This Madge/Agnes thing is stupid.
Bringing Madge back from the dead would have been more realistic 
1 Like
Just as a figment of Harold’s imagination or in a dream would have been enough.
2 Likes
Agree. Or like a flash forward and she hadnt died.
Or not at all.
This show really needs to start moving forward. Enough returnees, characters from the past who have no business being on the show in 2025.
1 Like
It’s in its dying days, so may as well go a bit fan service-y. Not attracting new viewers at this point.
1 Like
It’s not new though. They have been OBSESSED with the past for a really long time now. Way too many returnees and past reminders.
They don’t really do the best job building for the future. Way too focused on the past.
I think one of the worst mistakes was bringing back the same Executive Producer for the revival who is a fan of the show. I imagine him being a fan of the show would’ve clouded his judgement with constantly bringing back returnees.
9 Likes
The whole show is poorly written overall too.
(And i say that as someone who is currently obsessed with watching the reboot).
2 Likes
I know given the unfriendly parting Alan Dale had with the producers of Neighbours, they could have Jim Robinson wake up decades later and Madge not be dead after all - the Madge death be a hallucination in Jims comatose state. Would be even better if they could get Jason Donovan to make another guest appearance (without Kylie) but I think these things would be asking to much
that would be a giant fuck you to audiences who have watched the last 20 years
The show doesn’t have the same viewers it had 25 or 30 years ago so a lot of the nostalgia is lost on them. I’m a long term fan but completely agree that they need to move on and create new characters and families.
The Varga-Murphys were a completely new family since the reboot and they are arguable the most popular characters in the show now. They have been cleverly woven into storylines involving other characters and families.
The Rodwells were introduced before the finale and came back in the reboot. Although they’ve been somewhat restricted, they have been a successful new addition as well.
Move on and don’t constantly look back.
4 Likes
Reminds me of what they did in H&A when Alf started seeing the ghost of his dead wife.
The revival of Neighbours after it was axed in 2022 and then reboot it in 2023 to axe it only 2025 is at the very least a kick in the teeth to any loyal viewers yet but close to a big f*ck you to the entire audience not only to those who have watched it religiously for the last 20 or 30 years but also those that came to the show in the 10 years.
I agree that there is probably only a small number of viewers who have watched most of the episodes and the audience watching it 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 years ago is somewhat different to now so even the idea of Harold having a dream being an explanation of Madge returning could be like doing a burn out in front of someones place.
Perhaps a Madge imposter could have been planted and that is who died OR alternatively this character could pretend to be Madge.
I think that these suggestions regardless how ridiculous or otherwise, that the producers have already decided a cliffhanger ending - leaving it for another reboot instead if offering finality
I like Neibours bringing back oldies but most Soap operas do this Days of our lives, General Hospital, coronation st and B&b etc. Obviously you watch Home and Away which is mainly a teen drama masquerading as a Soap Opera these days and hardly brings any old characters there’s no history to Home and Away?
I dont watch any of them. But from what I have heard, there is no links to the original premise of Home and Away - based around Tom and Pippa Fletcher and the children they fostered who moved to the seaside village of Summer Bay.
Neighbours was based around the Ramsey and Robinson families - and although they are loosely on the original concept, the only original actor in Neighbours is Stefan Dennis
Attention @JBar (hello) Darcy Tyler update pls 
Susan Kennedy has two sisters. Liz Conway’s daughters are Elly and Bea. Carmel Tyler’s son is Darcy.
Dr Darcy Tyler moved to Erinsborough after his engagement to Alice ended in 2000. She tried to sue him for all their assets so he was forced to move in with auntie Susan and uncle Karl Kennedy. He worked at Karl’s surgery but because he had money problems, he started fiddling the books and was busted by the tax department.
Darcy dated nurse Dee Bliss but then began an affair with Dee’s friend, schoolteacher Tess Bell who didn’t know he was still with Dee. After the bombshell revelation, Dee dumped him. Tess kept seeing him, they got engaged but she jilted him on the day of their wedding. By then, Dee was with Joel Samuels when she suffered a miscarriage but it was revealed she lost Darcy’s baby.
Dee started dating Toadie. Darcy realised he always really loved Dee and tried to get back together with her so he plotted against them and caused them to break up. They later got back together.
Darcy played poker and developed a gambling problem. He stole money from the takings at the pub and after Karl and Susan inherited some jewellery from a rich relative, he staged a break-in. When he ran away, he knocked over pregnant neighbour Lyn Scully. He was jailed after he was busted.
After good behaviour, he was released and moved back in with Susan, who had by then split from Karl. Darcy worked as an orderly at the hospital where he looked up Izzy Hoyland’s medical records. She was trying to pass off her first pregnancy as Karl’s baby so Darcy confronted Izzy and she offered a bribe to keep quiet but he refused. As he turns to leave, he falls down the stairs, hits his head on the wall. He lapsed into a coma and Izzy planted some jewellery on him. After he woke, he stood trial but he passed a polygraph test and Izzy gave him a glowing reference in return for silence, so he escaped with only a good behaviour bond.
As he left town, he left Susan a letter revealing the truth about Karl not being the father of Izzy’s baby. That was mentioned in tonight’s episode.
3 Likes
What a blast from the past all that was! So many names that I’d forgotten but could instantly remember from the era when I was a religious viewer. I’ve been watching the discussion here and I don’t know if it’s just because I’m older and the world has changed or not but both Neighbours and H&A are both just really hard to watch and follow these days. There’s nothing to really get people to stick around and it’s hard with the viewers not the same as 2 decades ago and never going to be that high again.
It’s a shame and I hate that these platforms that have launched so many Aussie careers are/could be gone soon (I don’t know whether H&A will still be around in 5 years) and with so many other opportunities lost over the years in Aussie entertainment I hope something can come along to bring back life to the industry.
Neighbours star Ian Smith has said he is “defying the odds” after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The 86-year-old actor and writer, known for playing former cafe owner Harold Bishop in the Australian soap, previously revealed that he has a rare form of lung cancer, called pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma.
Smith told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Adrian Chiles programme: “I’ve got cancer, yes, I’m going to die soon but I seem to be defying the odds, which is good.”
He said that he is “determined to have an electric car before I die”, adding: “And I was speaking to a salesman. I said, ‘Now, what about the delivery? Can you get to me before I’m dead?’ And he was so shocked. I said, ‘Come on, let’s have a giggle’.”
Morgana O’Reily (Naomi Canning) in the newest season of The White Lotus! I always thought she was a really great talent. Glad to see her in this.
2 Likes