The lights go out on Ramsay Street as Neighbours wraps after 9363 episodes
As darkness fell, after 9363 half-hour episodes – the last 460 produced under the banner of streaming giant Amazon, who saved the show after its cancellation in 2022 – it marked the end of an era, for Australian television, and for an iconic Melbourne institution.
Those studios, in the city's eastern suburbs, have been home to some of the best-loved television shows in Australian history, including The Go!! Show, where Olivia Newton-John made her debut, soaps such as Prisoner and The Box, the talk show Rove, glorious failures such as Holiday Island and, of course, Neighbours.
Actor Stefan Dennis, 66, who plays property developer Paul Robinson and cut his acting teeth in the studios in Prisoner before returning later to become the enduring stars of Neighbours, acknowledges he's 'probably the oldest inhabitant' of the studios.
As for saying goodbye for a second, and now seemingly final time, Dennis said he had mixed emotions. 'At the moment I'm fine, I'm just looking at it as another filming day, and that's what it is,' he said on the set yesterday.
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'We did this two years ago, and it's a different vibe saying goodbye to the show this time,' Dennis added. 'It's not as sad, it's happier for me than it is sad. Happy that I have had this. It's not just a show to me, it's been an era for me, it's been a great portion of my life.'
Since its premiere on March 18, 1985, the goings-on at the not-as-quiet-as-it-seemed Ramsay Street, Erinsborough have – mostly – captivated the national conversation with births, deaths, marriages and all manner of dramatic twists and turns in between.
But in the end, like television itself, Neighbours has had to navigate the choppy waters of declining Australian audience and changing business models. Axed two years ago, it was saved by the streaming platform Amazon who saw an opportunity to invest in Australian drama.
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