Neighbours



One of the two main Australian soap operas, the other being Home and Away.

Neighbours began in 1985 and follows the lives of the residents of Ramsay Street, a street in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough. Originally the show featured two main families, the Ramsays (who the street is named after) and Robinsons but gradually the Ramsays have faded away to be replaced by other families such as the Kennedys and Scullys.

Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Shane Ramsay. It seems to have happened to Libby Kennedy too.
 * Affably Evil: No matter what nasty (and sometimes downright evil) deeds Paul Robinson has planned, he will always do them with an air of debonair class.
 * Ambiguous Disorder: The official Neighbours website describes Zeke as a "kooky outcast" and "supremely bright but socially inept."
 * Anti-Villain: Paul Robinson. He's an on-again, off-again villain Depending on the Writer.
 * Back for the Dead: Does happen sometimes, most notably Daphne Clarke, the first regular character to die, who died in 1988 in a car crash, and Helen Daniels, who was the only original character left in 1997 and died in her sleep just after returning from a long spell in hospital.
 * Back From the Dead: Harold Bishop, five years after he supposedly drowned at sea.
 * Channel Hop: The show started on Seven Network in 1985 for a short run where it was almost meddled out of existence in the cradle because it didn't appeal to ratings homes in Sydney and taken off that channel; Network Ten rescued it and brought it to acclaim with the help of the BBC a year later, and it attained plenty of success to the point where Ten moved it over to their new digital network Eleven in 2011 to give it a jumpstart no other show could provide. The BBC carried the show in the UK until 2008, when it moved to Channel Five because of overwhelming costs a public broadcaster could no longer provide.
 * More of a Long Bus Trip: We were given an explanation for why they left, just not for why they never came back.
 * Continuity Nod: Donna and Ringo's wedding is accompanied by Sam Clark's cover of Angry Andereson's "Suddenly". Ringo tells him that Paul put him on to it, having heard it at his brother's wedding years ago. This was, in fact, the song played over Scott and Charlene's wedding in 1987.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Frazer.
 * Death of the Hypotenuse:
 * Doom Magnet: Hannah Martin - between 1993 and 1997 she lost her grandfather Jim, who had a heart attack after playing with her in the garden, mother Julie, surrogate sister Cody, and great-grandmother Helen, who died in her sleep while next to Hannah on the sofa. Furthermore, once Helen died, Madge effectively became Hannah's surrogate Gran, and she also died just 18 months after Hannah and her family left the show.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: The three members of the Bishop family were the only casualties of a crashed plane, which they only boarded at the last minute. Their family and friends took about three days to get over the loss.
 * Also Connor, who was either killed by Paul Robinson's crazy son or went on a Long Bus Trip overseas.
 * Bridget Parker's death fills the 'awkward' part of this trope: She died as the result of a mysterious rampaging white horse running out in front of her car and causing it to crash. The horse is never seen, heard of or mentioned again. (Considering her family were in the car, you'd think they would have looked into that; Possibly even sue the owner of the horse for negligence causing death?)
 * While the horse did play a role, the crash was also the result of sabotage by a gambler who Lucas was in debt to.
 * Estranged Soap Family: Rare in this series, but there are a handful of characters who have not shown up for a while despite both the importance of events and the teasing of the PR. This is usually the result of actors becoming major stars and not wanting to come back. One of the worst examples was Madge's funeral, which neither of her children, played by Craig Mac Lachlan and Kylie Minogue turned up for.
 * Helen's funeral had this to a lesser degree, too. Although daughter Rosemary and step-great-grandson Michael showed up, a whole host of other relatives didn't.
 * Much more recently, Ringo Brown's official funeral took place off screen, with viewers only seeing a private memorial service held by his wife and friends, in order to avoid bringing back any of his blood relatives.
 * Evil Twin: Robert and Cameron, in a rare example of the evil twin being introduced first, albeit while pretending to be the good twin.
