Neighbours bows out with heart, style and a whole lot of star power

As send-offs go, the finale of Neighbours – which was actually three episodes mashed into one – had pretty much everything fans could ask for. There was plenty to satisfy the rubberneckers, too – those viewers who had come after decades away, or perhaps even for the first time, merely to gaze upon the last moments of Australia’s longest-running soapie.

It had the much-anticipated return of Scott and Charlene (Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue) to Ramsay Street, though precisely what they were doing there remained a bit of a mystery. Charlene spoke just five words – “Home sweet home”, “Jane” and “Harold” – though she did stare meaningfully at an open window as if she intended to climb through it, just like in days of old.

The return of Mike Young (Guy Pearce) provided the finale of Neighbours with much of its narrative spine.Credit: Network 10

Scott, meanwhile, rushed around the empty court where they used to live, quite rightly asking: “Where the hell is everybody?” (The answer: back on the main set because Donovan and Minogue’s cameo was such a tightly held secret that almost no one knew about it until the day it happened, including most of the cast.)

After 37 years on air, and having been given plenty of notice that the end was nigh, this was an exercise both in wrapping up storylines, and paying service and thanks to the loyal fans.

It had cameos galore, some in the flesh, some over video from afar, from the show’s most famous alumni. Margot Robbie, Natalie Imbruglia, Holly Valance and Delta Goodrem were among those who beamed in from locales far from Erinsborough, too busy now to make it back to the place that birthed their careers – but few would begrudge them that.

It had the long-term regulars like Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) grappling with the end of an era as the houses in Ramsay Street went up for sale one by one, until the whole cul-de-sac seemed certain to be taken over by developers and turned into … well, maybe a Neighbours-themed resort, pitched squarely at all those English viewers whose fantasy vision of Australian life was formed there.

It was Neighbours, ipso facto there was a wedding.Credit: Network 10

There was a return to old ways for some. Izzy (Nat Bassingthwaighte) couldn’t help but heap infamy upon scandal by cheating on Mal Kennedy (Benjamin McNair), the son of the married man she once had an affair with (Alan Fletcher’s Karl Kennedy), with newly minted crypto-millionaire Shane Ramsay (Peter O’Brien), who had himself returned to the place he left 35 years earlier intent on buying its prize asset, Lassiters Hotel.

But even Izzy, the compulsive wreaker of havoc, was granted a moment of redemption when she confessed to Susan (Jackie Woodburne) that all she’d ever really wanted was her approval. She even seemed to mean it, briefly.

There was, of course, a wedding, between Toadie and Mel (Lucinda Cowden). It was the 39th Neighbours wedding, according to production company Fremantle – though some fan sites claim the number is much higher – and it was designed to make sure the present-day cast got their share of the glory, too.

Will, they, won’t they? Come on, you know the answer.Credit: Network 10

But the main storyline belonged to Guy Pearce’s Mike Young and Annie Jones’ Jane Harris. Their romance goes back to the show’s second season in 1986, and while Jones returned four years ago, this was Pearce’s first encore.

He turned up on a motorbike, a mystery man in a helmet, to buzz Jane and her straying partner, Clive (Geoff Paine), then spooked Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) at Lassiters, revealing himself to be the father of young hotel worker Sam.

Margot Robbie was one of the famous alumni to send wedding wishes from afar.Credit:

The actor who plays her, Henrietta Graham, lives with Down syndrome, and landed the part after expressing her love for the show in a story in The Sunday Age late last year. Pearce has spoken in the past about his bond with his sister, Tracey, who has an intellectual disability. The writing of that screen relationship was a lovely touch.

Of course, Mike hadn’t just come back to check in on Sam. The draw of Jane was still strong. It took some doing, but there was only ever going to be one conclusion: he still loved her, he was moving back to the street, and if they took things slowly, well, who knows?

“Love has always been a central theme,” Susan Kennedy said as she strolled through the post-wedding street party, ostensibly reading aloud the introduction she had written for Harold Bishop’s photo memoir The Story of Ramsay Street but really summing up 37 years of storylines.

“How many romances have been born on this street?” How many careers, she might have added.

“Everyone deserves a place in the history of Ramsay Street, even those who watched us from afar,” she said, metaphorically tipping the hat to the UK, which sustained and nurtured this show long after most of Australia had lost interest. “Together, we have been the perfect blend.”

Perfect might be a stretch. But comforting, heartwarming, funny and even genuinely moving – in this last hurrah, it was certainly all that.

Email the author at [e-mail], or follow him on Facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on Twitter @karlkwin.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.