Soap star Alan Fletcher says Neighbours is finishing ‘at its peak’

Actor Alan Fletcher said Neighbours is coming to an end while the Australian soap is “at its peak”.

The programme had its final day of filming earlier this month after its two-year Prime Video revival which followed it being dropped from broadcast by Channel 5 in 2022.

Fletcher, 68, who has played Dr Karl Kennedy for 30 years, said it is “fair to say” he is now more famous in the UK than Australia due to the popularity of the show here.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB): “It’s extremely popular. It sits in the top five programmes (on Amazon).

“Amazon gave us an extra 400 episodes, and we are eternally grateful.

“I have to say to you, when we finished filming, rather than the sadness we had the first time, I sat back and thought, ‘Do you know what? We’ve been given the opportunity to make the best Neighbours we ever could have made’.

“That’s where we finished up. I reckon Neighbours is at its peak.”

The cast wrapped filming on July 11 at Nunawading Studios and the soap’s final broadcast after 40 years will be in December.

The programme, which launched the careers of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Margot Robbie and Guy Pearce among others, has followed the lives of people living and working in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough since 1985.

Neighbours was dropped by Channel 5 in 2022 after it failed to secure new funding, with a finale episode in July that year attracting an average audience of 2.5 million when several well-known characters returned to the show to say goodbye.

The soap’s return was announced in late 2022, with a social media clip featuring some of the characters being told the news.

In February this year it was announced the programme would end after reports production company Fremantle failed to secure a deal with Amazon.