Star-studded Neighbours finale airs in Australia

A crowd of staunch fans braved wet winter weather in Melbourne to watch outdoors the star-studded finale of the Australian television soap Neighbours, which ran for 37 years.

Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce are among the celebrities who returned to fictional Ramsay Street to appear in the send-off of the Melbourne-based drama that helped launch their careers in acting and music.

The programme was once a major hit in Australia and a bigger success in Britain, but has fallen victim to waning ratings.

Fan Riya Patel arrived two hours before the broadcast started at 7.30pm local time on a big screen in Melbourne’s Federation Square to secure a bean bag in the front row, despite passing showers and a bracing temperature of 9C.

More than 100 fans attended, many wrapped in blankets.

Ms Patel began watching Neighbours after moving to Melbourne from India in 2018 and had since streamed episodes back to 2012. She said she would miss the nightly adventures of the Ramsay Street neighbours.

“Most definitely, I don’t know what I am going to do at 6.30pm. It’s just going to be an automatic thing to go in front of the TV,” Ms Patel said.

The show announced its cancellation in March following the loss of its main British broadcast partner, Channel 5.

Channel 5 will broadcast the final episode in Britain on Friday.