I Revisited ‘Neighbours’ In Iso & You’ll Be Happy To Know It’s As Batshit As Ever

I’ve always liked to keep myself across everything that’s on telly. I’m subscribed to Stan, Netflix, Disney+ and even reality TV binge platform Hayu.

But unlike most folks who turned their backs on normal telly when the streaming services landed, I still spend my mornings scanning the TV guide to see what’ll be on that day.

The thing is though, I’m usually at the pub or at a mate’s place of an evening and therefore I’ve lost touch with some old school faves, but isolation has given me the chance to reconnect with the classics, like Neighbours.

Much like you, I grew up on a strict diet of Aussie soap drama but over the past decade, I stopped checking in to Ramsay Street.

Not because of the storylines or cast changes or anything like that, it was just because I simply stopped having time to watch the addictive drama every night.

But after swinging by Ramsay Street during quazza, I was pleased to learn that it’s still the chaotic suburban jungle I remember, with spicy sex scenes, wild revenge plots and ridiculous deaths that we bloody love to see.

It all started when I was watching Friends on 10Peach, then saw an ad for a Neighbours special event called End Game and I just knew I had to suss it out.

Karl, Susan and Toadie take on Thanos? Hell fucken’ yeah.

Legit though, you’ll be surprised at how many parallels to the Marvel film there were in Neighbours: End Game, including a maniacal super villain, big explosions and several deaths.

The Thanos in this situation is a bloke named Finn, played by Australian Idol’s Rob Mills, who convinced a bunch of the neighbours to vacay on a remote island owned by a billionaire played by one Tim Robards.

Neighbours: End Game was soap opera at its finest, featuring a bunch of batshit moments that made me question what weeknight plans were ever worthy of ditching Neighbours for.

Here are a few shoutouts:

  • Three friends being trapped in a hole with a snake (one of them being Jodi Gordon who once played Martha on Home & Away. Apparently she’s jumped ships which is the real tea here, if ya ask me).
  • A whiny British cult member rifling through a box in search of champagne, only to be blown to bits by a bomb Finn planted.
  • Some bloke being shot in the chest and killed by a bow and arrow.
  • Susan being kidnapped by Finn and forced to cradle him in bed because his mum didn’t love him enough (deeply disturbing stuff).
  • And lastly, Finn KOing himself just as his revenge plot comes to its conclusion, so Martha, I mean, Elly attempts to bury him, only to be caught by police.

As the End Game spesh was coming to an end and the baddie bit the dust, I remember thinking that my Neighbours renaissance would likely come to an end as I probably wouldn’t wanna continue tuning in after the wild events of that week. Surely nothing could beat it, right? Wrong.

Weeks after the big blow up, we’re now dealing with the fall out and it’s still spicy as hell. I’m talking real Aussie television gold, here.

Elly’s now in prison, dealing with Dee’s (Madeleine West) evil twin (!!) and other frightening inmates.

Meanwhile her bb girl was supposed to be living with Susan and Karl but instead Finn’s evil-ass mother has gotten custody of her (the absolute crone of a woman also bribed the judge to put Elly behind bars).

Honestly all jokes aside though, major props to the writing, acting and directing that’s going on right now.

The tales are as captivating as ever, which surely isn’t the easiest feat considering the show’s been kicking since the ’80s and they’ve mined every cheating scandal, stalker drama and cult storyline imaginable.

There’s a perfect balance of OGs like Karl, Susan and Toadie, along with fresh folk who breathe life into the lane.

I was always pleasantly surprised by the diversity on the show – Ramsay Street’s residents include an Indian mother and daughter, a transgender teen and a gay couple. Not just token pop ins, they’re actual mainstays, which means that for at least five days a week, diversity is being beamed into living rooms by a TV show that’s so ingrained in Australia’s DNA.

Neighbours’ first gay wedding was fittingly officiated by LGBTQIA+ queen Magda Szubanski

Me and my boyfriend went from ~accidentally~ watching Neighbours every now and then to literally carving out our entire afternoon to make sure we don’t miss an ep – and I encourage you to do the same. Why? ‘Coz everybody needs good neighbours.

Neighbours airs weeknights at 6:30 on 10Peach.

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