The Battle of the Soaps

If you want to listen to all of the episodes of this series right now, early release and ad free, plus a whole host of extra fan club benefits, head to Museum of pop culture. supportingcast.fm or if that's too much of a mouthful, just click on it in the show notes, which is the description bit. that no one reads. Hello and welcome. I am Josh Whittdakamb. For today I amm the curator of a place of incredible artifacts and exhibitions, a place that stores the greatest thing on Eth. This is my archive of pop culture As a self confessed pop culture obsessive. I love the geniuses, the scam artists and there I set the absolute madmen. They've made the records shows and films that we love. In each series I will tell you a story of unlikely triumph and usually an enjoyably crushing failure, featuring celebrated stars that in any other industry would probably be politely sated It's a show for people more interested in David Hasselhoff than David Lamy, Elizabeth Taylor, and Queen Elizabeth I. whichich let's be honest, is all of us. oin me today to discuss one of, if not the most iconic and beloved show in British television history It's the story of Ramsey Street and neighbours. It's Matthew Crosby Matthew, will you do me the honour of accompanying me to the most important wedding of the nineteen eighties? I'm your plus one. Do you think it is the most important wedding? I suppose Princess Iiana and Charles It was a great decade for weddings. It was the wedding decade. When I look back on the eighties, I think most weekends I was at a high profile wedding. Prince Andrew and Fergie of course. Andrew and Fergie. I remember when that got announced I was in primary school One of the teachers came in and told my teacher Oh by the way, Prince Andrew' getting married to Sarah Ferguson And the teacher was then right, kids T Tedy's coming out all lessons are off, we're going to watch the coverage for the rest of the day. What? And we were like, what? You do realize we're little children who don't care about this sort of thing. Little Republicans. Little Republicans that we were. Yeahah, trying to start a revolution. Wow. Theyes did that for Wimbledon. Did they? Your teachers were quite lazy, weren't they? It was a different school. That was Stain. James's and they said we're going to watch Wimbledon afternoon Is there any chance I could just do something else? 'cause I don't wantan to watch Wimbledon? And they said there's a test match of Lords. we could put that on What about the World Cup? Would you watch the World Cup? Jenuly I said, Would you mind if I read a book at the back and they're like, No, you're watching in Wimbledon like everyone else. So who' playing? I don't know. Two tennis players. Becauseuse also the late eighties, early nineties, it was a notoriously bad time for British tennis. So it's not like they'd gone There's this big moment. Andy Murray iss about to win Wimbledon for the first time in seventy seven years or whatever it was. And it's a weekday as well. Well, my daughter sometimes At bothoth our schools because we've recently moved, And so I thought it was the first one But it's the second one as well They watch News round. Do they? She'll talk aboutonald Trump and I go, how do you know about Donald Trump? She go we watch N news round? Oh they watch you it on iPay. They're not in school at half past five or five o'clock are they? They're not linear television generation, Matthew. No, no,fredid you have to stay in school ttill six PM because we're going to watch newews round. Yeah. Of course, if you get to year six they're watching Channel four newews. More woke news being fed down there The Garet holes by the mainstream media So Scott and Charlen's wedd Ed in Australia, the first of july nineteen eighty seven, Ed in the UK, eighth of november nineteen eighty eight. so we're about fifteen months behind at this point Right, November as well. Not a great time for a wedding. One of the reasons they did the wedding is because there was some outrage from traditionalists believing that they shouldn't have an unwed couple living together on Ramsey Street. Fair enough, Quite right. Too bloody right. So they filmed it in secret three months before the Australian Broadcast date because they didn't want the story to break It's a huge moment prome the wedding epode they makeakes several appearances at shopping centers With Wedding cakes, this is Kylie and Jason before the broadcast and they cut the cake and they hand it out to fans. Oh wow. getting handed a piece of cake by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogag in Australian shopping center is't b It does not get bad. What a cultural moment. That would be like being there when the Berlin Wall came down It really would. It's huge. There' someone quoted says, I've never seen anything like it There would have been six thousand people. Security had to prevent anym going inside There was this near riot. We had to stop the appearance at this point to prevent people being crushed There were six thousand people Six thousand people. How big iss the cake? How big the shopping center? How big's the shopping center? How big's the cake? They were bigg than Jesus did this