The final episode of Neighbours, Australia’s longest-running TV soap opera, will air after 37 seasons.
Executive producer Jason Herbison told AAP, “I’m very happy that we’re not a show hobbling to the end, we’re going out on a tremendous high.
For the three-part finale, which will air back-to-back on Thursday, some of its biggest stars, including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, have returned to the made-up town of Erinsborough.
These would be episodes 8901, 8902, and 8903 to give you an idea of how long the show has been running.
According to Herbison, the production crew put a lot of effort into making sure the finale had something for Ramsay Street fans of every generation, starting in 1985.
I really hope people watch, pause for a moment to consider what Neighbours has meant to them, and hold a piece of it in their hearts when the curtain has come down, he said.
The show has a sizable viewership in the UK, where the backyard swimming pools, cul-de-sac cricket, and warm weather depicted in the opening titles have come to symbolise an Australian way of life.
The marriage of Charlene Robinson from Minogue and Scott Mitchell from Donovan, which aired in 1987, is one of the most recognisable scenes from the show.
Nearly 20 million viewers in Britain and two million people in Australia watched.
In Australia, the wedding scene from that show—complete with Minogue’s lacy gown, Donovan’s mullet, coral bridesmaids’ dresses, and an Angry Anderson soundtrack—became synonymous with ’80s television.
Herbison remarked that working with the show’s main stars when they returned for the finale was exciting.
They wanted to participate in the celebration and express their gratitude for what the show had done for them, so they were quite clear that they didn’t want it to be all about them.
In March, the programme announced its discontinuation after losing its primary UK broadcast partner, Channel 5.