 * Evil Versus Evil: Well, not exactly. But it must be said that, watching Karl and Paul hate each other while out-shagging and out-sneering each other certainly comes close.
 * Fake Guest Star: Katya, Will, Nicola.
 * Friends with Benefits: Kyle and Jade tried this, though Jade was already in love with Kyle by this point.
 * Have You Told Anyone Else?: Shortly before he was due to leave on a holiday, Connor learned that the missing 'Robert' (who is really Cameron) is in a coma at a nursing home. He immediately went to tell Robert's identical twin 'Cameron' (who is really Robert) the good news. This was the last time he ever appeared on the show, and Robert was later seen driving Connor's ute and digging up the front garden. In what is either a genuine subversion or a Retcon, Connor was seemingly proven to be alive and well later in the year, when police found his wallet in China, and the following year (long after Robert was arrested) he sent Toadie and others gifts for St. Patrick's Day, also from China.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Harold and Lou. They actually started off as fierce love rivals but now they're like an old married couple.
 * ~Hey, It's That Guy!~:
 * Katya, otherwise known as Sierra.
 * Hey, it's Billy Kennedy! Otherwise (and more recently) known as Dr. Robert Chase.
 * Bah! That's nothing. Look it's Old Steely Business Man, Secretary of Commerce Jim Robinson-Widmore-Prescott-Meade-Nichol-Toothpick Man.
 * Rachel Kinski, leader of the Australian resistance.
 * And, of course Mike 'What's that s'posed to mean, Scott?' Young, played by everyone's favourite amnesiac.
 * Uh, Kylie Minogue? (In The Eighties)
 * Hot Dad: Michael Williams.
 * Instrumental Theme Tune: When a long-standing character dies, Neighbours will sometimes end the episode with a sad piano version of the theme tune, together with a montage of photos of the character's time in the show. This has been done with Todd, Jim, Helen and Madge.
 * Though in Madge's case, the sad piano theme tune played over the regular 2001 credits, but with a montage the next episode of her recent period on the show. This was because, from 2000 onwards, Neighbours started filming in widescreen.
 * Killed Off for Real: It's to be expected in a soap opera, but if a character leaves Neighbours they either get Put on a Bus or are Killed Off for Real. There are very few inbetweens. A few examples of characters Killed Off for Real are:  etc.
 * Lingerie Scene: A bonzer courtesy of Dichen Lachman.
 * Living Prop: Sienna Cammeniti (played by model and 2006 Miss Australia Erin Mc Naught) was added for the sole purpose of sexing-up the cast and helping boost ratings. It didn't work.
 * Lisa Hayes seemed to exist for the sole purpose of getting dumped by Lucas.
 * Long Bus Trip: Marlene Kratz went on a three month cruise and never came back.
 * Long Runners: 25 years and counting.
 * Mistaken for Junkie: After seeing Danni Stark inject insulin for her diabetes, Michael Martin spreads a rumour that she is using drugs. She goes along with it to get attention.
 * Never Found the Body: The show seems to have a fetish for this trope, especially where the Bishop family is concerned. Liljana Bishop and Serena Bishop also supposedly drowned but no bodies were found. Not to mention Dee Bliss. Connor O'Neill was thought to have been murdered by Robert Robinson after his sudden disappearance but he was later revealed to be alive.
 * It's possible Connor was murdered and his body never found. Nobody has ever seen him in China and the mysterious appearance of his wallet and a gift from China seem a little too convenient in proving Robert didn't kill him.
 * However, the official line seems to be he was alive, since Steph later talks about him as though she knows how to contact him.
 * Out of Focus: Lou Carpenter's appearances have become very irregular ever since Harold Bishop left, and even when he is in the show he seldom has any significant storylines.
 * Pac-Man Fever: this show loved showing people playing old style Game Boys with no cartridges in the slot, even in 2008, where the Nintendo DS was out by then.