bigger Yeah he only did five thousand. He only did five thousand. One wedding cake around six thousand people, officially bigger than Jesus. The wedding attracts nineteen point six million viewers. making it the third most watch program in the country that year. But I'd say The one that's become most iconic You know what I mean? Yeah Do you remember the song that played Angry Anderson Yes, suuddenly by Andri Anderson. It was chosen by Kylie Minoguue, who was given all the songs to choose from and she chose that. Her first choice was the locomotion. And they're like, comeome on, Kylie. Well, quit the cross promotion. It reaches number three in the UK singles chart and stays in the UK chart for thirteen weeks. It's a beautiful song. She does perform the locomotion at a football club benefit in nineteen eighty seven And then she's invited to record the song by Mushroom records. It's released the same time as the wedding episode. Very Canny. Very smart. That's the reason she's had such a suc a long and successful career because she understands she fundamentally understands the media. Exactly. The song becomes the best selling single of the decade in Australia. Wow. It's a great song No don't get It a chance back I mean, is it good enough to be the best selling song of the eighties? Did you not do the locomotion at Disco? It's got an accompanying dance? Yeah, but so is Mambo number five has it No, I don't think so. The Mapparana. That's why. I meet the mppareana. Yeah. Josh and are trying to popularize a different pose for every girl's name in Mamo number five. Now you know Monica, she's always high kicking. Rita loves to do a twirl. Tina can do the splits It's a difficult dance actually. It's a really difficult dance It'd be good if like Tina just put her hands on her head. That'd be good. We made a rod for our own back as two, not particularly limber men in our forties The reason partly that Kylie would break away, I suppose, would be tempted to and why not? is they're not paid that well Do you know which character His best paid in neighbours. Which character is it either Jim or Paul? No. Bouncer. It is Bouncer. Is it? It was revealed the dogs paid between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars presumably a year When he made personal appearances, apparently he travelled in a stretch limmer. I'd say that's for effect when turning up at the personal appearances. Yeah, it wasn't a demand he made? No, of course Basically, I mean, we've covered this in the stock Gake and water with an episode, so we won't linger on it too long Kylie then comes to the UK off the success of the locomotion And she does I should be so lucky, which goes number one in Australia, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong and Israel So she becomes a music megastar still to this day J just on a Netflix documentary. Well there we go Jason He's big, but he's not as big and he's slightly in her tail, isn't he At this point. Well, I don't know what they can up to behind closed doors, but my word that is a sh. There's no need for that, is there? There's no need for that. There's absolutely no need for that kind of. They're doing a nice family episode. It humour. No needs that kind of humor. I he's got some great songs, but I don't think he's got as many huge bangers and certainly he hasn't have, you know, he's done other things, but he hasn't had the lengthy pop career. He also he's dabbling in drugs, Matthew Okay, you won't like to hear this, but he does one of the scenes in neighbors stoned. Come on, That's a shame, isn't it? No good art has ever come from the consumption of drugs. Exactly So he's on set And he finishes his shooting for a day, so he goes to get stoned with someone They're like, whereere's Jason? And they're like, Ohh we've changed the schedule You need to do one more thing To be fair to him, that was an honest mistake. He thought he was off the clock. He wasn't like, oh I've got to do a seed, I'm going to smoke a big o' bifter He does get into harder drugs. byy the mid nineties he's addicted to cocaine, leading to an episode at Kate Moss's birthday party in nineteen ninety five He basically has a seizure on the dance ph he attended to by Michael Hutchins. Imagine being the guy who does too much cocaine. G, that guy's really doing a lot of cocaine at Kate Mossy's birthday party We need someone sensible Could Michael Hudchins stay with us? Hutchins is the designated driver. That's unbelievable Kaate and Johnny Depp holding her after pie at its hotel And when he discovers they're still up, he knocks on their door Johnny answers and Jason says, I'm really sorry about what happened, mate Johnny says, that's cool, donon't worry This from Jason's autobography We're just pleased that you're okay. Now take some advice from me. go to your room Get some sleep and for God's sake, take it easy in future Oh nigh When the first person you see at your intervention is Johnny Depp, you've really got a problem Take it easy in future Oh poor old Jays. But it's all good. Let's go back to where we were really.' digressed Okay the point of the peak of nineteen eighty eight. So you've got the, you know the shopping centers. nineteen eighty eight, the entire class