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Weeknights at 6pm, repeating the following day at 2.30pm.

About the show

It started off as a small Aussie soap following the lives and loves of the Ramsay and Robinson families in a suburban cul-de-sac in Melbourne.  Within a few years it had launched the careers of Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem. 

Neighbours got off to a shaky start in 1985.  After being dropped by Channel Seven, the soap was picked up by the Ten Network.  Several cast-members were dropped, including Darius Perkins who was replaced by Jason Donavan as Scott Robinson.

Throughout its 21 years on screen, Neighbours has established a significant fan-base in its native Australia, along with New Zealand and the UK.  Its original, catchy theme tune, composed and written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, was voted the world's most recognised television theme song.

Neighbours script writer and story editor Hugh Stuckey has worked on the show since its premiere.  Stuckey is extremely proud of the milestone and his involvement in the soap. 

"Neighbours has been the flagship of Australian television drama providing a form of longevity for writers, actors, directors, production management and technicians which is very rare in the television industry," Stuckey explains.

Stuckey has written many different characters into the Neighbours storylines.  There is one particularly memorable character.  "I guess Mrs. Mangel stands out because she was in my first script and she sustained a successful long run in the show," he says.  "I've always admired the older characters who have given us excellent performances year after year, resisting the temptation to just 'walk through' their roles. At the risk of omitting others I must pay my sincere respect to Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy) and Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy) for award deserving performances."

* Captions available on TVNZ Teletext page 801

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