Neighbours Axed

We are reeling in my household. Shocked. Numb. Soon we may well be losing something that has been as much part of daily life for the last 37 years as tea and toast or brushing your teeth. Neighbours is going. It's hard to take in.

With its warm, cosy atmosphere and seemingly perpetual sunshine, it forms a start contrast to the bleak greyness of EastEnders (forgive me , Mum!) and punctuates the day, hence at Christmas when it takes a hiatus we never know what time it is. It also gives us the sense of belonging to a secret tribe of people who remember Bouncer's dream, or Helen's infamous portrait of Mrs. Mangle, who have winced at Carl's original musical compositions and heard Harold play the tuba.

That reminds me, as a songwriter by profession I received some really helpful advice from the music supervisor on Neighbours. That must have been a good gig for although not quite as popular as its was in its zenith (Scott and Charlene's wedding drew more than 19 million viewers in the UK), it still managed to reach a million people a day of recent years. Sadly, that didn't seem enough for Channel 5 to keep it going when they crunched the numbers. Its production costs were not matched by advertising revenue and although many truly love Neighbours, it's now more of a guilty pleasure than a water cooler show.

There is good reason for that. Over the years it has run some utterly silly stories. Amy, Ned, Levi and Zara being the current silliest but nominees for the silliest story prize include Harold having amnesia, Susan having amnesia, Finn having amnesia and the whole street being dreamed of by Bouncer the golden retriever. But we love it anyway. We forgive its preposterousness because of the feel good factor. It's probably given my generation a totally unrealistic view of Australia as a land of barbecues and hot tubs.

That's not to say the residents of Ramsay Street haven't had their fair share of tragedy. I still bow my head in memory of Daphne, was traumatised when Dee went into the water (only to reappear 14 years later. You can do that in show with that kind of longevity) and Sonya's demise would have brought a tear to a gargoyle's eyes.

I actually remember what was going on in Neighbours at key moments in my own life: it was Toadie and Dee's wedding was when my grandfather died and Libby and Steph had their very famous tragic bust up as I was starting a new job.

In real life, this sweet sentimental show has been accused of racism and disability discrimination. Sharon Johal who played Dipi Rebecchi described incidents of disturbing racism she experienced and Kim Ballantine, the much missed Libby Kennedy, felt she had to leave because of a chronic health condition.

Nonetheless we kept watching. At the moment the only hope of being able to visit this cosy zone in our hearts supplied by Neighbours is if a network can be found t bankroll its continued production. That would be an ending worthy of a storyline on the show. Let's hope that happens, because if Neighbours goes in my household we won't be able to tell if it's lunch or dinner time.

Eve Williams is a singer, songwriter and music educator helping many aspiring musicians and songwriters to fulfill their dreams. Visit www.singinlessonsni.com