Neighbours - The End of the Road...UPDATED: All Roads Lead Back To Ramsay Street...

The ancient cathedral in Ely, England. How is this related to the thoroughly Australian 'Neighbours'? Read on!

UPDATE: Delighted that Neighbours has been saved and will continue to delight its fans hopefully for decades to come! Especially delighted that Guy Pearce has agreed to make further appearances as Mike Young so that his romance with Jane Harris (Annie Jones) can continue. 

We have very special memories of the show in the 1980s, and it's wonderful that Guy, a successful film actor, has such good feelings for the show. Guy was English-born and, in fact, came into the world just up the road from us in Ely, a small city which houses a gorgeous ancient cathedral, sometimes known as 'The Ship of the Fens.' 

Good luck to Neighbours. We leave our original farewell article here as a tribute to the show - and a marker of a time when it seemed the show was about to end forever. But all roads lead back to Ramsay Street...

Original farewell article below, with lots of '80s memories...

My first favourite 'Neighbours' character ever, although I loved all the original Ramsay Streeters, was Julie Robinson. We already had lots of older sticky beaks in soaps, but Julie, played by Vikki Blanche, was around my age at the time, early twenties, and quite a novelty. Young sticky beaks did not abound in soap land and she was great fun. Of course, she believed that all her interfering was for the best. She, of course, KNEW exactly what was the best for everybody! Julie was the daughter of Jim Robinson in the original storyline. Years later, this was retconned for dramatic effect, as so often happens in soaps.

I was very sorry to read about the axing of the long-running Australian soap Neighbours. I haven't watched in many years, but the show was such an incredible hit when it was first shown here in England in October 1986 that I, as a young twenty-something, was swept along and thoroughly enjoyed the tales from Ramsay Street for the first three or four years.

The Robinsons meet Paul's fiancée, Terry Inglis (Maxine Klibingaitis). Oh dear.

The show is stamped on my memories of the 1980s. 

Here's a 'little' run through of my personal Neighbours legends...

(Takes deep breath):

I will never forget Elaine Smith as dependable, straight talking and lively Daphne Lawrence/Clarke - with her highly distinctive spiky hairdo; Vikki Blanche as the glorious young sticky beak Julie Robinson; Darius Perkins as troubled teen Scott Robinson; Paul Keane as hugely likeable, but never terribly lucky, bank manager Des Clarke; Francis Bell as the explosively tempered but also very lovable Max Ramsay; Dasha Blahova as Maria Ramsay - a kind and loving soul, but one indiscretion in 1969 caused huge complications; Myra de Groot as fabulously potty Eileen Clarke - I'll never forget the 'food poisoning' outbreak; Ian Smith as prissy but so-well-meaning Harold Bishop; the excellent child actress Kylie Flinker as Lucy Robinson; David Clencie as troubled Ramsay family member, but also outsider, Danny; Peter O'Brien - Danny's half-brother, Shane - cheerful, romantically unlucky and destined to become a gardener when his diving career was cut short; Vivean Gray as the legendary curtain twitcher Mrs Mangel, railing against 'that Ramsay woman!'; Anne Haddy as artist, grandmother and businesswoman Helen Daniels - kind, gracious, the perfect friend and confidante; Alan Dale as fatherly Jim Robinson - who was always there for his kids; Stefan Dennis as (at first) affable young Paul Robinson - to whom life was about to deliver a bitter blow; Anne Charleston as loud but loving Madge Ramsay/Bishop; Fiona Corke as Gail Lewis/Robinson - glamorous, business orientated and also highly sympathetic; Tom Oliver, who first appeared as rascally Lou Carpenter in 1988 - and immediately drove Harold to violence; Ally Fowler as madcap Zoe Davis - livewire pal of Daphne - who almost became Paul's step-mother; Regina Gaigalas as Andrea Townsend - a scheming minx who wasn't totally bad; Bradley Kilpatrick as Bradley Townsend - his ears were similar to Des Clarke's but Des was not his father - another excellent child actor; Annie Jones as gentle and kindly Jane Harris; Geoff Paine as Clive Gibbons - doctor and purveyor of chicken grams; Craig MacLachlan as the loopy and hilarious Henry Ramsay; Anne Scott Pendlebury as Julie's fellow Robinson sticky beak - the awesome Hilary; Lucinda Cowden as Melanie Pearson - madcap, dizzy and possessed of a highly distinctive laugh; and Guy Pearce as Mike Young - from a troubled family background, he found security in Ramsay Street.

The original cast. Elaine Smith's short, spiky haircut impressed the show's production team, who wanted a different look for the character.

And then, OF COURSE, there was Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell. Jason Donovan (the second actor to play Scott) and Kylie Minogue starred as the aspiring student journalist and the garage mechanic, who aided the show's popularity immeasurably with their stormy teenage romance and eventual fairy tale wedding.

