It’s back! – Neighbours resumes production

311 days after the the “final” scenes were shot, production restarted on the new era of Neighbours at the Fremantle Studios in Nunawading. Cast and Crew were joined by Angela Bishop from Channel 10 to document the day with the show’s longest-serving cast member, Stefan Dennis, on hand to cut a golden ribbon in front of Lassiters Hotel to officially mark the first day of filming.

As Stefan, who plays bad guy Paul Robinson, cut the ribbon, he dedicated the day to Brian Walsh, former Channel 10 publicist who died last month. Walsh was instrumental in making the show a success when it moved to Channel 10. Stefan said “We wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for the efforts of Brian back in 1986.”

When asked how it felt to be back on set, Rebekah Elmaloglou who plays Terese Willis spoke through a huge smile “It feels like a dream still, to be honest. When we get out to Ramsay Street this afternoon it is going to be pretty amazing”.

The show’s cast and producers have been very tight-lipped about what it is to come in the new episodes. Alan Fletcher who plays Ramsay Street stalwart Dr Karl Kennedy admitted that he struggles to keep a secret. “They just don’t tell me anything. But what I can tell you is that straight off the bat, people are going to be surprised, people are going to be excited”.

At Sunday Night’s Neighbours Celebration tour in Melbourne it was confirmed that Lucinda Cowden would be returning to the show in the role of Melanie. Speaking to Angela Bishop on Studio 10, Lucinda said “I have had to keep this secret for so long, it’s been so hard!”. Revealing that she was asked to return to the show just before Christmas and couldn’t even tell her friends and family members.

“There’s so much going on for Mel. It’s huge. Your jaws are going to drop to the floor” Cowden teased. She went on to describe the joy of returning to studios and seeing so many crew that had come back to the show. Also how important Neighbours is to the Melbourne film industry and how many people behind the scenes have learn their art working on Neighbours.

Over 400 people in total work on Neighbours and the show’s Executive Producer, Jason Herbison, took the day to announce the restart of their training program, which introduces people all across the production including directors, writers and technician, to the television industry.

The show will return to our screens later in 2023 with episodes streaming in the UK on Amazon Freevee.