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Meet Your Neighbours
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Tourists take photographs in 'Ramsay Street'.
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From Madge Bishop's burial site to hysterical, trivia quiz nights, British tourists to Melbourne just can't get enough of Neighbours. Denis Brown reports.
The night's trivia gig at
Melbourne's British-style pub The Elephant and Wheelbarrow in StKilda
and Coolabah Club in Sydney
is a sellout. About 250 predominantly female Brits, most drinking pints of beer, are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Neighbours icons Dr Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher), Connor (Patrick Harvey) and Jack Scully (Jay Bunyan).
Backstage, the chatty trio appears unnerved about the looming curtain call. A humble Fletcher describes his gratis appearance as payback to UK fans he credits with the show's longevity and keeping him in regular work.
"I thought Neighbours was going to be a one-year gig, and here I am in my 10th year . . . it's a dream job," explains the 47-year-old thespian.
The DJ spins the TV soapie's theme tune as the stars, flanked by bouncers, emerge one by one, prompting mass hysteria and multiple camera flashes.
The cover charge for the night is $40 but here, for the fifth week running, is fanatical English fan, Charlotte, 24. "I love the storylines, the characters, everything about it. I'm coming here every week till I go home.
Liverpudlian backpacker Chris, 23, and her travelling companions are star-struck after a close encounter with the actors.
"It's stupid 'cause in Liverpool, you meet the Brookside (UK soap) actors and loads of footballers and you're not arsed at all. Give them a wave and head back to the bar.
"But here, it's like, f---ing hell, it's Karl Kennedy, let's give him a kiss — wicked."
Ask your average British backpacker what they plan to get up to in Melbourne and odds are it will have something to do with the show that screens on 9 million UK television screens twice daily, five days a week.
One drawcard is the Neighbours exhibit at Melbourne Museum's Australia Gallery, which features scripts, props and a Ramsay Street genealogy. The highlight is the Grundy-donated Robinson family kitchen, where a plaster replica of Scott and Charlene's 1987 wedding cake can be found in the fridge.
Some soapie devotees will even go the extra yard, visiting locations used in key episodes, such as Templestowe Cemetery, where Madge Bishop was buried in episode number 3744.
However, for Gap-year Brits weaned on Grundy's 17-year-old soapie and spin-off stars like Kylie, a visit to mythical Erinsborough is streets ahead of major Melbourne attractions on the must-do list.
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Alan Fletcher stars as Dr Karl Kennedy in Neighbours. |
Some fans make it to Ramsay Street, under their own steam.
The only Grundy-approved operation is the Official Neighbours Ramsay St Tour, featuring erudite tour guide, exclusive merchandise and onboard screenings of classic episodes.
Operator George Josevski, 36, received Grundy's blessings last year after running the tour for six years. He also hosts the trivia nights in St Kilda and Sydney.
Josevski ferries about 300 fans in peak season, but says the street can average between 200-300 visitors daily. The trend has proved to be an increasingly niggly headache for occupants of the six homes, who must often feel like they're living in a reality TV show.
In recent years, minor intrusions like doorknocking fans looking for Harold Bishop, have given way to drive-by hoons and light-fingered memento hunters. Since the early 1990s, a Grundy-employed security guard has been on nightly duty, blocking unauthorised access to the street from 8pm to 7am.
But this did not deter one amorous young couple found intertwined in a rather intimate position on Harold Bishop's front lawn one night about five years ago.
As is the norm, the majority of the 25 patrons on this afternoon's official tour are mainly British and Irish backpackers aged 18 to mid-20s.
A notable exception is flamboyant London couple, Carol Pedder, 63, and Tom, 73, a retired hairdresser and handyman, respectively, and in town specifically to visit Ramsay St.
"This is the piece de resistance of our trip," says Carol, whose head-turning bouffant is complemented by an eyecatching rainbow ensemble.
"Tom used to do some work for me at my house in the late '80s before we were married and we used to watch Neighbours together. That's when we started courting.
"And it's just become our routine for the last 16 years, hasn't it Tom?" "Yes dear," replies her obviously smitten husband, decked out in black tracksuit and runners.
On the Eastern Freeway, upbeat guide Rick Forster screens a video clip of Angry Anderson's cheesy Neighbours' hit Suddenly, and advises us not to worry about dark clouds ahead.
"As we all know, it's always sunny in Ramsay Street," he says. "Except for that one time when Madge was walking back from the hairdressers and it bucketed down. But that was back in 1993, so it's been a while."
In two years on the job, Forster, 33, has witnessed some bizarre sights, such as the Newcastle (UK) rugby players who posed for photographs outside the Scullys' house with their daks down.
"Another fella posed for a photo where he appeared to be urinating in the Kennedy's letterbox," he says.
Forster's best perk was meeting Paula Murray, a Scottish backpacker, who he married last October. "I think I amazed her with my knowledge of Neighbours actually," he says.
As we disembark at Pin Oak Court, where another bus is already parked, Forster leads the way, clutching photo opportunity props, a cricket bat and Ramsay Street sign.
Meanwhile, fellow Brit backpacker, Ole, 21, who arrived in a friend's car, is about to depart with some old roof tiles he found stacked next to a wheelie bin. "I'm in desperate need of money so I'm going to try and sell them to fans on eBay," he says.
