What do you do with a soap that tied up all its loose ends and had the happy ending everyone wanted, then is rebooted just over a year later and has to come up with new episodes featuring many of the same characters? Neighbours has the answer: annoy absolutely everyone.
Last July, having been dropped by Channel 5 after almost four decades on air, a heartfelt swansong featured a Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) wedding, a touching speech by Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) (“Together, we have always been the perfect blend”) – and guest appearances by some of the soap’s most well-known former stars (including Kylie Minogue, who, bizarrely, said just five words in the entire episode: “Home sweet home,” “Jane!” and “Harold!”). Then, just over four months later, the free streaming service Amazon Freevee announced it would be rebooting the show. How was the soap going to start up again, viewers wondered.