We were glued to their dramas.

Mike, Scott and Charlene - Ramsay Street youth of the 1980s.

And, to end our Neighbours legends list, we could never leave out Bouncer, the lovable Labrador, who befriended Mrs Mangel. A brave and noble pooch indeed.

And, finally (phew!), not forgetting dear little Basil - Lucy's dog, and the original Neighbours canine.

When Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver) first arrived at Lassiters in 1988, he wasted no time in calling Harold Bishop 'Jelly Belly'. Harold sprang up, ready to karate chop the swine into oblivion.

Why did I like Neighbours? Well, I'd always been partial to a bit of soap, and this one was incredibly well done. Reg Watson was a master of his craft. It also had likeable characters and lashings of bright, zany '80s fashion and hair - and at the age I was, fashion was important. 

But, also, the English soaps were getting a little depressing in the 1980s, as TV production luvvies set out to show us just how grim our lives were under Thatcher (I couldn't stick her, but the lefty luvvies' dog was far too darned shaggy!). It was good to see a show where people bickered and laughed and popped in for a natter and so on without the writers having some huge political axe to grind.

Happy days indeed! English actress Vivean Gray as the legendary Mrs Nell Mangel - on the prowl in Ramsay Street.

Reg Watson, Neighbours creator, stated that he got the idea for Neighbours watching Coronation Street in England, where he lived (and produced English Midlands soap Crossroads) for many years. But Neighbours was not Coronation Street. The fact that we viewed life in Ramsay Street from a child's eye level (with Lucy and Bradley) and the high teenage content, ensured that the show had its own style.

Mr Watson viewed communication between the generations as a very important ingredient.

He took his idea for an Australian street soap to Channel 7 in 1984, and then, once it was accepted, slaved over the details - until he felt he'd found just the formula.

Jane Harris - Annie Jones - wore whacking great shoulder pads at times, following the OTT 'power dressing' trend of the 1980s. Personally, I love '80s fashion!

Of course, Neighbours was further refined and honed when it went to Channel 10 in 1986.

And then it was perfection.

I still can't watch Daphne's death episode without blubbing. It was shown in 1988 in Aus and 1989 here in England. Full marks over and over again to Paul Keane as Des Clarke for his reaction.

Here in England, after its October 1986 debut, it swept up the TV ratings charts, and we loved it - and it has continued for thirty seven years.

Sincere sympathy to current followers of the show - losing a soap can be like losing a group of real life friends - and it still seems tremendously likeable from what we've seen (we at '80s Actual Towers haven't had an 'as broadcast' TV service for years because we don't want to pour money into the BBC's coffers).

Great acting from child performers like Kylie Flinker ensured that Ramsay Street would truly be a multi-generational soap.

Glad to hear Scott and Charlene will be making a return for the ending.

Mike, Shane, Harold and Des, too. 

And, hey - who knows - perhaps the show itself will return one day? This hasn't been ruled out. It is naff of Channel 5 though. After the bizarre and intensely miserable events of the last two and a bit years, to pull the plug on something that helps some people through the day is not great behaviour.

Did it have to be now, Channel 5?

Back to the beginning, and it took Reg Watson some time to decide on the name for the serial. Should it be One Way Street? No Through Road? Or Living Together? Or...

When he first began work on scripts after Seven commissioned the show in 1984, it was Living Together, although this was provisional. Jan Russ, casting director, who was then working on the final years of Prisoner Cell Block H (which ran from 1979 to 1986), recalled: 'I received this phone call from Reg Watson, who said to me, "We're thinking about doing a new show. I'll send you a couple of scripts down." The scripts were originally called Living Together.  I read the scripts and started putting a cast together.'  

Ian Smith is bringing Harold Bishop back for the ending. Dear old fusspot Harold is apparently involved in a central storyline about grieving. Harold has had a very sad life in some ways - including lodging with Mrs Mangel for a time in the 1980s.

Neighbours history is fascinating to recount. But how will it end? Will Scott and Charlene decide to buy a house in Ramsay Street and force Paul to mend his ways? Will Mike Young rekindle his romance with Jane Harris? Will Clive take up Chicken Grams again in protest? Will Melanie win a million on the lottery and buy Lassiters?

Or perhaps it could end in 1985 with a young man, suddenly sitting bolt upright in bed, his face covered with sweat. He looks wildly around him, but all is quiet.

'Thank heavens, it was only a dream,' says Danny Ramsay, and goes back to sleep...

No, sorry, I forgot - they already did the dream thing in Dallas...

