Neighbours

Neighbours
Genre	Soap opera
Created by	Reg Watson
Starring	Cast
Theme music composer	Tony Hatch (theme music) Jackie Trent (lyrics)
Opening theme	Neighbours theme
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	40
No. of episodes	9,151
Production
Executive producer	Jason Herbison
Producer	Andrew Thompson
Production locations	Melbourne, Australia
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Grundy Television (1985–2006) Fremantle Australia (2006–present) Amazon MGM Studios (2023–present)
Original release
Network	Seven Network
Release	18 March (1985-03-18) – 8 November 1985 (1985-11-08)
Network	Network 10
Release	20 January 1986 (1986-01-20) – 17 December 2010 (2010-12-17)
Network	Eleven (later rebranded 10 Peach)
Release	11 January 2011 (2011-01-11) – 28 July 2022 (2022-07-28)
Network	Network 10/ Amazon Freevee
Release	18 September 2023 (2023-09-18) – present
Related
Neighbours: Erinsborough High
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Neighbours^[a] is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap Sons and Daughters. Although successful in Melbourne, Neighbours underperformed in the Sydney market and was cancelled by Seven four months after it began airing. It was immediately commissioned by rival Network Ten for a second production season, which began screening on 20 January 1986. Neighbours became the longest-running drama series in Australian television history. In 2005, it was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.

The storylines concern the lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The series centres on the residents of Ramsay Street, a dead end street, and its neighbouring area, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, hotel, café, police station, lawyers' office and park. Neighbours began with a focus on three households created by Watson – including the Ramsay and Robinson families, who have a long history and an ongoing rivalry. Over the serial's early years, three additional houses on the street were introduced as regular settings. Pin Oak Court, in Vermont South, is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street. The houses featured are real and the residents allow the production to shoot external scenes in their yards. The interior scenes are filmed at the FremantleMedia studios in Forest Hill.

Until 2022, Neighbours was screened in Australia as a 22-minute episode on weeknights, in an early-evening slot. It moved to Ten's digital channel, Eleven (later rebranded 10 Peach) on 11 January 2011, and was broadcast each weeknight at 6:30 pm. The show was produced by Fremantle Australia and has been sold to over sixty countries around the world, making it one of Australia's most successful media exports. Neighbours had been especially successful in the United Kingdom, where it was first screened on 27 October 1986 on BBC One, and achieved huge popularity among British audiences in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2008, it moved in the UK to Channel 5; since 2008 it had been largely paid for by the UK broadcaster as it was no longer commercially viable for Ten to fund it alone.^[1] In 2018, after a new deal was secured with Channel 5, the show became the first Australian drama to air all year round. In February 2022, Channel 5 announced that it would be dropping Neighbours from its schedule; the cancellation of the show was confirmed the following month. The show's finale was broadcast as a 90-minute episode in Australia on 28 July 2022 on Network 10 and 10 Peach, while the finale in the United Kingdom aired on 29 July 2022 as a normal 30-minute episode in the regular daytime schedule followed by an hour-long prime-time episode. Due to timing, some scenes were cut from the UK showing. The finale was broadcast in Ireland on 3 August 2022 and in New Zealand on 2 September 2022.

In November 2022, it was announced that Amazon Freevee and Fremantle had agreed to a deal that would restart the series. The series also returned to Network 10 on a permanent basis, after 11 years on 10 Peach. Regular production resumed on 17 April 2023, and the show returned on 18 September 2023.

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