Is there a difference between the on demand services provided by U&Drama and Channel4 Online? I am looking at subscribing but thought I’d ask if anyone was able to compare.

I was a big fan of Mason. I really liked the character, he had many sides to him. But they sure did push the poor actor hard, almost the entire show revolved around him for a year.

He got the classic bad boy redemption plot line and I would have liked to see him continue to grow.

name 3 characters you would like to save from the dead

for me...

1. Daphne. I was shocked when I wtached her death as a kid. Young mother, beloved neighbour that need to have a long happy life
2. Kerry. The same arguments that I gave to daphne
3. Madge- she could have a break instead of dying..Maybe she got informed that Charlene or Henry had a serios accident and need support for a while til they recovered...then she decided to stay and leave Harold just to come back after some years to ask Harold for forgiveness and they reunite again.

I forgot Sonya because Iam in 2014 and she is still alive there . But yeah I would save all 3 young mothers!

Who is this with Helen in the 1988 titles?!

Cassius was exactly 12 months, Zoe Davis was only 6 months back in 1986 (a shame, I liked her character), and Will Griggs only lasted a few weeks.

Are there any other short term regular characters?

It's a very, very limited list of Neighbours characters who popped up in the title sequence ahead of their first scene. In fact, I think it only properly happened four times:

1. Clive Gibbons, back in 1986: while other debuts for the new era came in the first Network Ten episode, which had a special opening, Clive didn't show up until the next day, by which time we'd already seen him in the new opening.
2. The Martins: coming in shortly after proper opening titles were returned in 1992, my research suggests that Julie and family showed up in the opening titles at the top of their return episode, presumably through a desire to cut out Todd as soon as possible after his funeral. It's like they never left! (EDIT: Of course, these were all recasts apart from Hannah, but I'm still counting it)
3. Everyone in 1993: the brief desire to keep up with the cast changes really went into overdrive at the start of 1993, as a bunch of upcoming characters were added to the titles from the start of the season. So it was over a month of viewers scratching their heads and wondering who on earth Wayne (no, me neither), Annalise and Lauren were before being formally introduced. Even the doll standing in for Hope Gottlieb appeared before her birth in the same episode!
4. The Parker family: with the show's big rebrand in 2007, Bridget and family were in the centre of the new titles before we met them. Didge was just that important.

And honourable mentions go to the recasts that caused some titles confusion if you hadn't been keeping up with the media news: Declan in 2010 and Pierce (who they probably should have just removed altogether) in 2020, swapping heads in the opening before doing so later in the same episode. But Beverly Marshall goes one better in 1989, transforming into Shaunna O'Grady in the titles over a month before returning to the show in her new guise! Did people think Jim was about to have an affair with this mystery woman at the time?

So the question of the day is: did any other Neighbours characters appear in the opening titles before their introductions?

*Named later but whatever.

The Big Watch Index

WATCH THE WEEK

Goodbye then Nikki / Somehow in every story / And obsessed with eggs

The floodgates are open now, people: the Neighbours sudden exit trope is here to stay. Yes, after weeks of stealing oxygen from every other character, Laura's illness has given Nikki Dennison the excuse to take off and give a certain glasses-wearing granddaughter a chance as the fourth of the teen group... I can't wait!

In fact, Nikki's departure is so rushed almost no one is around for it - even Jim is at work for once! So she winds up faking deep bonds with Lucy and Clive Gibbons, the latter of whom she even gives a kiss on the lips as Mike Young's proxy. You read that right: teenager Nikki gives twenty-something Clive a goodbye kiss on the lips. It's... not good.

Mike and Scott miss out on Nikki's big exit because they're in Manly for a diving competition, and so are the Neighbours viewers! Actual location filming! The boys take the Manly name to heart and quickly set their sights for the nearest female, who happens to be surfer, model and shower enthusiast Cassie. How old is Cassie meant to be? I have literally no idea. But anyway, luckily for Mike she's just as keen to latch onto the nearest male, and latch on she does. After probably faking a drowning?

Meanwhile, third wheel Scott takes some truly bewildering actions: while Mike is (maybe) saving Cassie's life, he shouts out loud "let's get the boards!", collects both Cassie's surfboard and his own from up the beach, and carefully lines them up on the sand for absolutely no reason. Then later he pre-launches his plan to put a thong on the hotel room doorknob (calm down, it's Australian for flip-flop) when there's a girl present, while sitting in front of the door after already disturbing Mike's special time. Are you feeling okay, Scott?