There are rumours circulating that Reg Watson originally 'pitched' (a pitch is a rudimentary outline of a series scenario and characters) the Street soap idea to Australian Channel 9 in 1982. If this is true, and had it come to pass, then we wouldn't have ended up with Neighbours as we know it. Time, experience and the perfect blend of events (things like the BBC looking round for a new soap for its new afternoon schedule in 1986), writers and cast needed to fall into place for that. Reg Watson himself never spoke of any Street soap pitch to Channel 9, but he did say:

'In pitching the show to Seven and Ten, I blithely said, "This concept can run for twenty years." I knew from the looks on their faces that they thought they'd heard it all before.'

It did much better than he thought, didn't it?

'Suddenly every part of me needs to know every part of you...'

Mrs Mangel: 'Really - such vulgar lyrics!'

Madge: 'Oh shut up, you old biddy!'

Neighbours: Mrs Mangel's Portrait: The Growing Hair Mystery...

                      

Of course, the painting which Mrs Helen Daniels of Ramsay Street, Erinsborough, did of her neighbour, Mrs Nell Mangel, caused quite a lot of trouble in 1987. But, finally, peace was restored and Mrs Mangel was given the portrait, which she displayed in her hallway, near the phone.

Helen had given her a bit of flannel about the portrait, which Mrs M initially was outraged at, by saying it portrayed the strong character of Australian women. Or something like that. Mrs Mangel departed Ramsay Street in the late 1980s, but the portrait remained.

In the 21st Century, the portrait returned to the Neighbours limelight, being displayed at Lassiters Hotel. I hadn't seen the show in years, but squawked with delight when me and my wife happened upon an episode a few years ago and saw it.

But something wasn't quite right. 'Mrs Mangel's hair's grown,' I said to my wife.

'Don't be daft!' said she.

But it has. It's grown over her ears a bit and is now feathered down her neck. 

Are there such things as portrait hairdressers, I wonder? Because I suspect dear Nell will be needing a trim soon if this keeps up...

Falcon Crest

Fabulous Jane Wyman donned a grey wig for the Vintage Years - the pilot of Falcon Crest - in 1981, but got rid of it for the series.

It always sounds really snobbish when you name something you like that is mass popular, and the person you are speaking to says: 'Oh, really? I prefer...' - and names something obscure.

But I'm afraid that's genuinely how I am about the big 1980s-era American soaps. Dallas? Nope. Dynasty? Nope. Knots Landing? Nope.

I'm a dedicated Falcon Crest man.

Now, in England, Falcon Crest, or 'Falky' as I fondly nicknamed it, was often broadcast on ITV regional stations in grotty afternoon slots, or at Sunday teatime - sometime naff. But, as a shift worker, I managed to sink a basinful of it and loved it.

I suppose it all began with an idea for a series pilot possibly set in America and France, or a series pilot called The Barclays, about an American urban family moving from New York to small town Kentucky or...

Series creator Earl Hamner jr, who had given us that loving 1930s family The Waltons (Spencer's Mountain with plenty of tears but without the grit), was just finishing work on that series when the idea for a try-out pilot came his way, and it took a lot of thinking out.

Filming of a drama called The Vintage Years took place in the spring of 1981. This was the pilot for what would become Falcon Crest and featured some of the ingredients - including the location, the Spring Mountain Winery in California's Napa Valley, which would be the location for Falcon Crest.

It also featured Jane Wyman as Angela Channing, the leading Mrs Nasty of Falcon Crest, in a grey wig - which Miss Wyman hated!

It was a tale of vineyards and a family divided, very much as the series would be, but it wasn't the finished product by any means.

As it was never screened, I never saw it - but I believe it's now available online.

Changes were made to cast and characters - and Jane Wyman pushed for changes to Angela.

'She's very much a 1981 kind of lady,' she said just before Falky's American debut in December 1981.

My goodness, she was. English TV critic Hilary Kingsley described her in 1988 as 'rotten to the pips', but there was more to Angela than that. Her main problem, as her daughter Emma pointed out, was that she loved the land more than she loved her family. And was prepared to use any trick in the book to keep it.

Angela's role as Queen Bee of the fictional Tuscany Valley took a severe knock when her nephew, Chase Gioberti, arrived in the early 1980s to claim his inheritance. Don't worry. She was up to the fight.

Had Miss Wyman been cast because of her ex-husband, Ronald Reagan's, recent elevation (in November 1980) to US President?  Jane Wyman said she had not. Rumours were later circulated that she had been offered a role in the future Earl Hamner production before the pilot was even in the pre-production planning stages (highly unlikely) and that she had banned mention of Ronald Reagan on the Falcon Crest set!

It all added to the interest - and Jane Wyman was quite capable of holding the viewer's interest long after the fascination of seeing Ronnie's ex-wife had faded.

What really attracted me to the show was its delicious sense of humour.

Hapless greedy and lustful Melissa Agretti telling her 'loving' husband Lance Cumson: 'Your whole family's weird. Your mother murdered my father...' for instance.

The characters actually stood back at times and saw the absurdity of the soapy plots.

