• SYDNEY: Neighbours, the Australian soap opera that launched the careers of Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, and all three Hemsworth brothers, wrapped production on its last episode on Friday, bringing the country’s longest-running television drama to a close after four decades.

The fictional Ramsay Street and its families had been a fixture of the small screen in Australia since 1985 and in the United Kingdom since 1986, but the cameras stopped rolling after the series’ main financial backer, British free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5, cut the series from its schedule to make room for local content.

Neighbours’ ratings have slowly decreased since their peak in the late 1980s, while beachfront competitor Home and Away captured soap audiences and competition from reality television and streaming platforms grew.

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Even after its collapse, there was an outpouring of nostalgia.

“It’s a sad day for me,” said Stefan Dennis, who portrayed the evil, six-times-married Paul Robinson and was the show’s final original cast member.

“When I closed the studio door behind me after my last dialogue session, I surprised myself by becoming really emotional. I kept my thoughts to myself and walked to my dressing room “Dennis stated this during an on-set interview on Channel 10, where Neighbours has been banished to its youth channel since 2011.

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Neighbours formerly dominated pop culture in Australia and the United Kingdom. Its stars have graced magazine covers and topped the music charts, and its ensemble has been onstage at the Royal Variety Performance, a charity event attended by the British royal family.

The soap provided an early training ground for performers who went on to gain international acclaim.

Russell Crowe featured in four episodes in 1987, five years before his part in the skinhead thriller Romper Stomper made him a success in Australia and drew Hollywood’s attention.

The same year, Jason Donovan, who sang at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee performance earlier this month, participated in Neighbours’ highest-rated episode when his character married Minogue’s.

That episode, one of 60 featuring weddings in the show’s over 9,000 episodes, drew approximately 20 million viewers in the United Kingdom alone.