Neighbours

The Australian soap has kept me hooked since 1986, becoming a major part of my daily existence – even when I didn't have a TV signal.

Then, dear reader, I actually found myself on Ramsay Street. I was invited to Australia to appear at literary festivals and, half-jokingly, I agreed on the understanding that I would get to visit the set of Neighbours. And I did. Centred on Ramsay Street, the Lassiters hotel complex, and the lives of the Ramsays and the Robinsons (think Jim Robinson and mother-in-law Helen Daniels), it was soon a must-watch for students in the UK because – despite being watched “ironically”, however one does that – it had young people at its heart. I’d stop work, make a sandwich and watch Neighbours. Very quickly, I was hooked on my TV “good friends”. So was fellow children’s author, Philip Pullman. Across this green and pleasant land people were tuning in and falling under its spell. But, wandering the banks of Lassiters lake, we were also in the company of Harold and Madge, Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy, “Toadfish” Rebecchi and more. Here was a show that was on BBC One twice a day; lunchtime and a repeat in the late afternoon. This was when Netflix was but a twinkle in Reed Hastings’s eye and a “streaming service” was probably a water-feature option offered by landscape gardeners.

Neighbours executive producer Jason Herbison has opened up on the soap ending for good and the one finale he would never consider.

"I feel very strongly that the end must equally be a celebration of the current cast. I would never, ever blow it up," he told TV Tonight. It was recently announced that Channel 5 would no longer air the Australian series from this coming summer.

No broadcaster has been found to air the long-running Australian soap - which launched the careers of stars including Kylie and Margot Robbie - after ...

Kylie wrote on Twitter: "I'll be forever grateful for the experience & the friends I made on @neighbours. We had no idea how big the show would become and how passionately viewers would take it to heart. Kylie Minogue has paid tribute to Neighbours - the show that made her famous - after it was confirmed it will stop production in June, after 37 years on our screens. No broadcaster has been found to air the long-running Australian soap - which launched the careers of stars including Kylie and Margot Robbie - after Channel 5 dropped it from its schedules.