Neighbours Axed…Again!

It’s been a few weeks, but the news that Neighbours has been axed has finally sunk in. By the end of 2025, the show will be “rested”…again!

The news of the cancellation couldn’t come at a worse time. Neighbours just finished their Anniversary Tour on a high. Less than 48 hours later, it was confirmed that Amazon wouldn’t be commissioning new episodes.

However, the show has been provided a three-month extension to give it a decent farewell.

Why was it axed?

It’s the golden question that everyone would like to know, but I don’t feel that an official explanation has been provided.

Viewership

Soaps, in general, are not as popular as they used to be. With the platitude of streaming platforms and changes in watching habits, it means the shows are always going to fight for the ratings.

When Neighbours was cancelled by Five, the show was one of their most popular television shows rating-wise.

Even on Amazon, the show can regularly be seen in the streaming platform’s UK Top 10 during the week. There is clearly still an audience for the show.

However, with a global streaming platform, they would expect to see results in other countries. I think they wanted the soap to be popular in America & Canada…and it just wasn’t!

However, it wouldn’t be, because it was never promoted!

Money

Producing soaps is an expensive business, and ultimately this was the reason that Channel 5 axed Neighbours originally.

We are seeing all television channels making cuts to the soap budgets. The BBC cancelled Doctors. Channel 4 reduced Hollyoaks episodes. ITV has also reduced their soap production.

However, Neighbours has the backing of an international streaming platform. Surely money isn’t an issue here?

They spent nearly $1 billion dollars on ‘flop’ The Rings of Power and are rumoured to have spent the same for the James Bond franchise. The cost for Neighbours is like pocket money in comparison.

It’s rumoured that they didn’t lose any money producing the show either.

There have also been rumours that the delay in making a decision was due to struggling Channel 10 wanting to reduce the amount they invested in the show.

Could this have been the reason?

Change in direction

The show joined Amazon as part of the Amazon Freevee channel, which was canned at the end of 2024.

While there was concern about what would happen with Neighbours, it successfully transitioned to Amazon Prime Video where it appeared to flourish.

A soap genre was never the plan for Amazon Prime Video, so was it just the writing on the wall that the show would not proceed after the contract ended?

Additionally, the people who campaigned for the show were no longer part of the company, so there was no one there to fight the show’s corner.

Whatever the reason, we all know that streaming platforms (more than terrestrial channels) are brutal when it comes to cancelling shows. They don’t care about the history of a show, so this decision and the effect it has had means fuck all to them!

My thoughts

The world that we live in currently is a shitstorm. So a show like Neighbours is a great way to escape for a while. This is why I enjoy the show and the community that comes with it.

So yeah, I was pissed when it was announced. But I think I was more annoyed about the timing (during the show’s anniversary period) and for the cast and crew.

I’ll be honest, hearing Amazon was taking over the show, I was happy but also sceptical. As I’ve said, streaming platforms are cut-throat, so I never expected Neighbours to be a long-term investment for them.

Granted, I was hoping for more than 2 years, but still. I will say that I am happy that the show got to its 40th Anniversary.

Like the last cancellation, the Neighbours fans are campaigning to find a new home for the show, and I would absolutely love it if this happened.

However, I do feel that this is it…the final nail in the coffin!

How should the show end?

For many people, the 2022 Faux Finale was a superb ending to the show. I don’t think they should try to compete with it, either.

It feels like it should be a more low-key goodbye this time.

Taking into account that the 2022 finale was a wedding, the 2024 return was a wedding, and the 40th anniversary revolves around a wedding, I don’t want another wedding for the Finale Part Deux.

I know some people are screaming for Paul & Terese to get remarried, but I’d rather not. Aside from my opinions on Team Praise as a couple, I’m just wedded out. We need something different.

If the show is “rested” and there is an opportunity to bring it back in the future, they will also need to think about that. We don’t want a Guy Pearce situation again!

The Extreme

The most unlikely option would be something extreme, like an earthquake or a bomb.

What better way to destroy the sets and kill off loads of characters, right?

Could the Finale Part Deux become as iconic as Dynasty’s massacre?

Maybe that is too much, but instead of a wedding, what about a funeral?

If you want a way to bring back old characters, then a funeral would be the way to do it. However, it would have to be a long-serving character.

Paul would be the ideal character to be killed…after all, he has made several enemies over the 40 years!

The Bittersweet

Neighbours is about everyday life, granted, with several hostage situations thrown in here and there, so the Finale Part Deux should be just that.

Everyone carrying on with everyday life. No fanfare party to bring back old characters, in an obscure way. We did that with the old one, and we’re doing it with the upcoming 40th anniversary.

We need a symbol that, while the show is ending, life on Ramsay Street continues.

I can see the final scenes now. The Kennedys have placed their last items into the removal van. They have their final look around remembering all the memories they’ve made on the street – queue a montage of scenes from the years gone by.

As the Kennedys get into their car, they turn left off the street. A few moments later, a car from the right turns onto Ramsay Street and parks outside the Kennedy house.

A new family has arrived, and they could even recreate the Kennedys’ arrival scene for that nostalgia.

I mean, it could even be Libby Kennedy and her family that I was discussing with Kym Valentine at the Anniversary Tour.

Whichever way they go, I don’t think I will ever be ready for the show to end again!

Neighbours 4.0 – How should it return?

So the show is “rested”, but then, the news arrives that it has been given another lifeline.

The producers have a momentous task about how they are going to bring the show back.

When Neighbours 3.0 returned in 2024, a time jump was included to explain some major changes. So, I don’t think this is a viable option again.

Also depending on the length of time between rest and return, I expect that a lot of the actors will have moved onto other projects or retired.

Stefan Dennis has already been vocal about the fact that his latest stint on Neighbours would be short and that he had already planned to quit on the 40th Anniversary

Hit the reset button

This could be controversial, but a possible option would be to hit the reset button. Wentworth style.

We could maintain the essence of the show, but with a brand-new approach. We’re also not restricted from continuing where we left off. And the previous timeline could just be forgotten.

The new cast could be new families. We could also use the plethora of past characters but have them recast. Not necessarily a like-for-like version, but a new iteration of the character.

This means we could see the Robinson and Ramsay families back on the street.

It would be a huge risk to take, but it worked for Prisoner Cell Block H/Wentworth. Maybe it could work for Neighbours!

Frequency

Cost cutting may play a major factor in the show returning to our screens, and then it is something that may be looked at.

When the show returned, the episode output dropped from five episodes a week to four, and it seemed to work.

Yes, I missed the Friday episode, but I would be happy with just three episodes if necessary. Granted, increasing them to 30-minute episodes would be nice, though.

Another suggestion someone made was to follow the approach of Shortland Street, where they have batches of episodes with a couple of weeks’ break in between the blocks.

The show currently does the story arc blocks but without the breaks; however, the breaks would reduce the number of episodes and help with production costs.

Whatever the future holds for Neighbours, it’s safe to say the show has left its mark in the history of television.