Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera that was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. Seven decided to commission the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap Sons and Daughters, which aired on the network. Although successful in Melbourne, Neighbours underperformed in the Sydney market and struggled for months before Seven cancelled it. The show was immediately bought by rival network Ten. After taking over production of the show, the new network had to build replica sets because Seven destroyed the originals to prevent its rival from obtaining them. Ten began screening Neighbours on 20 January 1986, beginning where the previous series left off, and commencing with episode 171. Neighbours has since become the longest-running drama series in Australian television and in 2005, it was inducted collectively into the Logie Hall of Fame.
The show's storylines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in Erinsborough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The series primarily centres on the residents of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac, and its neighbouring area, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, hotel, café, police station, lawyers' office and park. Neighbours began with three families created by Watson – the Ramsays, the Robinsons and the Clarkes. Watson said that he wanted to show three families who are friends living in a small street. The Robinsons and the Ramsays had a long history and were involved in an ongoing rivalry. Pin Oak Court, in Vermont South, is the real cul-de-sac that has doubled for Ramsay Street since 1985. All of 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 Global Television 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. 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. Regular production resumed on 17 April 2023, and the show resumed on 18 September.
International broadcasts[]
| Country | Channel(s) | Local title |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Seven Network, Network 10, 10 Peach | Neighbours |
| International | Amazon Freevee, Amazon Prime Video | |
| Barbados | CBC8 | |
| Canada | CFMT-TV, OutTV | |
| Denmark | DR1, TV3 | |
| Iceland | Stöð 2 | |
| Ireland | RTÉ One, RTÉ2 | |
| Kenya | KTN | |
| Netherlands | KRO, VARA | |
| New Zealand | TVNZ 2, TV4, TV One | |
| Sweden | TV3, TV4 Plus, TV4 | |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, Channel 5, Nickelodeon | |
| United States | KCOP-TV, WWOR-TV, Oxygen, Hulu | |
| Vietnam | VBC | |
| Belgium | Eén, VTM2 | Buren |
| Finland | AVA | Naapurit |
| France | Antenne 2 | Les Voisins |
| Germany | SAT.1, Sunset | Nachbarn |
| Norway | TV3, NRK3, TV 2 | Naboer |
| Portugal | RTP Canal 1 | Vizinhos |