There, I’ve admitted it! I watch Neighbours. Phew, I feel free now that is off my chest. It’s a programme that I used to watch when I was much younger, when the likes of Jim Robinson, Madge and Harold Bishop, and Mrs Mangle inhabited Ramsay Street. It first aired in 1985 and I must have watched it for quite a few years but I eventually stopped tuning in at some point along the way.
Fast forward to several years ago and I turned it on out of curiosity. Imagine my surprise to find some long-standing regular characters still in the show – Paul Robinson, Susan and Karl Kennedy, and Toadie are some that spring to mind. Seeing these familiar characters sucked me in again, especially as there’d be the odd appearance of another original character every now and then. I was curious enough to reacquaint myself with these characters and also got to know the new ones along the way. And that is how I ended up using Neighbours as the programme to watch while I eat my dinner.
Some of the storylines are completely daft and couples are doomed to never get a happy ever after, but then the writers have to balance trying to show character’s living ordinary lives while having enough drama to keep the viewers interested. There’s usually enough eye-candy characters to keep all tastes satisfied, one hospital room in which everyone gets put, a dog that never gets walked but is sometimes remembered, the Lassiters Hotel where everyone stays in the same room, and the local drinking establishment where no one seems to get stupidly drunk (except on rare occasions). The acting is generally good and it provides a nice little escape where you can watch fictional people screw up their lives worse than you (well, maybe).
