The Perfect Blend...

I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear at the demise of Neighbours.  I know that it has long been fashionable to sneer at popular entertainment such as soaps operas, especially Australian soaps, but the fact is that Neighbours has been one of those things ever present in my life for the thirty six years it has been broadcast in the UK.  As I've mentioned here before, part of the attraction of Neighbours lay in the fact that, in contrast with domestic soaps, is its assumption that the majority of people are essentially decent human beings, that nobody is all bad.  The average episode doesn't consist of people screaming abuse at each other, plotting murder or simply being unpleasant.  While the series has always had some dubious characters among its regulars, they've rarely been out and out evil villains: Paul Robinson, for instance, might have been ruthless in business and too controlling in his personal life, he genuinely loved his family and didn't go in for using physical force.  (It is notable that the only time he came even close to being a soap 'super villain', plotting to bring down everyone he held a grudge against, it turned out that his behaviour was being caused by a brain tumour).  Lovable rogues like Lou Carpenter or fickle and narcissistic temptresses like Izzy Hoyland were more par for the course as far as dodgy characters went.  (Even local psychopath Finn Kelly was shown to be a product of forces beyond his control and, for a while, looked like he might find redemption when he lost his memory and reverted to his pre-psycho persona).

The fact is that Neighbours successfully created a fantasy world where it always seemed to be sunny, everyone wanted to be friends, where you always knew there wold be a welcome and forgiveness and redemption were always possible.  (Damn it, even Audrey and Sadie were forgiven for nearly burning down the school, actually burning down Jane's mailbox and framing Zara for it all, yo the extent that Sadie even ended up living on Ramsey Street, accepted by the neighbours).  During some very bad periods in my life, it was one of the safe places I always knew that I could escape into for twenty five minutes or so at a time.  Indeed, even during the periods when I didn't watch it, (and there were quite a few of those), just knowing that it still existed was comforting.  But now it is no more.  But at least they ended the show in such a way that we can at least still sustain our fantasies that Ramsey Street still exists and its residents are still there, carrying on their lives.  It s reassuring to feel that Karl and Susan are still welcoming wayward souls into their home and helping them turn their lives around through the redemptive power of love, or that Harold Bishop, the grandfather we all wished we had, is still dropping in for visits.  I even like the idea that Paul Robinson is still there, spinning his business schemes.  Best of all, the last few episodes brought back Mike Young (Guy Pearce himself), one of the most popular characters from the early years of the show, to buy Chloe's house and finally, hopefully, get together with his teenage love, Jane.  It's nice to think of him back there.  I know that I'm revealing myself here to be a sentimental and romantic fool, but as I've grown older, I've found that seeing happy, hopeful, endings, even in TV soaps, has grown increasingly important to me.  I need the reassurance that, regardless of how turbulent times have been, there can still be good outcomes and positive futures.  All of that said, I do have a fundamental problem with Neighbours: that theme song, specifically the the lyric about how 'good neighbours become good friends'.  The reality, I find, is that neighbours, in real life, no matter how well-meaning they might be, are simply a pain in the arse.