Popular Aussie soap Neighbours is coming to an end in June after all attempts to find a new broadcaster to air it in the UK failed. The Sun is reporting that chiefs at production company Fremantle Media have run out of options to keep the show, which has been on UK screens for nearly 40 years, going.
The show was reliant on funding from Channel 5 to keep it in production, with its popularity of 1.4 million viewers each day outnumbering its audience Down Under. However, the show announced on social media last night that after 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes, it will cease production in June.
The news has triggered an outpouring of nostalgia and grief from fans and casual viewers for whom it was an integral part of British television, and Bristol's Alex Beresford expressed his thoughts on Twitter today.
READ MORE: Neighbours will end after four decades as bid to find new home fails
Last month, several petitions were launched in the wake of the news of the show being under threat and they have been signed by tens of thousands of people. Stars of the show - both current and past - spoke of their sadness at the news.
When Neighbours announced that production would cease in June, there was an outpouring of emotion, and ITV presenter Alex Beresford shared his own sadness at the show's demise, reminiscing about his childhood and the days watching the show.
He wrote on Twitter: "Thank you for being some of the best parts of my childhood. Holidays and sick days I would watch at 1:25pm and then again in the evening. Tell me I wasn’t the only one to do that?"
Beresford received many responses from fellow viewers who reminisced about their own days watching the show. Penny wrote: "I bunked off Child Care classes for a whole year to watch the afternoon episode of Neighbours & 15 years later I'd watch it in the evening with my nan when it became her favourite show. So many good memories".
@NeecieB wrote: "My husband and I have watched too, throughout our childhood and into adulthood. It’s the only soap we continued watching with a strange loyalty to it. Sometimes cringing at the storylines but still loyal. Absolutely gutted it’ll finish."
Saira also shared her memories of the show: "I also occasionally bunked off school after lunch with a friend and go to her house to watch it. Then again in the afternoon".
As the focus turns to the show's send-off, there have been reports that Kylie Minogue - who played Charlene Robinson - and Jason Donovan - who portrayed her husband Scott - have been asked to make a return.
It has also been reported that Ian Smith, who played the legendary Harold Bishop, will return, as will Peter O'Brien, who played Shane Ramsay in the show's early days, appearing in its very first episode in 1985.
Either way, it will have a dedicated generation of fans watching. Lee on Twitter summed up many people's feelings: "Haven't watched in years, but I watched the first, so I will watch the last."
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