Neighbours 6000 and going strong

ITS CRITICS will tell you that TV soap is a poor excuse for an art form - superficial in its story-telling and mind-numbing in its plot structures.

Neighbours fans, even some academics, have a vastly different view, insisting the show, in its 25th year, holds an extraordinarily important place in TV culture.

The one undeniable fact, as the show prepares to clock up its 6000th episode on August 27, is that Neighbours has been in a form slump and needs to find more viewers.

It began the year poorly, dropping as low as 550,000 viewers nationally, and has since been battling to make an impact in the cut-throat early-evening schedule.

Channel 10 is tight-lipped about the show's prospects in the 6.30pm slot. Time will tell if the show remains in the slot or, as rumoured, is ultimately shifted to a network digital channel to make way for an expanded news and current affairs service.

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In the interim, the team behind the soap, headed by executive producer Susan Bower, hopes the 25th anniversary celebrations will act as a springboard to stronger ratings.

Fans are about to be treated to a wedding, the plotting of an attempted murder and will see how storylines involving the first gay male character in the show's history play out.

Bower feels the gay storyline, featuring newcomer James Mason in the role of Chris Pappas, illustrates the show's capacity to deliver potent, realistic stories.

"Two-thirds of the boys who were going to audition backed out (when they discovered the character was gay), which is disappointing, but not surprising," she said. "But they are kids and they are young. James plays footy and said he'd probably get heaps from his mates, but said it was a great role. He does a wonderful job."

Bower is realistic about the show's ratings prospects. Not only is Neighbours in a tussle with Today Tonight and A Current Affair, it faces competition from Nine's GO! digital channel, which has targeted Neighbours' young demographic.

Referring to the days when it had a steady audience of 1.5 million, Bower says: "The world has changed dramatically since then.

"Back then there was no internet. People had only one TV in their living room. Having the gorgeous Kylie (Minogue) play a mechanic was a big deal. Not now."

Neighbours, watched daily in more than 65 countries, is the most successful Australian television export in history. Its international stature was drawn into focus in 2007, when the BBC lost screening rights to the Five network. A bitter BBC statement at the time said: "This (screening rights) has come to an end because of an unrealistic price. We do not believe we could have justified what would have amounted to some £300 million across the term of the (eight-year) contract."

Ten covers a portion of the show's budget, estimated to be about $500,000 a week. Given international investment in the show, it could conceivably continue overseas even if Ten dropped it. Bower admits the show's ratings need a lift, but rails against rumours it is no longer viable.

She says a funding boost, including the building of new sets at the show's Nunawading base in Melbourne, is proof of the faith in the show. "It only takes the smell of blood in the water for the sharks to start circling," she says. "Ten and (producers) Fremantle are committed to the show."

If the show were to disappear from our screens, it would have an enormous economic impact. The production employs more than 120 people to make 2½ hours of TV a week. It has spawned its own mini economy, generating millions of tourism dollars.

Even the real-life residents of the fictional Ramsay St benefit. Householders in Pin Oak Court, Vermont South - where the outdoor scenes are filmed - are paid up to $20,000 a year for the inconvenience caused by filming. And that includes the novelty of a daily procession of tourist buses.