Neighbours ends

[Flux]

To be fair, I never said I wouldn't like to see Neighbours repeated from the beginning or that people wouldn't watch it if it was, just pointing out that the Corrie and Emmerdale repeats weren't from the start. Would like to see a repeat run of Brookside from the start as well, surely it would all be cheap programming.

Maybe ITVX when it launches could give us older episodes of Emmerdale and Corrie on a rolling basis in the same way the STV player does with High Road.

What may seem like "cheap programming" on paper could be riddled with all kinds of hidden costs - actors' contracts being the major one, since actors may have only been contracted for a certain amount of terrestrial transmissions and it may vary between agreements depending on how things were done with agents at the time. Outside of that, writers will also have been on a strict agreement dictated by the Writers' Guild, as will any music clearance - even library tracks. None of these will have been contracted for digital TV or catch-up, since it didn't exist, and may need to be negotiated with every person involved. Even if they don't, you need to allow time and resource for someone to actually go through the original agreements (if they still exist) to make sure they can be used, and of course there's more than just the few examples I've listed here.

You'd also need someone to check compliance episode by episode: undue prominence, what might now be deemed offensive language, guest appearances or references to long since disgraced TV personalities or similar. What do you do with them? Skip them? Or budget for a certain amount of re-edits before the shows are repeated?

Before you even get there there's also the issue of actually sourcing broadcastable copies of every episode - if they only exist on tape, you need to factor in digitising every episode... and that's after you actually find out where they are, and ensure they're all still in playable condition.

The above, and more, will vary from show to show and some will be much easier to clear than others, but ultimately trying to repeat a show with so many episodes from so long ago could just open a very large can of worms and isn't necessarily "cheap programming".

[TIGHazard]

My thoughts now turn to wondering if any broadcaster would dedicate themselves to showing episodes from the start of its run.

A smart broadcaster should seriously be considering episodes from Neighbours heyday of the late 80s, the 90s and early 00s and running them at or around 1:45 and 5:30/6pm from the Monday in August after the final episode.

A smart broadcaster probably wouldn't bother acquiring ancient episodes of Neighbours as they wouldn't rate.

While they may not rate on TV, with how it was historically linked to the BBC (and with it being it's 100th year), I could see a selection of episodes as a iPlayer acquisition.

[JasonB]

If you have $1.3-1.4 million you can have Toadie's house in Ramsay Street:
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-h...-OFSuV4sFQ

Auction 9th April.

[itsrobert]

To be fair, I never said I wouldn't like to see Neighbours repeated from the beginning or that people wouldn't watch it if it was, just pointing out that the Corrie and Emmerdale repeats weren't from the start. Would like to see a repeat run of Brookside from the start as well, surely it would all be cheap programming.

Maybe ITVX when it launches could give us older episodes of Emmerdale and Corrie on a rolling basis in the same way the STV player does with High Road.

What may seem like "cheap programming" on paper could be riddled with all kinds of hidden costs - actors' contracts being the major one, since actors may have only been contracted for a certain amount of terrestrial transmissions and it may vary between agreements depending on how things were done with agents at the time. Outside of that, writers will also have been on a strict agreement dictated by the Writers' Guild, as will any music clearance - even library tracks. None of these will have been contracted for digital TV or catch-up, since it didn't exist, and may need to be negotiated with every person involved. Even if they don't, you need to allow time and resource for someone to actually go through the original agreements (if they still exist) to make sure they can be used, and of course there's more than just the few examples I've listed here.

You'd also need someone to check compliance episode by episode: undue prominence, what might now be deemed offensive language, guest appearances or references to long since disgraced TV personalities or similar. What do you do with them? Skip them? Or budget for a certain amount of re-edits before the shows are repeated?

Before you even get there there's also the issue of actually sourcing broadcastable copies of every episode - if they only exist on tape, you need to factor in digitising every episode... and that's after you actually find out where they are, and ensure they're all still in playable condition.

The above, and more, will vary from show to show and some will be much easier to clear than others, but ultimately trying to repeat a show with so many episodes from so long ago could just open a very large can of worms and isn't necessarily "cheap programming".

Would all of those problems apply to Neighbours though as it had a re-run from the very first episode on UK Gold from about 1992 until at least 2005 if not later. I remember the episodes were shown on weekdays with an omnibus edition on Saturday mornings. So, a lot of those problems seem to have been overcome in the past.

Also, some of Neighbours' contemporaries have managed to deal with these obstacles. Sons and Daughters is currently getting a DVD release (almost up to the last couple of seasons now), is on the 7Plus streaming platform in Australia in its entirety and is also getting a repeat airing on Australian TV. Prisoner Cell Block H is also currently enjoying a DVD re-release as well as being on the 10Play streaming platform in Australia. Similarly, A Country Practice has also just enjoyed a complete series release on DVD - all 1,088 episodes!

I think it's all too easy to dismiss these programmes as irrelevant rubbish from years ago, but there is still an appetite for them from dedicated fans through to casual viewers who want to remember better times. Put it this way, they wouldn't have managed to release nearly 700 episodes of Sons and Daughters on DVD without some kind of interest.

In terms of Neighbours, it is too long-running to justify any kind of substantial DVD release (it was attempted several years ago but they gave up after about 300 episodes). The best chance would be a re-run on TV or putting some/all of the episodes onto a streaming platform. It seems like that has been possible for equivalent soaps from the same era.

[James2001]

Really shouldn't be a problem for Brookside either seeing as the first 12 or so years were repeated on UK Living/Living TV, then Sky One showed around 18 months or so's worth.

