Why everybody needs good Neighbours as soap faces axe after almost 40 years

So what now for Neighbours?

The antipodean soap opera - which has run for 37 years - has been an institution to generations of Brits, influencing everything from what we wear to how we speak.

It’s due to be dropped from the Channel 5 schedule this summer and looks set to end for good unless another channel steps in.

As a lifelong Neighbours fan, I find this pretty devastating. And I’m not the only one.

No doubt the decision came as a huge shock to the cast just weeks after a new look Neighbours, with new opening credits and revamped sets, was unveiled for 2022.

An emotional Jackie Woodburne, who has played Susan Kennedy for over two decades, told Network 10's The Project how cast members were in tears when they met to discuss plans on Monday.

“We’re all very emotional about it all,” she said. “We’re all so determined to bring this show home as best we can.”

Neighbours popularity has never really waned. It consistently pulls in round 1.5 million viewers - significantly more than Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and Home and Away, which will remain on Channel 5.

And it’s become so ingrained in British teatime culture that even those who no longer watch still have a fondness for the soap.

Only a few months ago, Scott Mills presented a three-hour long Neighbours tribute show on BBC Radio 2 in which he reunited Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Ian Smith and Anne Charleston (Scott, Charlene, Harold and Madge).

It sparked nostalgia for millions of listeners. But the show has always been about more than just a trip down memory lane.

Vaya Pashos, who runs the brilliant Neighbuzz podcast for fans of the show, says Neighbours is more than just a soap to many of us.

“It works best when they slide in topical issues around the day-to-day hijinks,”