As Neighbors’ long farewell enters its final stages, the media haven’t had enough of the 37-year-old soap, which ends on Thursday with a nostalgic 90-minute finale.
Melbourne radio stations are gearing up for live broadcasts from fictional Ramsay Street, while Federation Square is hosting a Neighbors finale party from 6pm with free popcorn. Ten will air 90-minute episodes over four nights, featuring former cast members including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Peter O’Brien, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Olympia Valance, Ian Smith and Daniel MacPherson.
But the media bombardment is even more intense in the UK, where the “heritage cast” including Stefan Dennis, Jackie Woodburne, Alan Fletcher and Ryan Moloney have been sued for interviews and appearances on British TV shows such as Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women, which brought a crew from London to film behind-the-scenes footage and conduct interviews.
The Sydney-based BBC team spent half a day on set and talk shows including Good Morning Britain, The Last Leg and the Jeremy Vine Show were lining up Neighbors stars to appear. The cast will also be busy doing interviews with British radio stations throughout the coming week.
With the excitement for the finale, starring Kylie and Jason, plans have been put in place to avoid spoilers. The UK will air the show a day later than Channel 10, and Ireland five days later, so Neighbors fans have been asked to avoid spoilers by muting the hashtag #AusPage, which will automatically hide tweets from the official account of Neighbors Twitter.
Neighbors may be over, but the collaboration between the UK and Australian broadcaster is not.
So far, Ramsay Street: The Neighbors cast. Photograph: Ray Messner/Fremantle Australia
In February, UK Channel 5, which funded the show, announced it was pulling the plug despite strong ratings of 1.5 million viewers a day. But Ten and Channel 5 are already working on another Australian co-production, Riptide, which is being produced by Fremantle Australia.
The thriller stars Neighbors alum Peter O’Brien, as well as Pia Miranda, Ally Fowler and British actor Jo Joyner, and is created by Neighbors executive producer Jason Herbison.
Kylie and Jason re-release their hit duet Especially For You next month.
dead ringer
Sarah Ferguson took over from Leigh Sales in the 7.30 chair on July 4, and this week comedian Emily Taheny did a spot-on impression of the award-winning journalist in Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell.
Ferguson was so impressed by the resemblance that she told the Weekly Beast: “I offered her two nights a week. She’s too good.”
News Corp unmasked
As health officials again urge people to wear masks to slow Covid, the Herald Sun has rekindled its campaign against the Victorian Labor government’s handling of the pandemic.
The paper declared war on any plan for a mask mandate, with Murdoch’s national newspaper joining in, declaring recommendations to wear masks in the classroom a “backward step”.
While the Herald Sun used two front pages this week to criticize the Daniel Andrews government for the recommendation, the Australian used its editorial pages to argue that “the lesson of the pandemic has been that citizens must be able determine your own level of risk.” .
“In Victoria, the Andrews government has recommended that school children wear masks back into the classroom,” The Australian said. “In doing so, the state government has taken a step backwards. Knowing the move will be unpopular with many parents, the state government has reverted to its excuse of maximum confinement that follows health advice.”
On its front page on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Herald Sun campaigned against the “mask madness”, reporting that businesses and restaurateurs have called on governments to “stop interfering in their lives”. Another Murdoch publication, news.com.au, picked up on the issue under the headline “Here we go again… the hated Covid rules are back”.
Divine plan or failure of Fairfax?
More than three decades have passed since ‘young’ Warwick Fairfax made his foolhardy takeover bid for the Fairfax family’s media empire, taking over the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age and finally in 1991.
#OnThisDay 28 years ago on December 10, 1990, Herald staff were told that the John Fairfax Group has gone on trial. The Fairfax dynasty, under fifth-generation head Warwick Fairfax, had lost control of the 149-year-old publishing empire. Photo Andrew Taylor @smh pic.twitter.com/qJYKPUV8zp
— From the Archives (@AgeSMH_Archives) December 10, 2018
This week Warwick Fairfax, who is an evangelical Christian and lives in the United States with his family, said it was all in God’s plan that he had to fail in business and that the pain he suffered from losing the family business it was “a gift, a blessing” that led to his true vocation.
“I was not designed to run a large media company,” Fairfax said at an online forum hosted by Family Voice: From Newspaper Empire to Christian Ministry.
“I was ignoring my divine design, if you will. So it was a big mistake.
“God said, ‘I have other things to do in life, and despite your mistakes, I’m going to use your mistakes for my purposes.’ And I absolutely believe that God did just that.”
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Fairfax said “money has never been that important to me” and “money doesn’t make you happy”.
“If I hadn’t taken over, life wouldn’t necessarily have been better. I would have been in a golden prison, if you will. There is no mention, however, of the pain the trial inflicted on journalists and journalism.
Distinguished company
The Kennedy Awards, memorably known as the “Bogan Walkleys,” are always full of surprises.
The media awards, named after the late crime journalist Les Kennedy, were given their less-than-flattering moniker by the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Roddan as he picked up a gong last year, and were kicked out quickly by the organizers.
That same year, the Kennedys also attracted attention by awarding partisan Sky News presenter Peta Credlin a current affairs journalism award for her investigation Deadly Decisions: Victoria’s Hotel Quarantine Catastrophe, an agenda-driven attack on state premier, Daniel Andrews.
Among the nominations announced this week was a Best Picture nomination for John Grainger for the paparazzi-style photo he unwittingly captured of newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his pajamas picking up the newspaper on his doorstep at 6.39 in the morning. Images of the half-asleep Labor prime minister were published by the stable, in the Australian, the Telegraph, the Herald Sun and the Courier Mail.
Albanese discussed the photos on The Project this week.
“The pajama incident was not my highlight after the campaign,” he said.
“But it was a moment when you realize things have changed because it was 6am and there are usually no photographers outside my house in Marrickville.
“I didn’t even know it had actually happened until later.”
Another surprise nomination was for Australian Will Swanton, whose column about how he didn’t bother getting up early to watch the Socceroos beat the United Arab Emirates in a crucial World Cup qualifier angered the fans. Swanton has been nominated as a featured columnist.
New hire from NITV
Twelve months ago, Nine headlines the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age announced they had “added more Indigenous voices” to their newsrooms by hiring two journalists supported by a grant from the Judith Neilson Institute: Cameron Gooley for the SMH and Jack Latimore for the SMH. age
Some professional news: I’m really excited to say that I’ll be starting as NITV’s Victoria Correspondent on August 1st! From next month you can email me at cameron.gooley@sbs.com.au or just DM me here beforehand. Can’t wait to cover some amazing Melbourne threads 🙂
— Cameron Gooley (@CameronGooley) July 19, 2022
Age editor Gay Alcorn has confirmed that after the JNI’s funding ended, the chief of staff decided to keep Latimore and fund the position from his own budget.
But Gooley, a Gamilaroi man who grew up in Wiradjuri country in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, was let go when his 12-month contract was up. He was quickly snapped up by NITV as the Victoria Correspondent.