has flown in to appear in the Royal Variety performance front of the quueen Princess Diana is a fan. We covered in Stock Een and Waterman that she actually contacted the BBC press office for copies of episodes she missed I mean, I'm sure I said this at the time, but is this preVCR then She must have had a VCR No, she needs the tapes, so she must have something to play in. She must have something to play in. She just hasn't set the tapes, presumably. If you're gonna to have staff, where's Paul Barrell at this point? This is what Paul Barrell should be doing Stop bloodywell going through her things Pul. Set the VCR to timer. Do we know what happened, what performance they gave? the Rural variety performance. did they do a scene Sure, it's an amazing show, but it's not like any of them they're not like sing dancing They're not singing the them tune, are they? No, I don't know. 'cause the other acts at the Royal Variety performance, Cliff Richard Banana arama. Yeah, they're gonna sing a song. Aa? They're gonna sing a song. Mickey Rooney. He'll probably do a song in a bit of a tap dance and talk about his old career. And Paul Daniels. He's gonna to do a magic trick. So yeah, everybody else is very clear. Also, there was the cast of bread and the cast the Golden Girls. Wow they really went in for this casts thing I mean, and also three of the great theme tunes of all time, I would say, Golden Girls, than you for being a friend I wouldn't be surprised if John Smith read that out in Parliament a few times. and then the themeune of bread that gotta get up, gotta get out. Do remember the theme tunes of breread? Well, yeah, of course, and obviously a lot of that was about signing on, so I can imagine John Smiths. He must have read that as well Grab the world by the throat and shout. Princess Dinah wasn't the only fan of neighbours. I could guess that from the viewing figures. sorry. in the royal family. Oh, okay, sorry, yes yes. She didn't even watch it. She kept missing it. So Reed Grundy says Colin Stanley Hill, who was the Australian court correspondent it was once a member of the Queen Mother's staff He receives a phone call at three AM one morning. And they say, it's the palace here, Colin. What's happening on neighbours? Queen Mother is very interested to know what stage it's got to in Australia. No, no spoilers, Queen Mother. Exactly. So she's watched neighbors than she's thought. S that guy that used to work for me lives in Australia. Why don't we call him and find out? That's amazing. What's going on a year and a half in advance She actually said to Ian Smith, Harold at the Royal Variety, Oh, Mr. Smith, I do enjoy your Haralold He also said that George Harrison once came up to and asked for his signature So Harrison was a big fan as well. Well, Harrison said it was for his niece. Un likely story, Jeorge. Yeah, I don't think. Just admit you're a fan. It's just an absolute phenomenon So There's an incredible bit the nineteen ninetyeen neighborss Annual we've already clear that the ninety ninety two annual claims that are The Gulf Wark couldn't stop it. There's a lot of big clims in neighbours Annel How about this for a story A light fingered thief made off with six weeks of script for neighbours a few months back. It happened to one of the show's script wrriters whose Melbourne home was burgled while she was away on holiday Fortunately, there were copies and filming wasn't affected A detective commented, The idea of someone stealing neighbor script is something we would never have dreamed of then the neighborss annual ads It was surely a coincidence that the same week Michael Parkinson spoiled thousands of people's breakfast by spilling the future soap secrets in his column Parky Down Under in the Daily Mirror What are they saying? Well, I think we both know what they're saying. What are they implying? I mean, it's a wild implication, isn't it? That Parkinson's becoming a cat burglar, orr at least as was employing other people to do his dirty work. For his daily mirror column, Parky down, he must have lived in Australia at that time. That must be why they're so aware of him. Hard to write a column Parky down under Unless he's got a basement And that's where it's from. And he's go, Well the damp problem still here I know I talked about that last week, but it really is, you know. They think it's inside the bricks now. I think it's been painted on the outside. there's nothing you can do really. So after Kylie and Jason's success, A lot of other cast members attempt to launch pop careers I imagine you can name quite few of them, can't you Stephan Dennis. He had Danny make you feel, good. Reach number sixteen in the UK charts, that one? Good song Craig Moffin did Hey Mona. That was a cover. I didn't know that for years. A lot of them did covers, didnn't it? becausecause the locomotions is a cover. A lot of Jason Donovan's songs like Seal withith a Kiss, that was a cover. Who else? Did the twins? They did Gail and Jillian Bikini, who played Christina and Carolina Lesie. Yeah, remember them. They did a song called All Mixed U. lovevely. Very clever. Fail to chart Not that clever. Marco Esi, Felice Arena Rleaseed to virion more than a woman Failed to chart