It could be very droll - as Melissa said to Angela:

'Don't worry, Angela, I'll still be available for family occasions - weddings, funerals, and, of course, the occasional shooting.'

Ana Alicia was fabulous as 'that fiesty Melissa Agretti' - as Angela once called her.

It had all the prime time soap ingredients, of course, but I also thought it had more atmosphere and depth.

Angela's daughters, Emma and Julia, for instance - driven mad over a period of many years by their oppressive mother - and this madness manifesting itself in quite different ways. 

One of the scenes which cemented the series in my affections was at the end of season one, in 1982. Angela, having been worsted in battle by her nephew Chase, smiled and said: 'He thinks he's won!' The smile was radiant - full of enjoyment at the thought of proving him wrong, and quite bereft of any malice. No JR crocodile grin there. Angela was simply delighted at the thought of future ferocities. And I was entranced.

Falky was enthralling - plane crashes, vicious business cartels, long lost relatives, earthquakes, shootings, fires, Nazis... it had the lot - and more!

Great cast, too. There were rumours of backstage hostilities. When veteran film actress Lana Turner appeared in one season, Jane Wyman reportedly refused to act with her - and some scenes had to be recorded separately. Finally, Miss Wyman was reported to have said that either she remained in the series, or Miss Turner - not both.

Lana Turner's character was killed off in a shooting at the Falcon Crest mansion.

As for the behind the scenes revelations - rumour or truth? The speculation all added to the fun of watching the series - and it was an immensely enjoyable series, made with great skill and gusto.

In 1981, the cast of Falcon Crest appeared to be quite dowdy, but, as the 1980s took wing, power dressing and glitz became the norm. Here's some of the regulars, circa 1987. The man in the middle is Lorenzo Lamas, Angela's grandson, Lance Cumson. He never quite outwitted his 'loving' granny.

I will never forget Jane Wyman as Angela, Margaret Ladd as her delightfully dotty daughter Emma, Abby Dalton as her other daughter - the driven-over-the-edge Julia Cumson, Chao Li Chi as Cha Li - the wise butler at the Falcon Crest mansion, David Selby as Richard Channing - the milk-drinking business mogul, Susan Sullivan as lovely Maggie Gioberti - persecuted in-law of Angela, Robert Foxworth as Chase Gioberti, Maggie's husband and Angela's goodly nephew, and Lorenzo Lamas and Ana Alicia as Lance and Melissa Cumson - wow, that couple had sparks!

Required viewing at the time - and on DVD now. It lifts any free afternoon way out of the mundane.

The '80s Archers Part Two: The Creation Of Lynda Snell

The 1980s saw Ambridge bidding farewell to several legendary old favourites - Doris Archer (1980), Aunt Laura (1985), Dan Archer (1986) and Walter Gabriel (1988) - but the decade saw the arrival of some new favourites, one of these being a certain Mrs Lynda Snell. Snobby Lynda was, at first sight (or rather on first hearing!) frankly quite unbearable - she would interfere! - but over the years moments of kindness and sensitivity and the enjoyability of her being a character we could at times love to hate, saw us listeners taking Lynda to our hearts.

Actress Carole Boyd was no stranger to BBC radio soap, having been in the Radio 2 saga Waggoners' Walk, as miserable Shirley Edwards, wife of the fiery Cliff. But Lynda was absolutely nothing like Shirley (she was rather common, old Shirl!) and I was very impressed at Miss Boyd's acting skills in playing two such widely differing characters so convincingly.

Interviewed a few years ago by the BBC, Miss Boyd revealed the origins of Mrs Snell...

'It was back in the mid-'80s, 1986, and the producer then was Liz Rigbey... she was new to the programme and she wanted, I think, to reflect the mid-'80s, the time of yuppies going off into the country and teaching people - TRYING to teach people - how to run their lives, etc. So, she invented this couple called the Snells and not a lot was known about them. I mean, we all auditioned, there was myself and probably about a dozen other actresses and the letter that came to say "This is what we want to do, this is the sort of people they are," was very uninformative really. It just said in the letter Robert is a thrusting computer whizz kid and Lynda's probably a doormat. And I thought, hmm, I don't want to be a doormat! But at the same time, of course, everyone was watching the television soaps, so we were all watching Dallas and Dynasty and Neighbours, I think, had come in, so suddenly there was a frenzy in the nation for more and more soap operas and I think people suddenly realised that we had our own home-grown one ticking away for years-  and the publicity that went with that - suddenly the interest rocketed as a spin-off from the television interest. 

'So I went into the audition thinking "I'm going to make her unpleasant" and the audition scene was between Eddie Grundy and this woman, unknown at the time, who pops up from behind a hedge to see Eddie doing something disgusting to a small furry creature, you know, disembowelling, something really countryish, and is horrified and takes him to task. And so I did it like that, bearing in mind that there was JR, who everyone loved to hate, and there was Alexis Carrington in Dynasty, who everyone loved to hate, and I thought "that's what we need in Ambridge", and they said, "Oh, you've made her unpleasant," and I said "Yes," and they said, "Oh, we quite like that," so that's how it happened. 

