Neighbours is back! Aussie soap returns this week to Amazon Freevee – and it’s thanks to former stars like Margot Robbie that it’s been resurrected

• Australian actress Margot Robbie sent the Neighbours cast 37 bottles of bubbly
• READ MORE: Neighbours star Scarlet Vas and husband’s over the top wedding 

She’s the toast of Hollywood with her box-office-busting Barbie, but Margot Robbie has never forgotten where she came from. 

Just ask the cast of Neighbours. As they filmed what they thought would be their last-ever scene last year after the decision to axe the Australian soap, they took delivery of a large quantity of Champagne.

‘It was from Margot,’ says Alan Fletcher, who plays Dr Karl Kennedy. ‘She sent 37 bottles of bubbly to represent the 37 years the show had been on screen and the 37 characters who were due to appear in the final scene.’

Margot appeared as her character Donna Freedman in that final episode, but only on Zoom as she was busy filming Barbie. 

‘Like all of us, she was celebrating a show she thought was going forever,’ says Alan.

Pictured: the cast return to Ramsey Street

It wasn’t, of course, and as the revived series comes to Amazon Freevee 14 months after that extended final episode was broadcast on Channel 5, Alan is the first to acknowledge that the revival is partly down to the superstars who got their first break on Neighbours.

‘The involvement of people such as Margot, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Jason Donovan in that final episode helped make it very special,’ he says. 

‘There had been a public outcry when news first broke that the show was finishing and the love and affection the ex-stars clearly felt for Neighbours meant a lot. Amazon saw Neighbours was too big and too popular to die.’

Filming recommenced in Melbourne in April this year. Set two years after that tear-jerking finale, which concluded with all the neighbours gathering to celebrate Jarrod ‘Toadie’ Rebecchi and Melanie Pearson’s wedding, it will see many of the characters who were there at the end – Dr Karl and his wife Susan (Jackie Woodburne), Toadie (Ryan Moloney) and Melanie (Lucinda Cowden) and the incomparable Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) – resume their lives on Ramsay Street.

Margot played Donna Freedman between 2008 and 2011. She is pictured in character on the show in 2009 

Hollywood star Guy Pearce will also return as Mike Young, continuing a relationship with Jane Harris (Annie Jones) that can be traced back to the early days in the 1980s. 

‘They bought a house together on Ramsay Street when we thought the show was going to disappear, so it seems right that we find out how they’re getting on,’ says Guy. ‘But I may be making a respectful exit fairly quickly.’

Annie Jones, who says she felt at a loose end for months after the show ended, plans to stick around longer than Guy, as does Stefan Dennis, who’s played businessman Paul Robinson since the first-ever episode in 1985. Stefan says his character’s lost none of his ruthlessness.

‘I wouldn’t have it any other way,’ he laughs. ‘Paul reckons there’s a spy in the camp, trying to infiltrate and undermine his business, and he’s at his devious best in trying to root them out. He can be hard-edged, but fans don’t like it when he becomes Mr Nice Guy.’

Robbie was unable to travel to Australia to film scenes as she was busy filming the Barbie movie in America. However, she did show her gratitude by sending the entire cast a bottle of pricey Champagne

Margot appeared as her character Donna Freedman in that final episode, but only on Zoom as she was busy filming Barbie

Stefan admits to taking keepsakes, such as the cardboard cutout of Paul when he ran for mayor of Erinsborough, but the sharp suit he wore for his final scene is still on set. 

‘I remember hanging it up in my dressing room and thinking, “I’m never going to be Paul Robinson again.” I missed the show like crazy, though I said I’d think about it when they asked if I wanted to play Paul again. 

‘I thought about it for 30 seconds before I said yes! Why wouldn’t I? Actors who’ve been snobby about it would now crawl over broken glass for a role.’

New characters include Haz Devkar (Shiv Palekar), who runs Harold’s Café, and Reece Sinclair (The OC star Mischa Barton). But it’s the familiar folk, such as Toadie, who will be welcomed back the most warmly.

‘We felt a lot of warmth towards us on tour in the UK earlier this year,’ says Ryan Moloney, who plays him. 

‘It was to be The Farewell Tour, but it turned into The Celebration Tour. I’m so glad we had reason to change the title.’

• Neighbours, from Monday, Freevee via Amazon.

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