Like many, I read the news this weekend that Channel 5 are dropping Neighbours from its schedule later this year.  And like many, I am absolutely devastated.  This is even worse than when it was dropped by the BBC, back in 2008, as the show itself was never under any threat.  Channel 5 were heroes then for rescuing us and picking it up and now they are robbing us by taking it away.  But worse because now, with the show’s popularity largely relying on its UK audience, if it has nowhere to air over here, it may have to end production altogether.  I mean, if Channel 5 murder one of the most iconic programmes in television history, it will never be forgiven!  I’m not entirely sure what home grown and exciting drama they think they’re going to serve up to replace it.  Or what audience they think they’re going to attract in Neighbours’ time slot.  Whoever came up with this decision has made a huge mistake.  I just hope they’re not too proud to retract it.

It has been brilliant to see online, all the calls to #saveneighbours.  This show has been part of so many peoples’ lives for such a long time.  Especially for people of my generation, it was part of our childhood.  It was part of our routine.  You got home from school.  Then a 5:10pm, Home and Away was on ITV, followed by Neighbours at 5:35pm on BBC1.  When I started secondary school, I remember, we did an ‘ice breaker’, where we had to go round the class, introducing ourselves to each other – mingling, if you will – and asking each other questions from a list.  We had to have a different name down to each of the questions.  The only question I remember was, “Find someone who doesn’t watch Neighbours.”  I remember it because it was so hard!  Finally, someone found one girl in the entire class who didn’t watch it!  One out of thirty!  Because it was 1995 and everyone watched Neighbours.  Everyone watched it.  Everyone talked about watching it.  And everyone loved it.

And clearly, people still love it.  It’s part of the fabric of our childhoods.  It has launched the careers of so many people.  I mean, come on!  Without Neighbours, we would not have Kylie.

I am going to repeat that: Without Neighbours WE WOULD NOT HAVE KYLIE.

Can you even imagine that?  A world without Kylie?  I can’t even bring myself to think about it.  Awful!

And to bring the discussion and my strongly worded objection into present day, Neighbours is no longer stories about dogs having dreams and dead characters who were washed away, turning up with amnesia anymore (although they aren’t averse to the odd dead character reappearing still but what soap isn’t?  You only know a character in Hollyoaks is dead if you’ve seen the body!)  Of course, it has its sense of fun and silliness.  It’s Neighbours.  They’ve also done massive stories that have the flare of slightly over the top Aussie soap drama but are so incredibly absorbing and entertaining, such as the Finn Kelly murder plot or when Andrea Sommers arrived, the spitting image of ‘dead’ Dee Bliss (and played by the same actress).  But it is so much more than that.

In recent years, it has tackled so many important stories: Huntington’s, testicular cancer, grief, fostering, alcoholism, just to name a few.  I don’t think I have cried more in a soap than when Sonya Rebecchi died of cancer, after everything she and Toadie had been through together in their marriage.  It’s been years and I am still not ready for him to move on…. But that’s my issue…

Anyway, one of the central most fantastic things about Neighbours is its celebration of the LGBTQ community. They raise the rainbow flag far higher than any other soap, including any of the British ones and so high above Home and Away that they can’t even see it.  The flag is a dot to them!  Neighbours were holding Pride events long before any other soaps were.  They have Aaron and David as one of the most established and stable, not to mention loved couples in the whole show.  They got married on screen (walking down the aisle incidentally to ‘Especially For You’ by Kylie and Jason), they have been foster parents and now have a child of their own through a surrogate.

They have a wonderful bisexual character in Chloe – who is actually bisexual, not heterosexual but got given a gay storyline once, as happens so often on television.  Plus, they have a lesbian character.  Plus, they have a trans female character, who is played by trans activist Georgie Stone, who has put so much work into her character in order to educate and connect the audience with her journey and experience.

For all of these reasons and more, Neighbours needs to stay on air.  Channel 5 should be grateful to Neighbours and the diversity, humour, education and drama it provides, not sling it off the shelf.  It does get decent viewing figures and it is a well-loved show.  It means a lot to people, as can be seen from the outpouring online after the announcement that it would be dropped.

So please, Channel 5, reconsider.  You might find something else to replace it but it will never be Neighbours.