'And then her voice. Well obviously it's radio so there were no shoulder pads or big hair to reflect the period so I thought "Well, I'm going to make her really obnoxious-sounding and irritating," and I just feel that you only have to hear her voice and you just want to run a mile which is rather nice for the character.' 

And WHAT a character! Lynda Snell - Ambridge legend!

Coronation Street 1987 - And 1989... Phyllis Pearce The Material Girl And The New Side To The Street...

If only soaps were still like they were in Phyllis's day...

Faced with entirely uninterested Mr Sugden, Phyllis was undaunted. Come on, Percy, pucker up!

Our Phyllis was no quitter. She pursued her man for over a decade.

We've enjoyed a few glimpses of ITV 3's Classic Coronation Street recently, which has been reliving each episode of the Street from 1986 onwards. The strand has just reached 1989, which promises to be a corking year with the Alan Bradley story, the death of Brian Tilsley, Jack and Vera Duckworth's stone cladding, and the building of a whole new side of the Street as Baldwin's factory and the community centre are demolished and the new houses, shops and industrial units go up.

The production team teased us with blink-and-you'd-miss-them glimpses of the new development as time went on - and below we see what would become Audrey's hairdressing salon in the episode broadcast on 11 December 1989.

Also in that episode was a great favourite of ours - the legendary Phyllis Pearce, played by the legendary Jill Summers. What a fantastic blue rinser Phyllis was - never giving up on getting Percy Sugden to appreciate her charms, always ready with advice, a bit sad about the loss of her salad days, but still a very positive and young-at-heart character.

We loved her.

We have a feeling Phyllis would be as disappointed in modern day soaps, with their constant serial killers, explosions and excessive violence, as we are.

Phyllis did enjoy the occasional grumble about the youth of the day, but at heart she was very much a modern girl of the 1980s - in fact a material girl, and she and Alf Roberts's shopping-loving wife Audrey (Sue Nicholls) were happy to present their credentials on the 1987 TV show 'The Funny Side', as backing 'singers' for Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker's performance of the Madonna hit.

Cos the boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr Right...

Flippin' 'eck - there's Judith Jacobs - Carmel from Walford - showing unexpected musical talent and proving that even the EastEnders could have fun in 1987...

Good grief, and here's Archie Brooks from Emmerdale Farm, James Wilmot Brown from EastEnders, and Bobby Grant and Matty Nolan from Brookside getting in on the act!

And our Cheryl's Mr Right in those days of success-seeking glitz and glamour? Kevin Kennedy's Curly Watts, of course! Who else!

Who needs Pepsi and Shirlie?

"Plain Jane Superbrain" - Annie Jones Returns To Neighbours...

Annie Jones as Jane Harris in an Australian 1989 preview of an upcoming Neighbours episode. Wow! Those shoulder pads!

We don't have a TV service. Having decided that the BBC wasn't worth the licence fee years ago and that we resented being forced to pay for it, we gave up the telly. Well, not exactly. We watch DVDs. Seldom do we feel the need to venture beyond the early 1990s with our choice of viewing though.

As Big Brother and Beavis and Butthead came in, we went out.

Not that we're snobs. No, lovey, not us. We just thought that '90s TV grew more and more boring. Our TV tastes were wide and varied in the 1980s. Film on 4? Yum! The Beiderbecke Trilogy? Oh yes! Edge of Darkness? Ooh!

But we liked the soapy side too - we watched Crossroads to the end. And something else we enjoyed greatly was Neighbours, the Australian soap featuring Des, Daphne, Mrs Mangel, Scott and Charlene, Mike Young, Harold Bishop, Madge Ramsay, and 'Plain Jane Superbrain' - AKA Jane Harris, granddaughter of Mrs M.

Jane could easily have been a makeweight character - she had the old chestnut storyline of the ugly duckling becoming a swan bestowed on her - but Annie Jones invested Jane with a likeable warmth and sincerity. And we took the character to our hearts. She wasn't feisty and fascinating like Charlene. She was simply a nice young woman. But it was niceness without being boring.

Of course, Jane suffered heartache. Her on-off relationship with Mike Young was doomed, and a brief romance with an older man was even shorter. Then Jane fell for widower Des Clarke. And that wasn't to be either.

Finally, in 1989, Jane left for England, where newly-married Mrs Mangel had gone to live. Mrs M was ill. Jane went to be with her.

Intriguingly, Annie Jones suggested some of the storyline ideas for Jane's return to the Neighbours production team.

Jane, gifted academically and a sought after fashion model for a time, has spent the last twenty-nine years looking after Mrs Mangel. And some of Nan's ways have rubbed off on her.

