Les voisins

I am a very good fan of Neighbours. I am not a soap-addict, one of those people who always have to see every soap on the television, nor one of those who does nothing but watch television. In fact, I am one of those who watches little television, and still this has been one of the only things I like to see. I watch it when I come home from school, some other friends of mine do too. This has some great story lines, some that a few of us can relate to, from worries about parenting to sexuality confusion to trying to fit in at school, etc. There are plenty of stories to keep the viewer interested. Although some seem a bit far-fetched, this show is still very good and keeps me entertained throughout each 30 minute episode. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see a good soap. Beware, you may get stuck on this one.

When I was about seven years old, I switched the TV on, and there were the opening credits of Neighbours, complete with the broken window and the cricket ball. Since then, over ten years ago, I've been completely addicted to the show. I don't exactly know why. Jason Donovan may have had something to do with it, and admittedly, the show has never been quite the same since Scott & Charlene left. Although there have been awful moments, some bad acting and chipboard sets, it's still pretty good. After Helen died, it was the end of an era, and maybe the show has never recovered, but I'm still addicted.

"Neighbours", contrary to many peoples' opinions, is a well acted and well crafted soap opera. It is its timeslot in the UK among children's programmes which has been a caused for some critics to label it "cheap teens soap" - but in many countries "Neighbours" earns a prime time slot. "Neighbours'" daily screening in more than 57 countries with a daily audience in excess of 120 million viewers is testament to its success. In a television world dominated by soap operas, "Neighbours" has always remained close to its original concept by soap-master Reg Watson.

"Neighbours" has produced a host of actors who have graduated from "Ramsay Street" to become world-wide celebrities, most notably Kylie Minogue (Charlene Mitchell); Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson); Guy Pearce (Mike Young); Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Brennan) and Holly Valance (Felicity Scully). Its mix of children, young adults, parents and grandparents has ensured fascination for all generations, and the show has succeeded far beyond its creator's expectations - especially in Britian where it was bought as a daytime 'filler' programme for the BBC in 1986.

"Neighbours" celebrated the filming of its landmark 4000th episode in December 2001, firmly making it Australia's longest running series, and one of the World's most popular and acclaimed television programmes. With the addition of actors such as Janet Andrewartha, Maggie Millar and Madeleine West, as well as old favourites Tom Oliver; Ian Smith, Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher, this success can only continue.

Unlike many British soaps, which are all doom and gloom, Neighbors adds some much needed comedy to weekday afternoons. It is impossible for Neighbors to produce a serious event as arguments, fights, and, yes, even deaths and funerals are presented in such a way that you just have to laugh. A factor which I can conclude is largely influenced by the hilarious sound track underlying almost every event, scene opening and scene closing. It is true that much of the acting is also pretty laughable- but this is just one of the traits which makes this such a relaxed and familiar soap. Many of the story lines can, again, be pretty weak, but with so much comedy- who cares if they are a little off the wall? This is a fab soap which is highly addictive. I would, and am, seriously recommend it to absolutely anyone and everyone!

Despite the many negative comments here, Neighbours is still an amazing programme. It always manages to get 10 million viewers a day so that must be saying something. Anyway, I admit that the show has depleted in quality since the arrival of the Scully family, but if you want a taste of when it was amazing, try UK Gold at either 12:30 in the afternoon or 4:30 in the early evening. The episodes showing currently are from late 1994, featuring classic characters such as Philip, Julie, Lou, Cheryl, Annalise etc. Neighbours is still an extremely enjoyable show, and although the storylines are corny and it seems there is lack of continuity, this is only because the BBC cut the programme so much. Storylines we have missed out on are excellent ones such as Lucy and Glenn's incest, Libby's rape, part of Cheryl being held hostage, Cheryl's death (we actually missed seeing her role over the car), Julie's attempt to seduce her husband Philip etc. These are all amazing storylines, but we missed out on them. So, you cannot possibly say Neighbours is bad when it hasn't been given a fair chance. If anything, it must be amazing for the BBC to cut inappropriate storylines. Think about it.