And then Dan Faalzon, who played Rickle Eessie, released a song with his band, Failed to Chart Bruce Samazan Released a rp record called One of a Kind under the name Baman Samazan I don't need me to tell you, failed to charart. He pretty one copy. Of course it was his mistake. As good as one of a kind. Yeah I've ever seen in this world, so I gave up on the second side of heading away and wasn't really sure of just what to say. But I gathered up the courage and made in my mood here moving down the beach thinking I was smooth now it didn't take us long and we began to chat. And as we got a little bit closer I knew, I was around How would a Mad release a Christmas single in nineteen eighty nine? Did they? Number seventy seven in the UK Charts. actually considering the amount of people that were watching neighbours The chart record is pretty bad of people that are in neighbours Yeah, you were either Kylie Minogue, Cramer and all of those guys. they were having at least one Reasonable hit or you were just nowhere near it. Exactly. Absolutely nowhere near it. But it comes to the point where neeighbours has a board game, did you have the board game? I never did No. The objective of the board game was to win the most points were putting down my friends are this combinations of characters and storylines to create a neighbour's episode So you'd put down the character card, Harold Bishop foollowed by the storyline, secretlyars Marries, followed by the character card Bounce of the Dog followed by the storyline card and is arrested by the police It's quite bleak What he's fucking a dog He's fucking do. I think the police have got to do their duty. That's one of the things that was edited out when it was shown in the UK. Yeah, The episode where B Harold Bishop fucks a dog. He's arrested for it though, so that's fair. He serves his time and he comes back. We're all allowed a moment of madness ex. sequally marry a dog. There's a computer game. the Commodore sixty four Atarian Amiga, where you play Scott Robinson skateboarding around four courses. So it's basically like Paperboy. It's like that. Yeah, that's a load of crap isn't it but also that he like It becomes iconic. that so the iconic characters obviously, we've got Paul Robinson, who's the kind of bad businessman Do you know what accident he has? He loses a leg, doesn't he? He loses a leg, yeah. Which becomes a kind of running joke in the fan community because he often fails to do the limp or he limps the wrong side. It's back in the day when it was okay to kind of portray a disabled person. He also, in a redemption arc in two thousand seven, he gets a brain tumor and mellows in his evil ways. So it's great stuff The tumourorss on the evil part of his brain. Yeah, exactly. when they remove it, they take out his evil. Exactly. take out his evil side, yeah. And the Carl and Susan, who are a classic couple She has a similar thing. She falls over and hits her head and gets retrograde amnesia and loses thirty years of her memory and believes she's a sixteen year old and it's nineteen seventy two. And then she's sort of repulsed by Cl, isn't she? Yeah becausecause he's Weirdly, Karl way more attracted to her. Doesn't she go back to school as well? No, that's Julie Martin, I think that goes but maybe she does I con. Julie Martin I don't know how she kind of recovers from it There's a lovely story also about Alan Fletcher who played Cole Kennedy who's during a spa scene, the sock that he's wearing to cover his modesty falls off due to the pressure of the water jets and he flashes his dick at the whole cast and crew by mistake By mistake, g, all right? Yeah we. All right, Alan. One of the most iconic characters is Toadfish Rebecky. Yeah. Jad Rebecky. So he's played by Ron Maloney, who was only contracted to one scene. It's a classic soap situation. He just smashed it so hard he became one of the main characters. He became a recurring character forever, basically I can't believe you didn't watch it. I had to do my homework because I got home late, remember? The X Files is homework. It's science. So anyway, for Becky Yes, mr. Kennedy. You are in serious trouble, young man. Sorry. Oh, come on, Jared. It's not smart, it's not funny. it just shows a complete lack of respect for the score and everything it stands for. How' I get it Look familiar Jere So what have you got to save yourself He was called tooadfish. He was like the cousin of stonefish And Stingray, they all had nicknames after aquatic animals D you remember the storyline with Toadfish and his wife D Did D get replaced by an evil look alike. so similar. So they're driving So the wedding day, Tody and Dee are driving and they go off a cliff I know a shortcut. sureurely Drive into your wedding. Should we not go along the side of a cliff? Well it's a romantic spot, maybe. She's missing presumed dead for years. R right, Sadi's gone twenty seventeen, she reappears, she's had amnesia, which is a classic in the neighbours cananon But it's actually a con artist called Andrea Sumers, who looks exactly like D and uses that O Toadfish, Rebecy. playayed by the same played by the same And then two years later, the real D reappears and says that fearing a criminal gang were