We saw some Neighbours last year while on holiday in Cromer and were delighted to see Mrs Mangel's portrait, painted by Helen Daniels in 1987, featured in the plot.

Caused a lot of trouble did that portrait.

We wonder if its re-emergence could have something to do with Jane's return to Erinsborough? After all, Mrs Mangel would hardly be pleased to have discovered it was now on display at Lassiter's...

Whatever the reason for Jane's Ramsay Street comeback, our best wishes to Annie Jones. The goings-on in mid-to-late 1980s Erinsborough gave us much viewing pleasure, and Jane Harris was an essential part of the Neighbours brew. Our feelings towards the character are wrapped in great swathes of warmth and nostalgia.

We'll definitely be popping round to OUR neighbours' to see Annie's return episode.

Have Yourself A 1980s Christmas...

Albert Square, Walford, Christmas in the 1980s...

Lou: "'Ere, Arfur, get this photo took and let's 'ave some nuts. Then I'll 'ave me nap. Dot an' Ethel are poppin' in later..."

Pauline: "Make sure you get us in the middle, Arfur..."

Michelle: "Come on, Dad - I wanna go over to Sharon's. She's got the new Duran Duran..."

Lou: "You'll 'elp your muvver with the washin' up first, 'Chelle. I dunno, you youngsters nowadays, you don't think abaht anybody but yourselves..."

Pauline: "Got a load of mashed potato and cabbage left. Bubble and squeak for breakfast tomorrer..." 

Lou: "Luvley!"

Pauline: "Oh no! I've got Bisto on me blouse!"

And from that happy 1980s scene to today... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from '80s Actual xxx

Neighbours: The Portrait Of Mrs Mangel... Who Did It?

                             

Feast your eyes on the above - the divine portrait of Mrs Nell Mangel, painted by Mrs Helen Daniels in 1987. Both ladies, of course, were Ramsay Street fiction, but the re-emergence of the painting in a recent Neighbours storyline and the death of actress Vivean Gray, who was so spendid as Mrs Mangel, have prompted the following e-mail from Keiran:

I enjoyed your post on lovely Vivean Gray and Mrs Mangel. Another Neighbours legend gone! The painting of Mrs Mangel from the 1980s has recently turned up in 21st Century Neighbours. Do you know who really painted it? I don't suppose it was Anne Haddy, who played Helen Daniels?

Hello, Kieran! I can answer part of your question - no, Anne Haddy did not paint the Mangel masterpiece. The actress wanted it to be known in 1988 that the Daniels works were, in reality, the work of somebody "in scenery" and said: "They're awful, aren't they? The most upsetting fan letter I've received was from a little boy who wanted me to paint his dead cat. I had to explain I wasn't a real artist."

Who was the real life artist, then?

If anybody knows the person "in scenery" on Neighbours in 1987 who painted Helen's perceptive character portrait of dear old Nell, please let us know.

It's now an icon of 1980s artwork.

 UPDATE 09 June 2023:

In the 21st Century, the portrait returned to the Neighbours limelight, being displayed at Lassiters Hotel. I hadn't seen the show in years, but squawked with delight when me and my wife happened upon an episode a few years ago and saw it.

But something wasn't quite right. 'Mrs Mangel's hair's grown,' I said to my wife.

'Don't be daft!' said she.

I've finally got round to comparing the 1987 version with the modern day version, and it has. It's grown over her ears a bit and is now feathered down her neck. 

Are there such things as portrait hairdressers, I wonder? Because I suspect dear Nell will be needing a trim soon if this keeps up...

Vivean Gray - The English Actress Who Gave Us Australia's Mrs Mangel...

Mrs Mangel puts on a severe face as she prepares for another day at Lassiters. 

English-born actress Vivean Gray, who died recently, was no stranger to playing gossips - she was Ida Jessup in the Australian wartime saga, The Sullivans before she became Mrs Nell Mangel in Neighbours. But she believed that there was one important difference between her two gossipy characters:

"... Jessup had saving graces, she would help people. Mangel is mean and bitchy."

All quite true. And how we loved Mrs Mangel for her foibles. Incredibly, the character was only a resident of Ramsay Street from 1986 to 1988, but she certainly left her mark - both on the show, and in our affections.

Of course, Mrs Mangel was not originally intended to be a permanent Ramsay Street local. Vivean Gray in another 1980s interview:

"Mangel was only supposed to be around for three weeks, but I think people like watching her. I think they say, 'Isn't she dreadful? Thank goodness she doesn't live near me!' "

Analysing the character, Miss Gray said:

"The Mrs Mangels of this world are people who are disappointed in themselves. Perhaps they are lonely, too. At any rate, they can't adapt to a changing society. Such people need counselling."