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: Charlene, Hilary, Melanie, Lou, David, Cheryl, Toadie, Darcy, Sindi, Carmella, Dan, Paul (in his 2005 return), Declan's new actor, Natasha, Summer, Sonya, Chris, Kyle
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: Actor Shane Connor was abruptly fired so his character Joe Scully implausibly disappeared to run a farm in Bendigo.
 * Due to Anne Haddy's rapidly deteriorating health, Helen Daniels was killed off in 1997.
 * Delta Goodrem's character Nina Tucker, took a trip to Bollywood, when Delta got cancer (And treated for the cancer), came back for a week or two and hasn't been seen since.
 * Recurring Character: Neighbours loves this trope. Kim, Mishka, Steiger, Kirsten, Taylah, Sam, etc.
 * Remember the New Guy?: Jessica and Taylah were randomly introduced as the school bullies in Neighbours, and everybody on the show treated them as though they has always been there, harassing the main teen characters and bullying other students, despite the fact that (story-wise) they clearly hadn't been.
 * Retcon: David Bishop was a childless singleton in 1988 but he had a 16-year-old daughter and a wife when he returned in 2003.
 * Elle Robinson was born off-screen in October 1989, so when she returned to Ramsey Street in 2005, she should have been sixteen. Instead, she was nineteen.
 * Running Gag: Karl's terrible singing and his family's reactions to it.
 * Same Character but Different: Paul Robinsons's return in 2004.
 * The same could also be said for Madge on her return in 1996. The fact that she was far more meek, passive and peripheral than before was precisely why Anne Charleston quit for good.
 * Shipper on Deck: On learning that Kate fancies Declan, Donna goes all OTP and declares that Bridget was Declan's soul mate and he should never ever be with anyone else.
 * Shout-Out: In a recent episode, Andrew made a reference to Scandinavian Pop music, complaining about how catchy it was
 * Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome:
 * Elle was born off-screen in October 1989, when she returned in 2005, she should have been sixteen. Instead, she was ninteteen.
 * Hannah Martin is introduced as eight years old in 1992, but is later identified as sixteen in 1999 despite being portrayed by the same actor.
 * Worse, her father and mother didn't even get together until 1985, and she wouldn't have been born until at least 9 months after that. Oops.
 * Spear Carrier: Kev Duve, Kristy, Susie Quilty, Nurse Jodie, Veronica Olenski, Det. Kevin Summers.
 * Stalker with a Crush: (Naomi)
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Tom Ramsay for his brother Max, although a straighter example was Will's never-before-mentioned brother Oliver was hastily written in to replace Will when actor Christian Clarke left the show.
 * Teen Pregnancy: (Pheobe, Bridget)
 * pretends she is pregnant to
 * The Other Darrin: (Scott, Lucy, Beverly, Toby, Julie, Cody, Cheryl, Jack, Libby, Declan)
 * The Other Marty: (Carla Bonner replaced Emma Roche as Stephanie Scully after a few weeks of filming)
 * Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Steve and Miranda. Every. Other. Week.
 * Why Won't You Die?: Brad Willis in 1992: He was shot by Bob Landers, attacked by a shark, saved Beth and Hannah from a burning cottage...and none of it killed him.
 * Not to mention the various attempts on Paul Robinson's life. He has been pushed off a cliff (twice), lost a leg, sent poisoned letters, almost strangled to death, shot in the chest by his own son, kidnapped and mind-tortured, suffered from a life-threatening brain tumor, and pushed off the mezzanine of a building. Even he has expressed surprise over not being dead yet.
 * And the climax of the very first season back in 1985 involved him being shot by his first wife.
 * Furthermore, in the second season he survived a car crash, along with his brother Scott and friend Mike Young (Guy Pearce).
 * Another example is Harold Bishop. He was washed off the rocks and floated to Tasmania, returning five years later, and has endured a stroke, a heart attack and prostate cancer.