after her, she'd faked her own death and went into hiding. She thought she was in trouble with the mob effectively And so she deliberately drove her car off a cliff to fake her own death. Well I don't know, yeah, I don't know how that works. If you fake your own death, you're not supposed to do it with somebody else in the car. Yes. I could have killed toadfish in the process, but that was a risk I was prepared to take. I also think Tody was driving. so maybe she took her opportunity. She thought Going off this cliff is a perfect opportunity too. I needed to fake my own death. Actually, this is the perfect opportunity. I was gonna to do it after the wedding. This is the one Yeah. She eventually has it out with her doppelganger on a cliff top, an absolute nightmare for her She's pushed off a cliff, not again and left her dead only to be saved by Andrea the Dopelganger's mother. What a storyline. What a storyline. And also is it Madeline West? Is that the name So she presumably had to do a scene where she had to fight herself Amazing. We should briefly discuss the Lim family because that was an insane period in the neighbours which is a East Asian family that move in and are accused by Julie Martin of cooking Holly the Dg. Yeah, that's not ideal, is it? It's not ideal as a plotline. The neighbour's argument would be that Julie Martin is the baddie in this situation. Oh, definitely. yeah. And so really what they're doing is highlighting Julie Martin's Innate racism. It's very much like the old Zen scene, the EST scene. Exactly presresenting the negative scenario in order for the viewer to work out what the positive scenario is, which is not to accuse your neighborss of eating your pets. I've never accused anyone of eating a dog ever since, so maybe neighbors did the Whereas it was a twice weekly occurrence for you prior to that. Exactly, Exactly So it's kind of this point of these kind of huge iconic moments are taking place. There's also these tear jerking moments. so like the death of Carrie Bishop Wh was shot by duck hunters when she's doing a protest. She's pregnant at the time time. I that? Yeah, o God. There's the death of Helen Daniels in nineteen ninety seven. She dies watching Scott and Charlen's wedding Oh. whver. Al, I saw the lights on was just passing. So a pop by and see how Kelen's getting on., She's happy to beind. She does does off actually. I should be going to bed a minute You know sleep D Whats c She's not a slave I sort of knew I that I didn't really know what to do. I think you would want to first Heven watch? that happened? right with that. It happened Wh you Itsry tho. It looks as though it was paceful She simply slipped off to sling G The beauty of that scene is that they haven't got obviously home video footage of that. They've got it shot as it was shot. So she've watch incredibly shot footage of her With a soundtrack. With a soundtrack of Andngry Anderson. Yeah. it's like, oh yeah, I remember Sott and Charlene's wedding I mean, I think they went slightly overboard. They had five cameras. They have five cameras. I know it's the eighties and most people would just get their matew a camcord to do it with one, but no, no, no. Scott and Charlene. Exactly. Only the best for them But maybe the most iconic storyline is the disappearance and reapparance of Harold Bishop. Harold falls off some rocks And then Mad finds his glasses on the rock and he's been swept into the sea Never. to be found. Madge heartbroken moves to Brisbane, as so many people in Highbours do This is an interesting fact I didn't know In nineteen sixty seven Harold Holt, who was then the Prime Minister of Australia went swimming and was lost at sea presumed dead And the show's creators have never confirmed people think that Harold going missing in the sea is a reference to the Harold Holt incident. And presumably the original the real life Harold Holt was never seen again. He came back with ammnesia as well. have ever joined the Sally Amy. Yeah. So this is the third example of Amnesia in the classic neighbor's storylines. Five years Past No one's aware he's alive. and then he's picked up by a trarawling boat on its way to Tasmania. That's turns out what happened. But he's got amnesia from the accident and he's forgotten his life as Harold Bishop. He's named Ted And then Marlene Kratz, who's a newer resident orrganizers for the Salvation arrmy to collect some boxes from her house to be donated to a charity shop. Helen Daniels sees Harold Bishop picking up the boxes and can't believe her eyes Helen and Marlie then go to the shop, stake out, watch Ted Helen phoness match in Brisbane to informa She flies back to Erensburg, she sees him in the cafe, is in complete shock she attempts to get him to remember and slowly his memory comes back. And they resettle it in Ramseyay Street in number twenty four, their old home So when this happened Ian Smith, who's the actor who plays Harold Bishop. Yeah. He wanted to go off and just see if he could do other things, right? Well they wrote him out. Yeah. If you're going to die in a soap, you really don't want to die on camera You want to die in a way that you always give yourself, oh, it turns out that actually I hate regional