Mrs Mangel's lovely granddaughter, Jane Harris (Annie Jones), stood by her "Nan" - and took to heart Mrs M's advice to "keep herself nice".

Mrs Mangel clashed regularly with Madge Mitchell/Ramsay/Bishop (Anne Charleston). She was a bit of a lonely soul at heart, but had a great friend in the beautifully batty Eileen Clarke (Myra de Groot), and was rather an admirer of Mr Harold Bishop (Ian Smith).

She also had an estranged son, Joe, played by Mark Little, who turned up in Ramsay Street in 1988, just before Mrs M. left. The two were reconciled, and rough diamond Joe and his son Toby ensured the Mangel name lived on in the street after Mrs M. married Englishman John Worthington and moved to the "old country".

Fans took Vivean's portrayal of Mrs Mangel very much to heart, which led to some unpleasantness for the actress, and contributed to her decision to leave the role.

But Mrs Mangel is a telly legend.

And we treasure the memories. 

Rest in peace, Vivean Gray. 

And thank you. 

And our condolences to her friends and family.

Happy days - Eileen Clarke and Nell Mangel joined the local bowling club in 1987.

Easter EastEnders Greetings From 1986...

Compulsive viewing though it was - with some tremendous characters and writing, the BBC's EastEnders was also a bag of miserable, middle class, leftie propaganda in its early years. Not the sort of thing you'd imagine contributing to the spirit of peace and renewal at Easter.

But Auntie wanted to make a few more bob, so 1986 gave us the EastEnders Milk Chocolate Easter Egg - with chocolate beans. Cor! It also 'ad views of the Queen Victoria, Sue and Ali's cafe, the railway bridge and some of the grotty Albert Square 'ouses on the box. 

Lovely, eh? Unless Lou Beale misses 'er bleedin' bingo.

Then there'll be runctions. Not to mention if Sue and Mary get started.

And wot about Den and Ange?

Actually, I think it odd to have an Albert Square-themed Easter egg. But then it takes all kinds to make a world, dunnit, darlin'?

Wishing you a peaceful and happy Easter anyway! x

EastEnders 30th: How Julia Smith Insisted On The Cast Looking Dowdy Back In 1985...

Thank gawd for Angie, one of the few who brought some fashion reality to Albert Square!

30 years of EastEnders! And, of course, most of us who were there will fondly recall the soap's beginning on 19 February, 1985. But there was a mystery back then which troubled me...

Why did so many of the characters look so dowdy? With the exception of Angie and a few others, the residents of Albert Square looked thoroughly grotty.

And this, slap-bang in the middle of the 1980s, a time of bright colours, big shoulders, huge hair and other marvels.

I thought at the time that they must be having it rough in the old East End, although unlikely as rough as the residents of Albert Square (a newspaper article a couple of years later, contrasted the lives of the residents of a real East End square with our Albert, and found that people were actually rather better off and things were nowhere near as aggro.).

However, the brilliant but somewhat misguided Julia Smith wanted to set the show "uncompromisingly in the 1980s" - and by that, we mean the trendy lefty's view of the 1980s, not the real 1980s. It was unthinkable for these wine bar-frequenting TV types to present anybody as having a good time in the Thatcher/Reagan era.

And so the reality - that many real '80s East Enders were spending lots of dosh on looking posh (in the '80s sense of the word, of course!) and rather enjoying themselves with the credit boom and whatnot had to be ignored.

June Hudson, original costume designer of EastEnders, had done her research. In 1984, she had taken a look at real EastEnders. No lack of bright up-to-date fashions, nor dosh either. An interview with her in the Radio Times this year reveals:

... the two women [June Hudson and producer Julia Smith] clashed over the look of EastEnders. “Julia said, ‘You should be able to get all the clothes from Oxfam.’ But I’d done my homework, weeks of research in the East End, in Ridley Road and Roman Road markets. I noticed how bright and fashionable the people were. I felt I had to make a stand with Julia over the look, the brightness of real East Enders. It was all about pride and image in the East End in the early 80s. I was amazed by the sheer cash, people getting wads of notes out of their pockets as thick as your wrist."

Although the early episodes achieved a careworn, grungy patina, June Hudson stuck to her guns and several characters looked smart and colourfully dressed. And soon she felt vindicated: “The Sunday Mirror ran a story ‘The bright and fashionable East End – will the BBC get it right?’ Somebody stuck it on Julia’s door... and it wasn’t me.”

Several years later, after they’d both moved on from EastEnders, June Hudson had lunch with Julia Smith at BBC Television Centre, and her former boss, the Godmother of EastEnders, finally conceded on the “bright and fashionable” East End: “D’you know, I think you could have been right there, June.”

 Michelle tells Den he's the father of the sprog she's expecting. Great storyline. Great characters. Great acting. But where the hell did 'Chelle get that cardie?

