Neighbours
With a string of hits and format deals around the world, including the 80s hit soap opera, Sons and Daughters (1982), another of Grundy's television legacies is the long-running serial drama, Neighbours. First commissioned and broadcast by 7 Network in 1985, following its cancellation after just seven months, it was picked up and aired on Network 10 from January 1986 to November 2010 and then its digital channel 11 (later 10 Peach) from January 2011. Neighbours was a much bigger hit in the UK than Australia, and in the 1980s and early 90s, it was achieving viewing figures of up to 20 million on the BBC. It originally ran as "cheap daytime filler" at lunchtimes, with a repeat the following morning, however, a timeslot change to an early evening repeat, saw viewing figures treble. By 2007, ratings had eroded somewhat, but it remained the highest-rated daytime drama series in the UK, with audiences over three million viewers. The BBC dropped Neighbours after refusing to sign a new ten year contract with Fremantle, valued at over 300 million GBP - three times the fee they paid previously.[3] As a consequence, the BBC walked away from negotiations, and the series moved to commercial broadcaster, Channel 5, from Monday, 11 February 2008.
In 2011, Channel 5 became Neighbours key production partner following Ten's decision to move the series to their new digital channel (then called "11") and therefore, reduce their financial stake in its production costs. Neighbours was the highest-rated daytime show for the broadcaster for several years, however, changing viewer habits and demographics saw Channel 5 renegotiate their contract with Fremantle. In 2017, a new four-year deal was agreed which increased the number of episodes produced to all year round (from 240 episodes to 258) and episodes were broadcast in Australia and the UK on the same day, in a bid to prevent new episodes leaking to online streaming services. The full effect of this strategy was unrealised however, when Channel 5 dropped down to showing only two weekly episodes during the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore, putting the UK behind Australia once again and this situation was never resolved - UK broadcasts then overtook Australia when 10 Peach reduced their output to four weekly episodes, whilst Channel 5 carried on airing five. In June 2021, only a one-year extension to this deal was granted, but in February 2022, Channel 5 finally decided not to renew their contract with Fremantle. With no other broadcaster willing to produce Neighbours, the series official cancellation was announced in March, and came to an end on Thursday, 28 July 2022 (Friday, 29 July in Britain), after 37 years of production.[4] In November 2022, it was announced that the show would be revived by Amazon Freevee and Fremantle and would being airing in 2023.
