According to the official Neighbours finale teaser, we’re ready to squeeze every last drop of moist nostalgia from our farewell appearance as Australia’s longest-running soap opera. Don’t anticipate bold faces or a casual goodbye. Good for them. This three and a half minute collection delivers exactly what is needed at this moment: sleeve-ripping sadness and searing nostalgia. Now is not the time for understatement.
The trailer takes us through Neighbours’ past and present to an eerie, reverb-y music about a reluctant breakup. Early on, it has amusing moments like Lou Carpenter playing with a clapperboard, Harold and Madge reuniting after their amnesia, Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe, and more weddings than a Moonie ceremony. Then it turns sensual before turning scary. Explosions! Murder! Violence! Fires! Aircraft Crashes! Horseback riding mishaps! Natural catastrophes! Scott Dennis!
The fatalities follow, played to the melancholy piano rendition of the theme tune. Oh, the murders. Jim Robinson, Kerry, Des’ Daphne, and Helen Daniels at the duck shot… Before an iconic scene of Harold Bishop’s spectacles being splashed by the heartless ocean on a rocky outcrop, there is a touching cameo from Bouncer the dog, who makes an appearance at 3:02 with sadness in his eyes. The combination of drama, melodrama, and emotional music makes for an impressive collection.
It’s impossible to condense 37 years and 8,903 episodes into less than the time it takes to boil an egg, so there are many things that are missing, but this typical sample is told with the emotional control of a young child who has dropped his ice cream. This trailer invites you to experience sadness and let your emotions out. An era is coming to an end. It’s time to part ways.
On Thursday, July 28, when what is being hailed as the “history-making” finale airs on Peach and 10 Peach in Australia, fans will be able to accomplish that. The program will air on Channel 5 in the UK one day later, on Friday, July 29, at 14:00 (UPDATE: 1st July). The final episode will run in its customary time slot between lunch and tea, followed by a double-bill at 9 o’clock. The closing extravaganza will be split into three new episodes. Many well-known celebrities who got their start on the soap opera, such Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, and many others, will come back to pay their respects. It won’t be a minor affair, based on this trailer. Please hold the tissues.
