Neighbours star Craig McLachlan has hit out at the Australian soap for not allowing him to be part of the show's final ever episode.
The Australian soap will air its last episode on Friday, July 29 at 9pm on Channel 5 in what will be a one-hour special with the double-length episode called Neighbours: The Finale.
McLachlan played heartthrob Henry Ramsay between 1987 and 1989 and he had an integral part in one of the most-viewed weddings in soap history.
A staggering 19.8 million UK viewers tuned in to watch Charlene Mitchell - played by Kylie Minogue - tie the knot with Scott Robinson ( Jason Donovan ) in November 1988, with Henry walking his sister down the aisle.
However, McLachlan says he was not invited to partake or have any mention of his character in the programme's final scenes due to "cancel culture" due to sexual assault charges against him in 2020.
The father-of-one was cleared of the seven charges of assault and indecent assault on four women when he was in an Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2014.
A spokeswoman for McLachlan said: "Henry’s dead mother is being reincarnated for the final episode — but cancel culture won’t allow her son Henry to appear or even be acknowledged.
"What Craig and his partner have endured over the past four-and-a-half years — only to come out the other side and be confronted by, among other things, the attempted permanent erasing of his part in Neighbours history — is devastating.
"Craig was not invited to take part in the closing episode or indeed to contribute in any way to the end of Neighbours."
Neighbours has been a hugely popular show in the UK since its inception in 1985 but it was confirmed earlier this year that the soap would come to an end this summer.
This was due to Channel 5 was dropping the show from its line-up to "focus is on increasing our investment in original UK drama", despite the programme being the fourth-most watched soap in the UK.
That meant the Australian soap lost a large source of its funding and had "no option but to rest the show" after 8,891 episodes.
A statement on the show's official Twitter account on March 3 read: "We are so sorry to say that after nearly 37 years and almost 9000 episodes broadcast we have to confirm that Neighbours will cease production in the summer.
"Following the loss of our key broadcast partner in the UK and despite an extensive search for alternative funding, we simply have no option but to rest the show."
Minogue and Donovan will reprise their roles in the show finale as will a host of familiar faces in Hollywood and to the Ramsay Street faithful.
Hollywood stars Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie and singer Delta Goodrem are returning to Erinsborough for the last hurrah alongside fan favourites from across the show's 37-year history such as Libby Kennedy, Stephanie Scully and Harold Bishop.
*Neighbours: The Finale airs as a double episode special on Channel 5 on Friday 29th July at 9pm.
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