Neighbours cancelled - again - two years after Amazon lifeline - Voice of Asia

The widely popular Australian soap opera *Neighbours* has been cancelled again, only two years after Amazon MGM Studios rescued it from cancellation.

Amazon has not explicitly stated the reason for the cancellation, but confirmed that the show will end in late 2025. By then, it will have been 40 years since the show first aired on television, with a total of over 9,000 episodes.

The show was originally cancelled by Channel 5 in 2022, but was revived by Amazon just four months later after a star-studded farewell episode attracted millions of viewers, and began airing on its streaming platform. The soap opera, which helped launch the careers of stars such as Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, and Margot Robbie, has long been popular with audiences in Australia and the UK, and received its first Emmy nomination last year.

A statement posted on the show's social media said the show would be going on "hiatus" from December. Executive producer Jason Herbison wrote: "Over the past 40 years, viewers from around the world have adored and embraced *Neighbours*, and we are incredibly proud of its tremendous success over the past two years." Mr. Herbison added, "We appreciate the love from our fans of *Neighbours* and we believe that there is a lot of life left in the residents of Ramsay Street," hinting that the production company will once again be looking for new backers.

Amazon MGM Studios said in a statement that it was "proud" to have played a "small part" in the history of *Neighbours*. "Forty years is an incredible milestone," a spokesperson said. New episodes will continue to air four times a week on Amazon Prime Video and Australia's Channel Ten until the end of 2025.

Set and filmed in Melbourne, *Neighbours* first aired in Australia in 1985, and a year later on BBC One in the UK. The show has added more diverse characters and storylines in recent years, while also facing questions about how it reflects modern Australia. The show aired the first same-sex marriage on Australian television. However, the show has also been the subject of controversy. Some actors have recently made allegations of racism, prompting production company Fremantle Media to pledge a review.

The news of the show's cancellation comes after actor Ian Smith, who played Ramsay Street stalwart Harold Bishop, announced last year that he would be leaving the show and revealed that he had a terminal illness.