Brilliant article!

Sorry, terrible "actor" and terrible character employed to try and get his millions of followers to watch him in Neighbours... except he didn't ever promote the show on his social media once...

There's always Karl and Susan to fall back on to, plus anyone who was there when she briefly returned last time (Paul?) and she established a kinship with, like she claimed of Madge who she never was even in the show at the same time with, so and handful of episodes to get to know them, no problem ☺️

It's what episode summaries that Amazon let slip out early seem to be suggesting. Well, that she's back anyway, whether she's involved with Lassiters (or Eirini) who knows...

I'm betting on a really popular female 90s character (especially amongst the heterosexual male viewers) who has been back in the show only once after her original stint, and that was nearly 20 years ago...

Flippin' heck, if you've given up on it, it really does feel like the end of days...

He's an IT guy, so presumably he changed them wherever the data was recorded

Then a few years later they had to bring Madge and Harold back (Harold who went missing at sea, presumed perished) to save the show and give it a ratings boost!

Still clumsily overdubbing the original incidental music and therefore ruining the feel of the episodes as originally broadcast I see.

Absolutely beautiful exit for Harold in #Neighbours today, so poignant but also full of joy with the flashbacks to past characters, especially Madge and the sublime Mrs Mangel. What a wonderful character he has been and how wonderful Ian Smith has been playing him.

I suspected as much! Hope there will be a book from someone else who also knows their stuff in that case, it's time for one.

You did a fantastic job. Looking forward to the Joe Julians "40 Years of Neighbours" book instead... 😉

Stick with it. It was more Trek than Discovery ever was

It's only that in the UK, they obviously wanted American viewers and didn't get them 😢

Another platform might be interested (we know some were last time), but it does seem like Amazon aren't happy with it just being the top rated show on their platform in the UK but not anywhere else, unfortunately. Yes 40 years is momentous though and it has been great to reach that landmark.

It's usually the top or second highest rated show on Amazon in the UK every week actually, so it has worked as far as the UK is concerned. It hasn't once made the top 10 on US Amazon though which may be why Amazon have allegedly decided not to renew.

It was enough to make Mrs Mangel's portrait fall off the wall again 😂

No they didn't. It may have been Luxton and District in the TV series, but it was Town and District in the first two films (and presumably the pre-holiday camp sequence in Holiday).

It was a really great show, you could tell how thrilled the cast were to be on the Palladium stage, just as much as we were to see them. Kym Valentine dared me to write the 1 woman show I encouraged her to tour since OzTV last July, but as I haven't written scripts since 1997 A-Level Drama... Joe? 😉

Well he is JJ's Uncle after all...

It's safe to say he was there more often than subsequent principals, yes 😂

Lack of demand?

As you boys sometimes miss 80s references I thought I'd point out that the 'Kenneth' that was shown on the slide show for Hilary was Kenneth Muir who was the Principal of Erinsborough High from 1986-1990. Hilary was school librarian there for a while, and they went on some dates but it didn't last.

They are ridiculous and have generated so many worries amongst observant fans about the future, or non future, of the current show...

That was then though, Neighbours has proven to be a successful current soap for UK viewers purely on streaming alone which was untested (all other soaps that have a significant UK audience also have a TV showing). So perhaps ITVX won't but others were interested around the time, we now know that.

If, as feared, Amazon's criteria for renewal was to crack America then it's just not going to happen, there will never be more than a niche audience there. Hopefully someone who is more satisfied with British success might pick it up though, it would be perfect for ITVX...

Skeleton cast, that's part of the problem.

I'd always been under the impression that the reason he sung was that the "real" musical guest they'd lined up had pulled out at very short notice, but perhaps this delight was always scheduled after all 😉

It's great for long time fans of "that show set by a beach" (I've never ever been one, even when it was still popular in the UK). I'd love a Neighbours: The Early Years tour with exclusively 80s and 90s cast however, especially if someone can twist your arm one more time to write it 😉

There is an etiquette for still displaying the canton on the top left even when hung vertically. Have a look at the section "Flags up against a surface" www.flaginstitute.org/wp/uk-flags/... This is in keeping with the rules I was aware of for the US flag, so it doesn't surprise me re the RN ensign.