Alan Fletcher hopes Neighbours will go on 'forever' as he praises fans for 'saving' the soap
Alan Fletcher believes ‘Neighbours’ will go on "forever", and he has praised fans for "saving" the show.
The 67-year-old actor, who plays Dr Karl Kennedy in the Australian soap, cited the five and half million UK-based viewers who tuned into the last-ever episode in August 2022 as to why Amazon bought the rights to revive the programme on their FreeVee streaming service, after he thought it was “done and dusted” following Channel 5 pulling the funding earlier that year.
While appearing on ‘This Morning’ on ITV1, he said: “It was just extraordinary. For me, it was done and dusted. I was so sad for the fans. I’ve had so much feedback. People were gutted. Five-and-half-million people watched the last episode here.
“Amazon saw that. The fans saved ‘Neighbours because Amazon said, ‘This is crazy. It’s an incredibly popular show’. And it still is. It’s number one on Amazon on here, and it’ll go forever.”
The last-ever episode of 'Neighbours' was a star-studded special, with several of its former stars-turned-Hollywood-A-listers, such as Guy Pearce, 56, and Kylie Minogue, 56, making Ramsay Street returns, and Margot Robbie, 34, appeared via video link.
At the time, fans didn't expect the show to reach its 40th anniversary celebrations.
Alan has told how he is yet to see the scripts for next year’s 40th anniversary special of the soap - after the show began in March 1985, and he first rocked up to Erinsborough in 1994 - but he trusts the celebrations will be “spectacular” thanks to the care and love of the show’s writers.
He told the hosts: “Well, honestly, I haven't even seen the scripts yet.
“They keep this stuff very close to their chest. Jason Herbison, our executive producer. He created the very final episode of ‘Neighbours’ when it went off air originally.
"He's a brilliant writer, and he knows ‘Neighbours’ like the back of his hand, so you can be sure with his guidance that the 40th-anniversary episode is going to be spectacular.”
Alan teased that ‘Neighbours’ is always keen for a returning cast member to “pop in” while talking about Stephanie McIntosh's return as Sky Mangel, and he named checked Toadie Rebecchi star Ryan Moloney, 44, who recently quit the show after three decades.
He said: “The great thing about ‘Neighbours’, too, is it is very much a family, and we have always got characters from the past coming back, rejoining the show. Sky Mangel popped in the other day, you know, things like that. So, I mean, we know that Toadie, of course.
“He’s off doing some directing. He’ll still pop in I’m sure.”
