Neighbours

A new Neighbours title sequence has premiered in the UK.

The new sequence features a theme tune duet between the British and Australian finalists for the Neighbours Remixed competition, Daniel Boys and Stephanie Angelini.

The titles began airing yesterday on Channel 5.

(Warning: potential cast spoilers)

The British contender for the Neighbours theme tune contest has been announced.

Daniel Boys, best known for his sixth place finish on the Andrew Lloyd Webber talent contest Any Dream Will Do, will challenge an Aussie contender for the honour of recording a new version of the classic theme tune.

Boys will be up against Australian singer Stephanie Angelini.

He said: “I’m thrilled to have won the British vote and am so looking forward to going ‘down under’ and representing the UK in the next stage of the competition. I will, of course, give it my best shot and hopefully come back the winner! Continue reading »

The singers who will be flying the flag for Great Britain in the hopes of beating the Aussies in the Neighbours theme tune competition have been chosen.

The top five UK entries have been revealed for the competition that will see a new rendition of the theme tune added to the soap’s opening titles.

The UK finalists are: Daniel Boys from Hampshire, Carl Davis from Liverpool, Harry Goff from Reading, Rebecca Carter from Cheltenham and Victoria Beaumont from London.

British viewers will now vote for their favourite, with the winner jetting to Melbourne to compete against the Australian representative. Continue reading »

A classic Neighbours character will make a return this year.

The character of Lucy Robinson – sister of Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) – will return to the Australian soap for the first time since a brief appearance in the 20th anniversary episode in 2005.

Actress Melissa Bell plays the role, having first appeared in 1991 and staying until 1995. She is the third actress to play Lucy.

“I’m very pleased that on-screen Stefan is exactly the same – always up to something, which certainly makes for an interesting story – and off-screen he hasn’t changed either, just as much fun and lovely as ever,” Bell said. Continue reading »

Neighbours is turning to its fans for a new version of its theme tune.

The Aussie soap is looking to revamp its current opening track and has started what they are describing as an “Ashes-style” contest between Australian and British fans.

They are asking fans to upload their own version of the iconic tune before a UK contender is selected to face off against an Aussie hopeful in order to win the chance to record the new cover.

If you fancy having a shot at the tune, head over to the Neighbours Remixed website for more details.

Neighbours has recruited an old Home and Away pairing to play the mother and father in a new family to arrive on Ramsay Street.

Kip Gamblin and Rebekah Elmaloglue will play married couple Brad and Terese on the Aussie soap, who move to Erinsborough with their teenage kids.

Neighbours’ executive producer Richard Jasek said: “We are moving our focus back to family units on Ramsay Street, and the dynamics this offers in terms of storylines is fantastic.

“As viewers will find out shortly, the Turners are a family of secrets, and the unique backstory of the Willis family is just as compelling.” Continue reading »

Three major Neighbours characters will be leaving Ramsay Street next year.

Jordan Smith (Andrew), Ben Barber (Rhys) and Kaiya Jones (Sophie) will all depart the Aussie soap in 2013.

The news was confirmed on the official Neighbours Twitter page: “Yes they are [leaving]. We’ll miss those guys!”

Smith, who has been on the show since 2009, tweeted: “Thanks for tweets everyone. Awesome three n half years and now on to the next adventure.” Continue reading »

Our friends over at Throng Australia have compiled this hugely comprehensive list of former Ramsay Street residents to let you know what they’re up to now.

Enjoy! Continue reading »

The longlist of nominees for the Inside Soap Awards 2012 has been released. Continue reading »

Brookside aired the first lesbian kiss on UK screens back in 1993 and since then other UK soaps have followed suit on showing gay relationships but for Neighbours it’s a first in their 27 years on air.

The Australian soap will show their first gay kiss between characters Chris Pappas and his boyfriend Aidan Foster.

It’s no wonder it’s taken the show so long to commit to screening a gay relationship; back in 2004, characters Sky Mangal and Lana Crawford were seen getting close as schoolgirls.  The show received a wave of criticism for the portrayal of the two girls sharing a lesbian embrace.

It doesn’t look like the show will suffer the same fate this time though as the response in Australia, where’s the episode has already been shown, has been given the thumbs up by viewers who have praised the show on Twitter.  UK viewers will have to wait till next month when the episode will be aired on Channel 5.

The soap’s executive producer, Susan Bower, said she wanted to tackle the issue sensitively, “It’s not sensationalist or token. We are very proud of the way we have done this.”

So sensitively has it been done that its been building up for a while with the character of Chris first having to admit to himself he was gay; despite having a relationship with a girl, Summer, and then the fear he faced telling all his friends especially the male friend he had a crush on, Andrew Robinson, and then telling his parents who weren’t so warming to his news at first, kicking him out of their home.

Both actors, who are straight in real life, said a lot of time and practice was put into the scene to make it more natural.  Bob Morley who plays Aiden said, “James and I put a lot of time and effort into getting the physicality between our characters right. We didn’t want to come across as two straight guys pretending to be gay.”

UK viewers are not shy in voicing their opinions with last year prompting an outcry over a gay kiss in Holby City with characters Dan Hamilton (Adam Astill) and Antoine Malick (Jimmy Akingbola).  Viewers blasted the show as being “inappropriate” while Eastenders also faced strong criticism over showing a scene before the watershed between lovers Christian Clarke (John Partridge) and Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) in bed.

It’s about time Neighbours got over their less than well received first take and we will definitely be tuning in to see the episode.  The show has often been referred to as the whitest, straightest street in the world and hopefully this will be the first of many changes.  

Recently, the show introduced an Indian family to the street, no doubt after many dubbed the show as presenting a “white Australia policy”.  With it, came a race row over the actor who plays the Indian father.  Some fans claimed it was “un-Australian” to cast actor Sachin Joab despite him being Melbourne born.

We love Neighbours, after all we grew up with it, but even though it’s technically a daytime soap, it still needs to move forward and tackle real life properly and we’re glad that includes ethnicity and modern day relationships.