Neighbours Royal Variety Performance 1988

FROM THE VAULT: Neighbours The Musical
(Or something)
Youtube really is one of the best inventions ever, readers. Every now and then I will think of a song or movie or TV show from my childhood and low-and-behold it will usually be on there.

Today it suddenly struck me that I really needed to see the cast of Neighbours at the Royal Variety Performance in 1988. I'd never seen it before, but as a Neighbours tragic even in my single digited days I knew all about it and even had one of those dodgy UK-made poster mags featuring pap shots of the cast from the event.

For those who don't know the "Performance" - which used to be called "The Royal Command Performance" - is where the British Royal Family "command" their favourite minions to entertain them for the evening. Very progressive.

In 1988 Neighbours was the second top rating show in the UK, and so the Royals decreed that some chosen colonials should be shipped back to the "mother country" to supply some colour and movement on stage.
Anyway, finally I have seen it, and it is every bit as tragic as I had been lead to believe (the script, Neighbours producers were keen to point out, was written by folk from the BBC).

While it was billed as the "whole cast", Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce are notably absent as are Vivian Grey (Mrs Mangel) and the mentioned-a-lot-for-some-reason Ernie Bourne (Rob Lewis). Kylie Minogue was too cool - yawn - to perform with the cast at this stage (and had actually left the show but was still on screen in the UK) and instead introduced them.

In a back-from-the-dead moment Elaine Smith, whose character Daphne had died by this stage in Oz, was reunited with daggy hubby Des (played by Paul Keane) on stage.

Current (younger) viewers will probably only recognise Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) and Harold Bishop (played by Ian Smith) (and possibly Fiona Corke, who was Paul's long-suffering second wife Gail, mother of Elle).

Watch it already! (And listen out for the dodgy notes as the cast sing the theme song - methinks there may have been hidden professional singers helping them out)


Scott Keenan
These Neighbours really were my friends - even if they didn't know it - o'clock