On Wednesday afternoon, 10 got ready to farewell Neighbours with a lunch ahead of the final episode going to air on July 28. Held in Studio A of Fremantle’s Nunawading site in Melbourne, the guest list included cast and crew, as well as Channel 10 representatives and media.
Hosting the event was Angela Bishop, who began the proceedings by thanking guests for attending. Bishop then brought Neighbours EP Jason Herbison and 10’s head of drama and executive production Rick Maier up to the stage. The pair spoke about the legacy of Neighbours, but remained tight lipped about what the final episode would involve. Herbison would only give away that he wanted to make “all the viewers feel all the feels”.
Maier finished by saying that “Jason is the only person in the country who could do this show justice and put it to bed.”
Angela Bishop speaks to Jason Herbison and Rick Maier
Following Herbison and Maier, Bishop brought Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl Kennedy), Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy), Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson), and Ryan Moloney (Jarrod “Toadfish” Rebecchi) to the stage to speak about what the show meant to them.
When asked how he felt about the show wrapping up, Dennis replied “I don’t know how I feel. Maybe one day it will hit me.”
After joking that he’s still feeling the effects of the infamous Kennedy Slap (and laughing about the fact that it only took one take to get the shot), Fletcher spoke about how “Neighbours isn’t just about us, it’s about everybody who has ever been on this show.”
Moloney echoed the sentiment, after noting that he has spent more of his life on Neighbours than not: “The people who work here are the people who shaped me into who I am.”
Woodburne wrapped the panel up by saying that “We come in here every day and we are each other’s people, and how lucky we are that that happened.”
Ryan Moloney, Alan Fletcher, Stefan Dennis, Jackie Woodburne, and Angela Bishop
Before playing a montage of iconic Neighbours moments, Bishop gave the crowd some stats. In the almost 9000 episodes that have been filmed, audiences have seen the residents of Ramsay Street through:
• Over 100 kidnapping and hostage situations
• 35 natural disasters
• 115 car accidents
• 64 deaths
• 40 weddings (including the most recent between Mackenzie and Hendrix)
• 17 births
• Around 15 characters returning from the dead
Neighbours cast shot
Before embarking on the final Lot Tour of Erinsborough, Mediaweek caught up with actress Annie Jones (Jane Harris).
Speaking about what had changed on the show since she first stepped onto Ramsay Street in 1986, Jones says “Predominantly, it’s changed with the technology – it’s in a lot better focus than it used to be! There are digital cameras and the lighting got better, but the show has the same feel about it.”
Neighbours has kickstarted the careers of countless people in the television industry. Ultimately, that’s how Jones hopes the show is looked back on.
“I hope it’s remembered as a great Australian show that was the reason for a lot of people’s careers, both behind the scenes and on screen. It’s been an incredible training ground – many, many, many talented people have come through Neighbours.”
As the end nears for Neighbours after 37 years, Jones says that she will feel the space that it leaves.
“I’m really sad about it actually, on many levels. It’s an outright loss to the Australian television industry.”