talent agents made themselves and cast members serious money by bringing them to the UK for nightclub appearances and panto. The soap’s stars regularly made more money in a month than the soap paid them in a year. Surfer hunk Scott ­Michaelson was particularly popular with British fans. He played Brad Willis when the character tied the knot with Natalie Imbruglia’s Beth Brennan.

Rack off!

What happens when you can’t swear pre-watershed? You make up your own curse words. Being told to “rack off” in Neighbours was a badge of honour, likewise being told lame excuses were a load of “bull crap”. Honourable mentions also go to “ya Dag” and “you spigging moran”. You could also get away with saying “spunk” in Neighbours it is slang for good-looking man.

Superstars

It turns out ordering a milkshake from Harold Bishop is the first step in the ladder to an Oscar nomination. I, Tonya and Wolf Of Wall Street actress Margot Robbie played Donna Freedman for three years from 2008 and Hunger Games hunk Liam Hemsworth starred as wheelchair-bound Josh Taylor for ten months in 2007. Oscar winner Russell Crowe sported an incredible mullet as Kenny Larkin for four episodes in 1987.

Toadfish

Neighbours stalwart Jarrod “Toadfish” Rebecchi was involved in another of the soap’s most baffling storylines when he accidentally drove his car off a cliff and into the sea on his wedding day in 2003. His wife and passenger Dee’s body was never found but the actress who played her, Madeleine West, returned in 2016 playing Andrea Somers, who tries to impersonate Dee to swindle money from her estate. In 2019 Madeleine reprised her role as Dee to confront Andrea, who she also continued to play.

Ute

Before Neighbours, no one here knew what a ute — utility vehicle — was but most Ramsay Street residents had the half car/half van on their drive, especially if they were called Joe, with both Mangel and Scully dads owning one. You couldn’t go five episodes without somebody ordering someone to “chuck it in the ute” before driving off. Unsurprisingly, the ute was involved in most of the high number of car crashes in the soap.

Viewers

Reaching the highs of Charlene and Scott’s wedding day is almost impossible these days, but Neighbours still brings in a healthy 500,000 daily fans, with many more tuning in on catch-up. The soap moved from BBC1 to Channel 5 in 2008. And students or those on sick leave can still achieve the golden double, watching the same episode at lunchtime and teatime.

Waterhole

Every soap has a boozer and the Waterhole has witnessed some great rows and scuffles, despite beer being served in those ridiculously small glasses. Like the Lassiters Hotel, it’s also been blown up, nearly killing off one of the soap’s best characters, Beth Brennan. The pub saw several name changes over the years but reverted to its original title in 2014.

X -rated

Act­ress Emma Harrison’s glamour shoots were found on the top shelf after she posed for Playboy. The blonde, who played Joanna Hartman, got paid a huge sum to strip off for the mag, and record a special for Playboy TV, in a bid to lose her good-girl image born from the soap. She went on to pose for British lads’ mags including FHM, Loaded and Maxim.

Youth

You won’t find a younger cast in soapland than Neighbours, with many of the biggest storylines coming out of Erinsborough High. In 2010 writers even introduced a university campus. Having a young cast means the soap can feature big-hitting issues such as teen pregnancy, drug use and LGBT matters to their teen demographic.

Zombie apocalypse

In 2014 Ramsay Street took Halloween to new levels by introducing a spin-off web series which saw ­previously dead characters return as zombies. Stingray Timmins (Ben Nicholas), Harold’s son David (Kevin Harrington) and bad boy Robbo Slade (Aaron Jakubenko) came back with devastating consequences in Neighbours vs. Zombies.

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