17/03/2025

Aerial shot of houses in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

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Neighbours: 40 years of good friends

Rose Mulready

On 18 March 1985, the first episode of Neighbours aired on Channel 7. After a rocky start – it was dropped after only a few months before being picked up by Channel 10 – it went on to become a cultural phenomenon, winning die-hard fans in Australia and a huge following in the UK. It’s currently the longest-running Australian drama series in history. Scott and Charlene’s wedding, the culmination of its most beloved romance, attracted millions of viewers world-wide, and the program served as a launching pad for some of Australia’s top celebrities.

Neighbours’ 40th year will also be its last. Or will it? After a lavish, emotional finale in 2022, which drew back several of its most famous alumni for farewell performances, the show pulled a classic soap move and came back from the dead, revived in 2023 by Channel 10 and Amazon. However, it was recently announced that its last episodes will air in December 2025. We take a look at the beginning of Neighbours and the pilot episode, which aired in 1985.

A nightmare beginning

Neighbours was the brainchild of producer Reg Grundy, also responsible for Sons and Daughters and The Young Doctors. Its pilot episode begins with a nightmare. Horror-movie tropes like mist, looming headlights and spooky synth may have had its first audiences wondering if they had the right channel. One by one, the characters of Ramsay Street get out of their cars and laugh at Danny (David Clencie), who is having the dream – an offbeat way to introduce the cast. Danny’s night terrors are just one strand of the episode, most of which concerns the cancelled wedding of Des Clarke (Paul Keane) and Lorraine Kingham (Antoinette Byron).

Introducing Ramsay Street

In the opening scene, following the prologue of Danny’s nightmare and subsequent doctor’s appointment, we hear a stripped-back version of the famous theme song (which was eventually released as a single and even as sheet music). Danny rides his bike into Ramsay Street, where most of the characters live, and we meet members of the Robinson, Clarke and Ramsay families, including Helen (Anne Haddy, who would remain a cast member for over a decade) and Scott – played here by Darius Perkins, who was soon replaced by fan favourite Jason Donovan. It’s an introduction to the village atmosphere of the show that would form the heart of its appeal – the dream of a suburbia where everyone was in and out of each other’s houses and formed tight bonds.

Excerpt from Neighbours, episode 1. Broadcast on the Seven Network, 18 March 1985. NFSA title: 529727

He's dropped

Later in the episode, while Des and his mates cavort at his bachelor party, Lorraine and her bridesmaid Julie (Vikki Blanche) discuss the groom over hot chocolate. Julie, one of Des’ exes, plants a few poison seeds in Lorraine’s mind (beginning with ‘He isn’t really a spunk, is he?’) that will lead her to cancel the wedding the next day. The scene is ambiguous: is Julie deliberately derailing her bestie’s big day, or is she just tone-deaf? As she insouciantly pulls out her Lady Jayne side combs and settles down on her pillow, she could be innocently anticipating her happy future as Des and Lorraine’s good neighbour – or relishing the results of her poison arrows.

Excerpt from Neighbours, episode 1. Broadcast on the Seven Network, 18 March 1985. NFSA title: 529727

Over the next four decades, Neighbours served up the usual soapie fare – weddings, pregnancies, car crashes, amnesia, fires – with a side order of soothing suburban mundanity. We wish it many happy reruns.

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Main image: Aerial shot of suburban Melbourne, iStock. Photographer: Peter Virag

Neighbours