There was a time when Neighbours rivalled EastEnders for the BBC’s most-watched soap, pulling in up to 19 million viewers for its two daily episodes in the early 1990s. Now, Neighbours’ fortunes have faded somewhat, usually drawing fewer than 1 million viewers on Channel 5, while EastEnders has been attracting more than 9 million for its Live Week. But that didn’t stop the Australian soap’s stars from offering their own 30th birthday tribute to their Walford rivals, in a video spoofing its memorable moments.
Monkey particularly enjoyed Neighbours’ Paul Kennedy (Stefan Dennis) playing Grant Mitchell (Steve McFadden), plus gems such as Kat and Zoe Slater’s slanging match, the spoof of Den Watts serving Angie with divorce papers on Christmas Day, and Peggy Mitchell yelling “get outta my pub”.
Neighbours will celebrate its own 30th birthday in a few weeks – it launched in Australia on 18 March 1985 – so Monkey looks forward to the stars of EastEnders returning the compliment.