theatre. Yeah Exactly. I quite like a big paycheck and quite an easy gig. Being in the same place every day. Yeah, that's what I like. He actually stays then. He's only coming back for three months, but he basically stays to the end because he's such a big success. There's also, we should say some episodes that are a bit weirder Daphanne gives birth a picnic There's a huge gff and the gaff is that she gives birth, but throughout she's wearing tights. A actually know quite a good way to give birth. Exactly. yeah catches it. Tights have got a lot a lot of give There's also the Bouncer's Dream episode, where the dog Bouncer has a dream about marrying another dog. A getting married, yeah, yeah yeah. The second best wedding on neighbours. Yeah. And what you might not know is in two thousand three, there's a short lived storyline called Afro Hard No, that's passed me by Was that not his name for his rap album? Exactly. M Oh no. It's a short lived comedic alter ego of Harold who raps for the coffee shop as an advert, convinced by Conor and Laurie Lyrics for the rap include, It's Harold here. I'm in the house of the coffee shop where the food is Grouse They're at famously end of the line. so don't be in MGuffin, come butter my muffin, Yo N I'm sure it's alost friend in the house of the coffee shop where the food is gass. There sandwiches and lasagna to serve with a smile. That b is true. I'm keeping it real. He ca a great deal on a yummy snack and that ain't no whack. The food is great. We're open to late. D't be a gum from B of m M up and sh I mean, obviously as soon as this is over, I'm going to watch that Yeah, of course. And I imagine if Michael's got any sense, people at home have already listened to it. They've already heard it. yeah. Neighbourors is Huge Channel seven are liivid, Matthew. So they Launch their own soap home and away. Alan Baton, the head of drama at Channel seven He wants a new soap and he goes to a place called Kangaroo Point in New South Wales. which is like a waterfront suburb in Sydney South Locals are complaining. about a foster home for city children coming into the area. and he thinks This is my idea. This is my slice of life community for myself 'use that's what H home anday, you haven't watched Hway. It's based around a foster home, Pippa and whoever the o. So he thinks I want to set it in a place that has absolutely zero compassion Well, East Enders has done that. Yeah, that's true The show's originally called Refuge, but it's renamed Home and awayay for a friendlier tone It symbolizes the children's home, but they're away. it's quite a nice actually is' it Do you remember what the name of the place is No, it's gone. Summer Bay. Summer Bay, of course it is. So Pippa and Tom, they run a caravan park with five foster children. You've also obviously got Alph and Elsa. And you've got the principal Donald Flathead Fisher. That's the thing as well that even if you weren't watching the shows, you knew, you know you'd know about Alf. And it's also got an incredibly iconic theme tune, much like neighbourors. Gorgeous theme tune. Really love your theme tune. belong together. don't Giding stars. And from the very first moment I saw you I never felt such emotion a Cone You are back Yeah stay forevera Wh He raise the. Mike Pernick wrote it, performed by Karen Boddington and Mark Williams. But the John Smith version is the one I remember. Yeah, he, of course. he was doing all the them tunes. He did birds of a feather. It was great when he did birds of a feather. Pernick's just basically giving a vague idea of the show's concept, told it's about foster kids being home and away and that's what he comes up with It's released at a single, but it peaks at seventy three. These things do not chart. I mean, again, you just don't need to hear it. It's just on your celli, it's just there. The show starts in nineteen eighty eight. It's a ninety minute telemvie They do it as a feature length Pilot, later called Home and Away the Movie It's rare that the TV show starts with a movie and then goes for the TV show. Exactly. That's incredible. It's nearly cancellled after six weeks on air. The producers are given extra three weeks And it's enough time for it to find an audience. Numbers grow by nineteen ninety two, it's found its home. It's the seven to seven thirty slot and it's doing so well. It's such a hit. Neighbourors actually moves fromrom that slot to sixth day Neighbourors it. They blink. Neighbourors blink exactly And so Homing away is a hit in Australia In nineteen eighty nine H away comes to the UI battle it out with neighbours And that will be the final episode. is Homing awayay and neighbors Go head to head. in the UK and then sadly, both of them come ac croppper on channel five If you w to hear that and the rest of the series now, right now, museum of popculture. supportingcast.fm or click on the link in the show notes to join the Museum of Pop Culture fan Club Every museum needs its donors. Follow us on social media at Museum of pop Culture Pod to see the links and clips that some of the things we've discussed in the episodes today. Also, there's loads of other great pop culture clips. Follow it at Museum of pop Culture Pod on social media No