Raise your hands if you had to cry Neighbors on your 2022 bingo card. Me neither. But when Guy Pearce returned to Erinsborough as Mike and saw Plain Jane Superbrain again – well, it was the Australian soap’s Casablanca moment. Of all the gin joints in all the cities in the world, he walked into Lassiters, which is still managed by Stefan Dennis.
This was the end of Neighbours, who called it quits after 37 years, and it didn’t disappoint. The show’s biggest names came back for a perfect grand finale. It started with a montage of memorable moments. Scott and Charlene’s wedding. Susan berates Karl after she discovers his affair. Bouncer’s psychedelic dream about marrying the border collie next door.
Unfortunately, there was no place for the scene that somehow lingers in my mind: Joe Mangel’s wife, Kerry, is shot and killed by a duck hunter.
Has the show maintained this level of top-notch drama in the decades since? I couldn’t tell you. Like most people of a certain age, I eagerly watched Neighbors at school (the ultimate achievement was to watch both the lunch and teatime editions while drinking a sick one) and gave up when I entered the world of work . But this finale was all about nostalgia, made for people who saw it in the early years.
In the final weeks was the run-up to New Years Eve’s wedding Toadie and Melanie – which became the focus of the finale. The guest appearances began with heartthrob Shane Ramsay. Dan DesClark. Joe Mangel came in via Skype. And then came the big guns — the actors who shot to Hollywood fame or pop stardom after leaving Neighbors and could have been sniffing about a return, but who clearly have great affection for the show. It says a lot for the show that they have all remained so faithful.