After rain ironically cuts our visit short, the next stop is outside the Grundy studio complex, where Forster points out distant set locations and actors' vehicles.
Blackburn English Language School, the location for Erinsborough High, is the final tour destination. Irish visitor Philip Walsh is trying to coax his friend, Gabby Ryan, 24, the only Melburnian passenger, off the bus for a photograph.
"I've been dragged along for the ride," she says, rolling her eyes. "It was the one compulsory thing Philip had to do in Melbourne."
The Age June 22, 2004
Just another day in the best street in the world
Don't underestimate the power of soap opera. It not only entertains, enthrals and endures - it can save lives.
In the case of Channel Ten's long-running soap, Neighbours, celebrating its 4000th episode this Friday and screening in 57 countries to a daily audience of 120 million are not its greatest achievements.
The show's longest-serving actor, Ian Smith, who plays busybody Harold Bishop, was in England in the 1980s to perform in a pantomime when he was asked to help a fan who was in a coma.
When a videotape of Smith speaking was played, the girl showed signs of life. Within 24 hours she was out of the coma.
"I was in danger of having an altar erected on either side of my photo," Smith said this week, referring to the cult status bestowed on him, especially in Britain where the show has a daily audience of nine million.
Each day at Global Television studios in Nunawading, where the show is filmed, Smith is inundated with hundreds of e-mails. "I love you," says one fan. "What is your favourite scary movie?" inquires another.
The show's status was confirmed when the Melbourne Museum enshrined the Robinson family's kitchen in a permanent display.
Neighbours was created by Grundy's Reg Watson and it opened on Channel Seven in 1985 but was axed after 170 episodes. It was snapped up by Channel Ten in 1986 and the rest is history. Over the past 17 years, the residents of Ramsay Street, Erinsborough, have seen 18 marriages, 11 deaths and six births.
Jackie Cook, a senior lecturer in communications and cultural studies at the University of South Australia, said Neighbours was a breakthrough show for the television industry.
"It cemented the British view of contemporary Australia as somehow sunnier, more relaxed, less stressed, less socially divisive and altogether nicer than conditions on Eastenders or Coronation Street," she said.
This view is echoed by academic and TV buff Alan McKee, who has dedicated a chapter to Neighbours in his book Australian Television: A Genealogy of Great Moments.
"Neighbours is undoubtedly a very important landmark program in Australian culture," Mr McKee said.
He said Neighbours was probably Australia's most successful children's program because it never tried to be just that. "It was a grown-up program that just happened to be, I think, the best word and I mean that in a very positive way, banal.
"The worst thing that happens in Neighbours is that somebody's pet mouse escapes. Nobody ever has HIV, nobody is raped, nobody has to deal with anything particularly traumatic or disturbing."
Mr McKee said the huge success of Neighbours in Britain revealed much about Australia's cultural cringe - we see overseas success as a bad thing.
"It became a huge topic of debate about whether this program shows Australia like it really is or whether it shows Australia like we want it to be," Mr McKee said.
"And Neighbours isn't hugely representative of Australian culture: it's younger, whiter and more heterosexual than any other part of Australian culture. But the program has never tried to represent Australia. It's a young persons' soap opera."
Behind every soap is the drama of producing 30 minutes of television a night, five days a week, for 48 weeks of the year.
Producer Peter Dodds, who steers a cast and crew of 75, said the show was so successful because it tapped into the suburban dream, families talked, the characters were quirky and humorous, and viewers could relate to the storylines.
"What Australia offered the world was this funny little show with blue skies and nice houses and this ease of communication. People are listened to in our show," he said.
So overall, life is pretty good in Ramsay Street.
"I think the English think this is the best street in the world," Dodds said.
He is right, judging by the hundreds of British tourists who make the pilgrimage each week to the real street, Pin Oak Court in Vermont South.
The Neighbours phenomenon has created a mini-tourism industry for George Josevski, who has run "Ramsay Street" tours and "Meet the Neighbours" trivia nights for six years.
Each week he brings up to 70 tourists - mostly backpackers - and residents report that another 160 make their own way there.
Mr Josevski tells of the English businessman who flew in from Dubai, went straight to the street, then caught the next plane back.
Neighbours is so popular in Britain that it screens twice a day on the BBC. It was moved from its 9.30am slot because students were late for school.
At Pin Oak Court yesterday, Marc Cohen, 21, and his girlfriend Gina Levinson, 22, were thrilled. "It's cool," Mr Cohen said. "It's a lot smaller than you imagine." Ms Levinson said: "You can't come to Melbourne without seeing Ramsay Street." Melissa Browning, 25, was stoked. "It's really surreal."
Pin Oak Court residents have to deal with fans running up their driveways, even knocking on their doors and asking: "Is Harold here?"
Actor Ian Smith says the adoration can be overwhelming. When the cast toured England in the 1980s they feared for their lives when a mob of fans nearly overturned their bus.
"We are treated like royalty, but it is a bit intense," he said.
Talking about royalty, Smith says the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were Neighbours devotees. "We've lost two of our biggest fans," he says.
