Skylover

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but are the 60s and 70s episodes of Days ever likely to be released on streaming or YouTube?

Love this. One of my favourite Britney tracks.

I agree about the theme. I'm sort of used to it now, but it sounds too autotuned to me and too cheesy. No worries, I wish the show wasn't ending It feels like there's still life in it, so it sucks that it's ending.

The final ever Neighbours opening titles.

Agree. I think Zoe's return is the most compelling I've seen a soap in probably decades, but the Max involvement is so unnecessary and has tarnished it somehow. As you said, Kat and Zoe alone were enough to make this return exciting enough.

It sounds like you're on the same page as me really. I think Chris Clenshaw has just been the best of a bad bunch since the early 2010s. He's definitely done some great things for the show, I think his choice of returnees has mostly been good. However, there were some terrible ideas like resurrecting Cindy from the dead (which I think was executed pretty well, apart from the coincidence of her new family moving to the exact location of her old family). His era was far too sensationalist with stories like the Six, and then of course Linda not facing any consequences for her actions. The last good era was Diederick Santer's run from 2007-2010 but even then I think there were considerable problems with his era; that's where the sensationalism really seemed to take hold and whodunnits taking priority over good writing, like Stacey being Archie's killer and Darren being the father of Heather's baby. I suppose the rot really set in during the 2000s though, it became bleak under John Yorke, and characters like Janine, while great, should have gone to jail and probably shouldn't have been able to return after killing several characters. Ultimately, the show lost its heart some time in the late 90s. I really enjoyed EE during the 2000s, but somewhere it lost its moral compass. They even mention in recent episodes that Nicola killed someone, like it's just nothing. There's too much arguing and violence these days, and too much reliance on murders, and affairs. Why is there no fun anymore? Even the teen characters like Tommy are depressing to watch. I hate to say it, but I think what people have been saying for decades about EE being depressing has become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Why do you feel disconnected from the show? I do too, but I'm still watching. I don't know how long I will be, but I guess with the news that Neighbours is going, I will probably carry on watching.

Is there no way to watch Days in the UK?

Honestly, if I was in charge of this show, I'd probably axe half the cast or more, including Billy and his family, and the extended NuMitchells, pretty much all the Slaters including Kat, Alfie, Jean and Mo. Penny, Linda, Callum, the Panesars and Anna. I really wish they'd get back Harry Reid as Ben and Kim Medcalf as Sam even if she just comes back as recurring to build up the Mitchells with some real Mitchells, or Mark jr and/or Courtney, which makes sense with Vicki back. They could then do with a new unrelated family of fresh characters. I'm glad Stacey's going. I'm currently watching the 2007 season on Drama channel and it's really eye-opening seeing how having new younger female leads as part of the Mitchells really refreshed that family dynamic in the form of Ronnie and Roxy. They also did amazing introducing the Foxes, Masoods, Brannings, Heather, Steven, Shirley etc around this period. They used to be better at introducing new families and characters in the past, the new cast don't hit as hard these days. And having said all that, the show's in a much stronger place after Clenshaw's run, but it's amazing how much more of a clearout is still needed.

I'm furious that hack new producer is bringing back the wrong Ben Mitchell. Just bring back Harry Reid for goodness sake. Pleased about Zoe.

If you don't want Neighbours to end, please sign the petition, thanks in advance! https://www.change.org/p/keep-neighbours-alive-urge-amazon-to-keep-streaming-the-iconic-show

Pippa was the heart of the show. It's never been the same since.

That rerun on 7Two was so good, I got to see all of 1988-1996 that I'd never seen before (well, I remember bits of the mid 90s from when I was a kid, but it's hazy at best).

I just watched Jim's death (episode 1904) from season 1000. Great episode!

I hope they bring back Maria Ramsay for the 40th anniversary.

She was alright, shame she was wasted on a boring character.

Not as Izzy, but as Izzy's daughter. I think she could probably portray the vixen like quality Izzy's daughter would likely have more than Lucinda Armstrong Hall. Margot Robbie is a lot to live up to, but it would be good if she could achieve that level of success.