[This is UTV]

Would all of those problems apply to Neighbours though as it had a re-run from the very first episode on UK Gold from about 1992 until at least 2005 if not later. I remember the episodes were shown on weekdays with an omnibus edition on Saturday mornings.

Neighbours was last shown on G.O.L.D during the 'Go On Laugh Daily' era, and GOLD ended on ep 5330 (the last BBC episode) on the 14th November 2008.

The last BBC ep 5330 was from July 2008 so GOLD did catch up quite a bit.

As G.O.L.D has become a comedy channel by then, all remaining eps were burned off at 6am...ish, double bills daily (no weekend showing or omnibuses).

[Flux]

Would all of those problems apply to Neighbours though as it had a re-run from the very first episode on UK Gold from about 1992 until at least 2005 if not later. I remember the episodes were shown on weekdays with an omnibus edition on Saturday mornings. So, a lot of those problems seem to have been overcome in the past.

Also, some of Neighbours' contemporaries have managed to deal with these obstacles. Sons and Daughters is currently getting a DVD release (almost up to the last couple of seasons now), is on the 7Plus streaming platform in Australia in its entirety and is also getting a repeat airing on Australian TV. Prisoner Cell Block H is also currently enjoying a DVD re-release as well as being on the 10Play streaming platform in Australia. Similarly, A Country Practice has also just enjoyed a complete series release on DVD - all 1,088 episodes!

I think it's all too easy to dismiss these programmes as irrelevant rubbish from years ago, but there is still an appetite for them from dedicated fans through to casual viewers who want to remember better times. Put it this way, they wouldn't have managed to release nearly 700 episodes of Sons and Daughters on DVD without some kind of interest.

In terms of Neighbours, it is too long-running to justify any kind of substantial DVD release (it was attempted several years ago but they gave up after about 300 episodes). The best chance would be a re-run on TV or putting some/all of the episodes onto a streaming platform. It seems like that has been possible for equivalent soaps from the same era.

Not necessarily, and I wasn’t saying all those problems are relevant, just pointing out that what some may assume is easy and cheap programming may not be as easy or cheap in practice. Just because something was cleared for use in 2005 or other shows from the same era have been repeated doesn’t mean it can also just be easily repeated on another channel today. Of course it’s entirely possible if someone wanted to do it, but in an industry where every penny matters - especially for smaller channels - any commissioner would need to be able to justify spending extra on checks and clearances for a show from 1985 when it’s probably cheaper and easier to repeat something from, say, 2015 when all releases and contracts are watertight and have been cleared in perpetuity and for all future media.

[Jez_CymruWales]

Would all of those problems apply to Neighbours though as it had a re-run from the very first episode on UK Gold from about 1992 until at least 2005 if not later. I remember the episodes were shown on weekdays with an omnibus edition on Saturday mornings.

Neighbours was last shown on G.O.L.D during the 'Go On Laugh Daily' era, and GOLD ended on ep 5330 (the last BBC episode) on the 14th November 2008.

The last BBC ep 5330 was from July 2008 so GOLD did catch up quite a bit.

As G.O.L.D has become a comedy channel by then, all remaining eps were burned off at 6am...ish, double bills daily (no weekend showing or omnibuses).

I think they started showing 2 episodes per day at some point which helped them to catch up. When Neighbours started on UK Gold in 1992 they were 6 years behind the episodes shown on BBC1 and over 7 years behind Australia.

[Robertclark125]

It's easy to speculate, but I wonder how they'll end the final episode. Will they play out the theme tune as usual, or perhaps another tune? This is the ending to the last ever High Road (originally take the high road) in 2003, and it's ended with a wedding. The bagpipe is playing "Mharies wedding" as opposed to the Take the High Road theme tune. After the end credits, a little tribute to the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXlHoIhRK4

[Jez_CymruWales]

When Prisoner ended in 1986 they just played the end credits sequence with ah officer (who was one of the background officers not a regular character) doing the lockup. It was a fantastic final episode but I thought it was a shame they didn't do something different over the end credits. Both Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice did special end credits for their final episodes (at least the final Channel 7 ACP not sure about the short channel 10 series)

[soupie]

The Bill had a good, stylised ending with a massive sweeping shot of the station. I wonder if Holby City will do something similar when it finally peters out tonight?

[commseng]

While they may not rate on TV, with how it was historically linked to the BBC (and with it being it's 100th year), I could see a selection of episodes as a iPlayer acquisition.

I do admire those who latch on to any anniversary to suggest that this is the perfect opportunity to repeat something that they remember from their younger days.
The BBC ought to be celebrating 100 years of British Broadcasting, and although they used to transmit Neighbours, it was seen as an Aussie filler with a bit of sunshine, and cheaper than making their own new soap opera to air outside of peak time.
At this rate they will be expected to put episodes of Dallas, Star Trek and Top Cat as part of the 100 year celebrations.

[tellyblues]

The shows you list were very popular and made a mark so to speak so why shouldn't they be celebrated as part of the 100 years? Who produced them is irrelevant as it was the BBC that brought them to viewers.

[DeMarkay]

The Bill had a good, stylised ending with a massive sweeping shot of the station. I wonder if Holby City will do something similar when it finally peters out tonight?

Ding Ding Ding!

[Brekkie]

Arguably showing international programming has been part of the BBC serving British audiences, though probably easier to sell the foreign language programming as public service broadcasting than the US/Aussie soaps.


As for how Neighbours end - surely it has to be a game of cricket in the street.