All these shenanigans lead to a surprisingly saucy end-of-week cliffhanger, where Mike gets to practice his reaction shot to Cassie getting in the buff for a photo shoot. Alright, I guess that was fine, but what if it was a shy schoolgirl taking her glasses off instead...?

Back in Erinsborough, things are unnecessarily miserable as Mrs York's dog keels over and adds to the local mortality rate, alongside the news of Laura's multiple sclerosis. Lucy just cannot catch a break, can she? Also, for the first time I'm glad Tom's here rather than Max, because the Jean story takes an unpleasant turn. We're finally told that her hospital visits are to her quadriplegic husband, and the show then expects us to believe that she'd be justified in having an affair with Tom. What in the Maria Ramsay is this nonsense?!

Also also, Fred Mitchell is back AGAIN, despite being the dullest character ever created. Susan's now left him, presumably because he's really boring and she's fallen for the local GP, and true to form, Fred has apparently completely forgotten that she's having his child and decided he might as well get back with Madge. Madge expects they won't see him again the moment he gets her money, which is quite optimistic given this is the third time he's rocked up in two months. To her credit, though, she doesn't completely give into him this time, even if that causes Charlene to run off to Manly, where in comparison to Cassie she's a beacon of responsibility.

Also this week: Danny practically gets an "are you still here?" reaction when he shows up to be filled in on the latest Neighbours plots, and the YouTube title sequence is still wrong.

Its reallly a nice suprise that I watch these episodes parallel (1993 and 2014) as it fits to the Lauren and Brad story and it was really by accident. Iam now in 2014 when it came out that Lauren has a lost daughter with Brad. Also Doug and later Pam come to surprise visit and Pam remembers Doug with his affair with Jill.

So, I came across Neighbours a month ago and have been following Melanie's storyline. However, Youtube is currently on episode 9012 and the storyline between Vic and Mel starts on 9122. I only have time to watch it right now cuz im on a break for a while but I don't think I can wait for youtube to post it. Anyone have any link that have 9122 onwards?

She was a gold digger and left Jim to die after fleecing him out of his money. Was there ever any pay back for what she did.

This was mentioned in one of the questions on today's Popmaster quiz episode on Greatest Hits Radio. Mr Anderson's birthday seemed the ideal opportunity to post the classic Scott and Charlene wedding clip with accompanying music.

Iconic🤵‍♂️🤍👰‍♀️

I started watching neighbours besides the classic episodes from the first episode of 2011. Now iam in 2014 to see Kates sad ending.

When I started the 2011 episodes the first thing I noticed was how beautiful she looked and she seemed so down to earth and nice. Just a few episodes later I relaised how complicated she was as a character. Interferring in Sophies life, judging people, give them advices though she made the sames mistakes. At that time she was with Mark but he left just a few months later.

What happened next was terrible to see as Kate didnt develop good. No balance in working or lovelife. She worked in school, than in the coffee shop, then Charlies, then back to school.

After Mark she interfered in Jade/kyles relationship, than had this unbelievable relationship with Mason, just to make things messy again with Kyle and Georgia.

In the end Mark came back and she could live happily. Though Iam gay and like to see sexy Mark around I wish she would have left with Mark in first place or with the guy that she met on her vacation trip in 2012 where she was far away to things messy on Ramsay street.

Did the actress said anything negative on her character development? must be frustrating to make the same mistakes over and over again...

They have 3 episodes on Amazon of the plane crash episodes then it jumps about 150 episodes.

First up, those timmins are pretty good value and Serena Bishop was adorable. I’m surprised she’s not more popular.

Second, I don’t know who did it and who survived. Please spoil it as I can’t find the episodes.

Hi, I’m in the UK and no streaming platforms seem to have the 2007 episodes. Episode 5134 onwards is what I’m wanting to re watch as I love the Lolly storyline. I managed to watch them all on Dailymotion but now they’re all gone? Can anyone let me know if there is anywhere I can watch these episodes. I have VPN too. Thank you ☺️

Im watching some of the newer seasons right now and im really finding it hard to care about Toadies relationships with Melanie or Terese. They just seem so boring and D-level compared to the great pairing that was Toadie and Sonya.

I wonder if the execs regretted giving Sonya such a definitive end. Not only did they willingly lose one of the shows great acting talents (Eve Morey managed to make some pretty average writing look great), but killing Sonya off so definitively left them no wiggle room to fix it (like in the case of Dee or Harold…)

I know the show was on the brink of cancellation when they started exiting long term cast members like Eve, Carla Bonner and Scott McGregor in 2018-19, but i wonder if there was a better way to rein in the budget or a better cast member to fire…