A Yelverton man has started a petition to save Neighbours after the surprise announcement the Aussie soap will be ending for good.
The show currently celebrating its 40th anniversary season will continue to air until the end of the year, and will then disappear from our screens.
Alex Christmas, a lifelong fan of the Aussie show, was devastated by the recent announcement and sprung into action. A petition to save the programme on Change.org already has 1161 signatures of the 1,500 target.
It’s the second time he has campaigned to save the show after a similar petition in 2022 when the programme was axed by its broadcast home Channel 5. He said: “I’ve been avidly watching it for about 24 years, but I have memories of it even longer than that.”
The 31-year old recalls bits and pieces of it from watching with his mother as a toddler.
The series set on Ramsey Street is a lifeline for Alex who has cerebral palsy and relies on carers to come in and look after him.
He said: “With the way my life is, I have a registered disability, and I require 24-hour care. The care industry has a very high rate of turnover, so I’m always having new carers come in, and leave me, and it’s very difficult for me constantly getting used to new people.
“Neighbours is an absolutely vital source of consistency for me. No matter what happens on any day, no matter who I’ve got with me, I know I can always rely on watching Neighbours and seeing Karl and Susan Kennedy and Paul Robinson,” he said.
The last time Neighbours was axed in 2022, it was announced on Alex’s birthday.
“I was in absolute bits,” he said. “My family tried their best to keep it from me, because they didn’t want it to ruin my birthday but I did end up finding out and I was completely devastated.”
Alex is hoping that his petition will gain traction and “someone out there will save it”, he says.
“What a lot of people don’t realise about this announcement, is that it’s not being cancelled due to ratings, because every day that it’s on, it’s actually in Amazon’s Top Five most watched titles, so it’s still very popular.”
The show was the flagship title on Amazon’s Freevee free streaming service. When that was shut down Neighbours was transferred to Prime Video with a two-year commitment which isn’t being renewed.
Alex says he understands that Neighbours might not fit in with Amazon’s strategy at Prime Video but added: “Neighbours is an absolutely iconic television institution, and the fact is that everyone that works on it says there’s still so much life in it, and you have thousands of people like me who are trying to save it.”
Alex is part of a bigger group on Facebook with 4,000 loyal Neighbours fans. Members of the group have approached Amazon but Alex says that they haven’t received any personal responses yet.
Alex’s petition can be found at: https://www.change.org/p/the-neighbours-project-saveneighbours