Neighbours to end this year

[Homeandawayfan.]

There are campaigns out there from Neighbours fans, but I am a realist, and due to the huge amount of money it will cost another broadcaster to host the show, I think there is very little can be done to save the show. Campaigns usually are futile. I do worry about saying this on other forums due to everyone being positive but I think we just have to accept and admit defeat and let Neighbours end with dignity.

 

[Jezz]

So what's the latest here?

Any possibility another network such as ITV will pick up the rights?

[Gerard]

I'm sad to see Neighbours go, as someone who has watched daily since before it moved to an evening slot in the UK.

I know there is a mountain of goodwill for the show (from the UK at least), and while many seem to be hoping the series will be picked up by another broadcaster, I do feel it is very unlikely. Not impossible, but a very slim chance of it happening. There are so many TV channels, that it would be easy to think at least a few might be interested, but it seems the show is too expensive, and that's why it's ending.

It's a shame, as I think it has really been on good form the past few years, and the production values have improved enormously, especially over the past few weeks. On the bright side, at least the series will be ending in a strong position, and is in much better condition than over many years of its lifetime, which is ironic as it seems to be ending now.

While "Home and Away" can rightly claim to be the longest running Australian show, and assuming it is around for at least 3 more years, it will be the longest running, past and present, I don't think Neighbours ending is a good thing, for Home and Away.

[Homeandawayfan.]

Some discussions can get a bit heated about how some seem to be accepting the show is ending, others are burying their heads in the sand (if that was about H&A ending, no pun intended, as the show is set on sand - a beach lol), and cannot accept the 95% probability that Neighbours is going to end. Another channel picking up Neighbours is highly unlikely, if another buyer cannot be found then Neighbours will end.

H&A is just under 3 years younger than Neighbours. So only has less than 3 years to go, and I am sure it will claim the title. H&A would have claimed that title long ago if the BBC had not come to an agreement with Ten in about 1992. Some of the cast members are hinting that the show is going to end, and Harold Bishop is returning, it hints that the writing is on the wall.

My workplace was being told it would likely shut, and we fought tooth and nail, all for nothing. It did shut. Neighbours is very likely to be going down the same road. It pains me to say it but we need to gracefully accept it.

 

[CaptainHulk]

I'm a mixture of sad and pissed.

I'm almost at the point where I'll literally not watch C5 again (Most of everything on that Channel is middling to crap)

And the joke is, I defended them in their early years against all naysayers. 

The annoying thing is this comes at a time when the show has probably been the most in touch with the real world than it has been in 20yrs without straying from its roots.

 

[Gerard]

Agreed. I think we were all surprised when Channel 5 snatched H&A from ITV, although I think it would have been a more successful transition had they done it a few years later and not had the enforced year long break.

When C5 acquired Neighbours it seemed like a good thing. The BBC didn’t seem to be showing the series a lot of love, and C5 seemed over the moon that they had grabbed such a well-loved series to run alongside H&A. Having both shows on the same channel was mutually beneficial to both. 

I think most people were stunned when C5 decided not to continue buying Neighbours. However I would imagine that they had an upper limit for price, which the demand exceeded, and it’s only common sense that they walked away.

H&A and Neighbours has most likely boosted C5’s audience share of other programmes too, but clearly they decided that Neighbours was no longer profitable, so no one can blame them for walking away from a business perspective.

It would be easier to take the end of Neighbours if the show was poor, but it’s probably as good as it has been in many years.

[R@chel]

Reading two separate interviews with Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher, it sounds as if the cast have already begun to accept that it’s ending. 

[CaptainHulk]

The BBC treated the show so shabbily in its last 5yrs on the channel. It was treated like an afterthought/inconvenience and failed to promote when things actually HAPPENED.

The pluses I got from 5's acquisition were.

- About 8 chances a day to catch it

-  Late Night Specials 

-  A Bonus sneak preview ep once in a while (The Shooting pt 2 in 2014)

I suppose if ITV had picked it up it probably would have been torched about 10yrs ago when they "got tired of their new toy". 

[R@chel]

I feel like I don’t want to watch it anymore. Is there any point getting invested in storylines when it’s all going to end pretty soon? 

[Homeandawayfan.]

Be grateful it has had a 37 year run.

Jackie Woodburne could finally get a role in H&A now, not as Pippa obvs but never say never.