Neighbours spoilers follow from the full 40th anniversary week.
Neighbours, perhaps more than any other soap, has always aimed to make an event out of any significant milestone achieved.
Maybe that’s down to the relative uncertainty of the show’s future in recent years, but with every anniversary, there’s been the sense that it could be the show’s final milestone.
Unfortunately, this time that may be the case following the recent news that Amazon will not be renewing the show, and it will leave our screens once again.
In many ways, it’s a shame this news broke prior to this week of episodes, as it’s hard to view them without that thought putting a major dampener on celebrations.
This is unfair to the cast and crew of Neighbours who have delivered a great week of episodes, celebrating the past, present and the potential future of the show.
Of course, comparisons will be immediately drawn to Neighbours‘ last major milestone – the 35th anniversary in 2020 featuring a host of returnees and the climax to Finn Kelly’s reign of terror.
Compared to that, the 40th was a little bit more of a subdued affair – fewer returnees, less high-octane thrills but with some current plots reaching their peak, while a few new ones kicked off.
In doing so, the show placed the focus on the show’s regular cast of characters, rather than a series of guest starring familiar faces (though there were a few!) and was all the better for it.
The strongest scenes of the week came from the return of Chelsea Murphy and the confirmation that her baby is the latest son of Paul Robinson. Viewers have been speculating about the possibility since Chelsea first exited the show and the storyline is fresh, unexplored territory for Paul, the show’s last remaining original character.
The plot brought Paul, Terese, Cara and Remi all to the forefront as they dealt with the fallout of Chelsea’s news. All four are played by some of Neighbours‘ strongest performers and it was a joy to see this group of characters become entangled as they got to grips with the baby bombshell.
Another highlight was the return of Darcy Tyler at the week’s end, revealed as Terese’s new tenant at Number 22. Darcy’s original run on the show was brief but it’s hard to deny his impact in the early 00s – and it always felt like there was more to explore.
With news that Tess Bell is on the way back, we can’t wait to see whether Darcy has turned over a new leaf or whether old habits will die hard.
When it was announced that Anne Charleston would be returning to Neighbours to play a role in Harold Bishop’s exit plot, it’s safe to say viewers assumed we’d see another ghostly return for Harold’s beloved ex-wife, Madge.
So, when it became clear that Charleston was returning as newcomer, Agnes Adair, there was scepticism. That’s not to say that doppelgangers haven’t popped up in Neighbours before, but these stories sometimes run the risk of going too far – the less said about the Kerry Bishop lookalike plot from 2005, the better.
However, we’re intrigued to see how this strange coincidence plays out. Ian and Anne’s chemistry still remains and both delivered poignant, human performances that served to ground the soapy nature of the plot.
Max Ramsay’s ongoing plot came to a head when gangster Carter Haddon’s associate, Lachie, trapped Max and his friends in the garage and set it alight.
The fire scenes were well-directed and very tense but over quite quickly. While the resolution in the following episode felt sudden, Neighbours wisely remembered that the resulting impact on characters is far more interesting than seeing Lachie or Carter’s arrests on screen.
Instead, the event brought Max and Holly Hoyland close together – and their slow-burn romance is one we’re really rooting for.
Meanwhile, Emerald Chan delivered her best work as Sadie Rodwell, with a heartbreaking performance depicting the character’s pain from her injuries in the fire. The story also brought about the long-awaited return of Sadie’s mum, Wendy, who has been a much-missed presence in Erinsborough.
In the grand soap tradition, there’s no better celebration than a wedding to bring characters together and Neighbours‘ 40th was no different as Leo Tanaka and Krista Sinclair tied the knot in stunning location scenes.
We can’t say the pairing will go down in soap history as an iconic golden couple, so perhaps wisely Neighbours veered away from presenting it as an epic romance. Instead, Krista cheated on Leo before the wedding with Sebastian Metcalfe after being manipulated by her sister, Fallon Morell.
Krista’s betrayal, and the ‘will she/won’t she’ tell Leo, added some much-needed jeopardy to a plot that hasn’t exactly set the screen alight recently. Largely because so much of it has been played off Fallon and Sebastian, the latest guests to rock up solely to cause trouble in Erinsborough. Speaking of…
The week culminated with the lifeless body of Sebastian found floating face down in Lassiters lake, hours after a confrontation with Leo.
The murder of a guest villain and an ensuing whodunnit is a bit of an overdone twist, and we hope Neighbours won’t spend too much time on the plot in its final stretch. It’s doubtful many viewers will care much about Sebastian’s death, but the reveal of his body was certainly a dark, striking end to the week.
However, despite the soapy whodunnit, Neighbours never loses sight of what has kept the show around for 40 years, and the week excelled most in those scenes where character was placed above spectacle.
Whether it’s Paul, Terese and the Varga-Murphys navigating their way through a messy situation, or Susan and Karl trying to work out Darcy’s true intentions, or Harold dealing with a difficult reminder of the past – it’s these scenes that show Neighbours at its best.
The episodes also achieved a great balance of the nostalgia that viewers expect from Neighbours but also kicked off a number of new plots, and largely looked ahead to an exciting future, however long that may be.
The show is still capable of delivering stories with twists and turns but in choosing to lead with compelling character-driven drama, Neighbours proved that there was enough life in the old dog yet to go way beyond its 40 years.