What a shame that the wine bar leftie TV execs marred the early 'Enders episodes. Angie and Sharon and a few others were fortunate, but poor old 'Chelle! Never saw a girl her age dressed like that! But then, the "impartial" BBC had it in for Thatcher by the mid-1980s (I couldn't stick her myself, but things were bright and glitzy more than not, it must be said!) and TV execs like Julia Smith were determined to (mis) represent life like wot it was lived. That was all part of the 1980s scene.

However, Albert Square was real in some ways. I lived somewhere very similar, though in a different part of England, and there were loads of characters round my way like Lou Beale and Ethel Skinner and Dot Cotton. The crime rate was nowhere near as high, although my neighbourhood was dog-rough, but hey, EastEnders was leftie "Isn't Thatcher terrible?" soapland, so things had to look grim. And, of course, the 1980s in my poor-as-could-be area were much more dressy than Walford, and there seemed to be a lot more aspiring going on.

But, whatever.

EastEnders was still must-watch viewing for me back then. The social issues and abrasive characters were a tremendous breath of fresh air in the world of soap operas, following on the good (similarly leftie) work of Brookside, which had begun in November 1982.

So... happy birthday, EastEnders!

By the way, I've still got my pink linen Miami Vice-style jacket from 1985. Looked so good with a neon blue mesh vest and the sleeves pushed up.

It was £10.99 from my local market.

Too dear for Albert Square's menfolk, of course... 

All Thatcher's fault, of course! :)

Crossroads 1987 - Growler And Charlie And Mrs Tardebigge And "Chloe"...

Debbie Lancaster (AKA "Debbie Dreadful), played by Kathryn Hurlbutt, is introduced to Growler, played by Growler, by Charlie Mycroft, played by Graham Seed.

Soap operas were different back in the 1980s. Brookside and EastEnders were brave new innovations which had tremendous impact and helped to shape the format of today's soaps (although soaps have become so sensationalised now they're rubbish - in my humble opinion, of course!). There were tremendous changes at the Crossroads Motel in the 1980s and the decade finally killed the Midlands-based soap. 

But, before that, in 1987, brash Brummie businessman Tommy "Bomber" Lancaster bought the place and invited his daughter, Debbie, to have a look around. Charlie Mycroft, major star of the Major International Hotels company, showed Debbie around and introduced her to his mascot - Growler - a plush Scottie dog with googly eyes which guarded his pillow.

Of course, Debbie was a little taken aback and Growler failed to charm her.

Meanwhile, motel char Mrs Tardebigge, had found a fifty pence piece up her 'oover. Wasn't that brilliant? "Finders, keepers, lover!" as Mrs T might have said. Mrs Tardebigge was, of course, a leading member of the Pat Boone Fan Club (West Midlands Branch).

 Mrs Tardebigge (Elsie Kelly) is thrilled by her unexpected good fortune. Elsie Kelly first joined the cast of Crossroads in late 1986 - her character was a creation of new producer William Smethurst.

Meanwhile (again), schoolgirl Beverley Grice, just arrived in the area, was trying to make friends at her new school. She introduced herself to posh Sara Briggs as "Chloe", and was not impressed when her younger brother Jason, who had personal stereo headphones apparently welded to his ears, told her that Chloe was a dogs' name. Somebody in their old neighbourhood had owned a mutt with that name. And it had peed up his leg and was a smelly old thing.

That dog was called "Woofer", Beverley insisted. Nope, their nana had called it "Woofer" but its proper moniker was Chloe, said Jason.

When Mrs Grice verified this at the dinner table, Jason smirked and Beverley stormed out in a strop. When she later asked her mother why she had called her Beverley (the girl HATED her name), Mrs Grice told her she might have had a spot of post-natal depression at the time.

Yep, soap operas were different back in the 1980s... All that, and not a serial killer or an explosion in sight...

Beverley Grice, played by Karen Murden.

1982: Coronation Street Demolished!

Much changed in the 1980s. Contemplating the decade on New Year's Eve 1989, I found it hard to visualise the way life had been in 1980. But Coronation Street demolished?! Surely even the 1980s wouldn't have gone that far?!!!

Well, they certainly did, folks, in 1982 - the year of the Falklands War, deelyboppers, a strange man sitting on the Queen's bed, and the first appearance of body popping on Top Of The Pops. In the photograph above we see the Rovers Return, then home to Annie Walker, and Number 1, then home to Albert Tatlock and the Barlow family, coming down.

Mrs Walker would of course have flared her nostrils at the spectacle and probably developed a migraine. Mr Tatlock, no doubt, would have resorted to a good old grumble (no diversion from the norm there then), but what was happening? WHY was the Street being demolished? Well, if you launch a search of this blog you'll find the answer - complete with some newspaper coverage from the time!

In the meantime, we'd just like to say: "Eee, Mrs Walker, this beer's a bit dusty, ent it?"