Oh to live in a street like this (Neighbours)

Member Name: caz-3124

Product:	Neighbours
Date:	24/02/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good fun

Disadvantages: The ad break

Who hasn't heard of Neighbours the popular Australian soap which gave us some of our favourite celebrites as well as tea time entertainment? Neighbours first started in 1985 revolving around six houses and their occupants in a cul-de-sac called Ramsay Street in the fictional town of Erinsburgh. It has never been specified exactly where Erinsburgh is meant to be but sometimes things in the show are mentioned that hint to it being in the suburbs of Melbourne.

It is produced by FreeMantle Australia and broadcast on Channel 10 there. Here in the UK it was originally broadcast on BBC1 until a few months into last year when it moved to Channel 5. This was due to the fact that the BBC contract for Neighbours was up for renewal but FreeMantle were asking too much for it and the BBC felt that at such an extreme amount it wasn't worth taking up such a huge chunk of the licence fee. In fact, this was deemed such a turn of events that it was put on all the news bulletins that day. ITV bid too but Five won in the end. So it's been on there roughly a year now and I'm finally used to it. I dislike the breaks that now interrupt half way through the programme though I suppose it does give you a chance to grab a drink from the fridge or something. It runs Monday to Friday and takes breaks over Christmas and some Bank Holidays. We used to run two years I think behind Australia but because they take it off air more often we are now only 8 weeks behind.

Though the main focus point in Neighbours is the street we also see a lot of certain other places such as the local hospital, the General Store, Charlies, the school Erinsburgh High, the vets, the law practice and the garage and from time to time we will see a new location used for a while. In the past this has been the swimming pool, a burger bar and currently a gym.

So onto the characters. There's more younger cast in this soap than any other I think except perhaps Home and Away its rival. This may have something to do with the time the show goes out - 1.45pm and 5.30pm (though it also has early morning and digital repeats) when lots have kids have just got back from school. Obviously this also means no-one swears in Ramsay Street. So currently we have:

No.22 -
Paul - the baddie of the soap, editor of the local newspaper and involved in the Lassiters hotel complex
Elle - his daughter, a reporter, involved in Lassiters, co-owns General Store, not so popular with the female population of Ramsey Street, has a love-hate relationship with Lucas
Donna - new character who's seeing Ringo and spends her time with the rest of the girls on the street, often puts her foot in it

No.24 -
Rebecca - works as a secretary in Toadie's law firm
Declan - her son, Bridget's boyfriend, very into his football, hot-tempered
Carmella - co-owns the General Store, has baby daughter
Harold - gone travelling but occasionally pops back to say hi

No26 -
Steve - runs the vets, quick tempered, very protective of his family
Miranda - a calming influence on the family, Steve's wife, sometimes works as a cleaner
Bridget - their adopted daughter, currently seeing and pregnant by Declan
Mickey - the youngest of the household, rather cute, Steve's nephew
Lou - long-time worker in the General Store, likes his cheeky little scams, grandfather figure to Mickey

No.28 -
Karl - a doctor at the hospital, plays bad guitar, tight with money
Susan - his wife, retired teacher, suffers from MS, family-orientated, very supportive and caring
Zeke - step-son, very bright, a little geeky, normally quite moral, look out for his sister Rachel
Rachel - step-daughter, outgoing, popular with the boys, gets involved with scandals, currently dating Ty
Ringo - staying with the Kennedys for now, dating Donna, just recovered from an eating disorder, Declan's best mate, chilled

No.30 -
Toadie- a lawyer, brought up by Susan and Karl, loves wrestling, rather slobbish, looks after young kid Callum whose teacher he has a crush on
Callum - can be a bit of a handful
Daniel - teacher at the school, engaged to Libby, competes with his brother a lot

No.32 -
Steph - runs Charlies the bar, loves her motorcycles, feisty
Charlie - her little son
Libby - Karl & Susan's daughter, teacher at the school, engaged to Dan, has a young son from previous marriage
Ty - dating Rachel, works in the bar, loves playing in his band

Characters tend to be in the show a few years and then leave. A few exceptions are Lou, Harold, Susan and Karl. Long-standing favourites. Big names to have come out of Neighbours include singers Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue and actors Jesse Spencer, Russell Crowe and Alan Dale among others.

Storylines are pretty traditional; dating, pregnancies, crazy stalkers, teenage angst, battles against people in court, accidents, family problems, secrets from the past, both literal and human and so on. However unlike the grittier British soaps such as Eastenders, everything in Neighbours tends to work out okay in the end. That's one of the funny little things about Neighbours. Others include the way people move from house to house all the time until they've lived at almost all the addresses available, the way no-one ever closes their front door at all, that at the hospital the maternity unit, general appointments, and A&E are all contained within a few rooms, the fact that everyone spends a large part of their day in the General Store or Charlies, the fact that they only seem to have one classroom at Erinsburgh High and that whatever their ages, the kids of the street are all in the same lessons. You get the picture.

So yes you can't take it too seriously, don't expect high drama and you won't be disappointed. It's very comforting especially if you're in bed sick for the day or just got home from a hard day's work. It's light-hearted silly fun and that's why I love it.

Summary: Try it