I agree about the Rodwells. Felix should have been a longer term character to cover the gap left by Wendy. They used to be much better at filling the gaps in the 80s and 90s, perhaps it's down to cost, but there have been some odd writing choices. I don't mind Karl and Susan being supporting characters, as they're so long-term I think they don't need to be front and centre a lot. Here is the list of character episode counts for 2024: 151: Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou) 142: Aaron Brennan (Matt Wilson) 124: Nicolette Stone (Hannah Monson) 122: Krista Sinclair (Majella Davis) 122: Remi Varga-Murphy (Naomi Rukavina) 120: Cara Varga-Murphy (Sara West) 120: Leo Tanaka (Tim Kano) 119: Byron Stone (Xavier Molyneux) 119: Holly Hoyland (Lucinda Armstrong Hall) 114: Haz Devkar (Shiv Palekar) 110: Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher) 108: Andrew Rodwell (Lloyd Will) 102: Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) 102: Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) 99: Jane Harris (Annie Jones) 98: Wendy Rodwell (Candice Leask) 97: Melanie Pearson (Lucinda Cowden) 89: Sadie Rodwell (Emerald Chan) 87: Mackenzie Hargreaves (Georgie Stone) 86: JJ Varga-Murphy (Riley Bryant) 82: Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) 61: Nell Rebecchi (Ayisha Salem-Towner) 59: Dex Varga-Murphy (Marley Williams) 35: Isla Tanaka-Brennan (Hana Abe-Tucker) 24: Sam Young (Henrietta Graham) 21: Hugo Rebecchi (Tanner Ellis-Anderson) 20: Abigail Tanaka (Nikita Kato) 18: David Tanaka (Takaya Honda) 14: Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) 14: Max Ramsay (Ben Jackson) I quite like her as a full time character, as I want the Kennedys to live on in some form after Karl and Susan leave one day (if the show lasts that long!) but I would prefer she was written differently. Less of a misery magnet and more of a mini Izzy. She's nowhere near like Izzy as much as I wish she was, she doesn't have the vixen like quality Izzy had. That's why I think Majella would have been. a good recast, I could see her as Izzy's daughter.

I wouldn't say they're part-time characters, I have no issue with it at all. The problem is they've written Holly poorly as a character, it shouldn't have been constant drama/kidnaps/hostages for her persistently, as the Kennedys' absence wouldn't have been as noticeable. I don't even find Karl and Susan's absences that noticeable and I'm not sure why some people do. Karl appeared in more episodes in 2024 than Andrew, Paul, Jane, Sadie, JJ, etc, and was still in 110 episodes so he was there more than he wasn't. Jackie had more time off-screen than usual because of her pre-planned break, but she had more time off this year than she would normally because of that. I definitely wouldn't want Karl and Susan to move out of their house, as there's a lot of history attached to them being in that house, plus Holly needs somewhere to live, I wouldn't want her going to the share house or something. UK cast take long breaks from soaps and no-one really notices.

The idea of writing Karl and Susan out is absolutely absurd, especially given Toadie has just gone and they have few long-term characters left. Leo and Aaron don't cut it. I do agree that Holly's not great though, although she did come 3rd in our vote for the most popular characters of 2024. Personally, I think she should have been recast instead of inviting back the child actress. Majella Davis would have been a good Holly recast. The producers do make some odd decisions at times.

I think the absences could be written better. Like Karl could mention in one episode he's going to visit a family member and the next he's gone for a bit, they don't need to dwell on it so much. They have a lot of family members who live away like Malcolm, Libby, Billy, Ben, the twins, Rachel, Zeke, Elly, Bea, Katya, so it should be easy to write them out while they visit relatives. I feel like Neighbours has always dwelled too much on temporary absences. Cast in UK soaps disappear for long periods without much explanation. I have to say, it doesn't really bother me that much though, although I did miss Susan when she was written out to accommodate Jackie's holiday that was planned prior to the revival earlier in the year.

I think it's down to a number of factors. The tour in 2023 initially went on sale in 2019 and was due to take place in 2020 as the 35th Anniversary tour, and this was when the show was still on Channel 5 and hadn't been axed. I do think though that the new tour should have had some stalwarts on the show in the new cast even though they'd done it before. I get the reasoning to want different actors so you're not repeating, but those long-term cast would undeniably be a draw, I don't think anyone is interested in meeting the actor who plays Leo. Alan and Jackie don't need to be there all the time. They still appeared in 110 and 82 episodes of 2024 respectively, which is a lot. I don't think long-term cast need to be involved in big storylines all the time, sometimes they work well as supporting characters. I'd rather have them there less than not there at all. They're treated much better than the Home and Away veteran actors.