Anne Charleston

The doors are about to close on Ramsay Street after 37 years. This ABC News Special looks at how Neighbours became a global TV icon, launching the careers of some of our biggest names and one of Australia’s biggest exports

Chandon Pictures was an Australian comedy television series that premiered on Movie Extra on 10 November 2007 and ended on 7 May 2009. The series featured sixteen episodes and was a spin-off from a Tropfest short film produced by Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress. It followed the misadventures of a struggling video production company called 'Chandon Pictures.' Rob Carlton, who plays the main character, is the younger cousin of Brian Carlton, The Spoonman talkback host on the Austereo Triple M network. This was revealed when The Spoonman interviewed Rob. On 10 July 2008, it was announced that the series had won a second season and it had sold format rights to its distributor Lionsgate. The first season premiered in the UK on Dave on 19 February 2009 in a 10pm slot. It was also aired in the US on the Sundance Channel.

I'm Famous and Frightened! is a Living TV reality TV show in which eight celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges in order to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the winner was left. From Series 2 onwards, a spin-off show, titled I'm Famous and Frightened Extra was introduced, presented by Brian Dowling.

Dossa and Joe was a 2002, bittersweet television comedy series, created, and co-written by Caroline Aherne of the Royle Family. Peter Herbert served as co-writer. Made by Granada Australia, for the BBC, the Sydney-based series centres around a working class couple called Dossa and Joe. When Joe retires from his job as a factory worker, the couple realizes they know little about each after despite being married 40 years. Against Joe's wishes, the couple begins marriage counseling. The series starred Anne Charleston as Dossa and Michael Caton as Joe. The cast also included Jeanie Drynan. While the series received positive reviews, there were some dissenters. The series failed to earn good ratings and was not renewed for a second series.

Butterfly Island is a 1985 Australian children's show. The first season cost $1.6 million, the second $3.2 million.

Punishment is an Australian television soap opera made by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Ten Network in 1981. Set in a fictional men's prison, the series attempted to present a male version of the successful soap Prisoner. Attempts by the show's makers to differentiate the series from Prisoner saw Punishment imbued with greater realism; however, the formula did not attract high viewing figures. Network Ten deemed the new series a failure after only three episodes had gone to air, and it was quickly removed from the schedules. The remainder of the 26 episodes produced were shown out-of-ratings later that year. Unusually for a soap opera, the series was taped using the single camera technique. The regular cast featured many notable Australian actors including Brian Wenzel, Barry Crocker, Michael Preston, Ross Thompson, Anne Haddy, George Spartels, Cornelia Frances, Lisa Peers and Julie McGregor. Mel Gibson played a prisoner in the first episode. Kris McQuade played the girlfriend of Gibson's character and was phased out of the series after the first few episodes due to Gibson's departure. The programme was produced and directed by Alan Coleman.

Tandarra was the follow-up Australian television series to Cash and Company, set during the Victorian gold rush period of the 1850s. It was produced in 1976, consisted of 13 one hour episodes and was shown on the Seven Network in Australia and London Weekend Television in the UK. Two of the originals characters from Cash and Company continued in Tandarra. These were Joe Brady and Jessica Johnson. The other main character, introduced in the final episode of Cash and Company was Ryler. He had been a bounty hunter who was later convinced of Joe’s innocence and decided to join with him. Tandarra was taken from the name of the homestead, owned by Jessica’s character, and the series primarily dealt with the adventures of running the large farming property. The original premise of the first series, namely that Joe and Sam Cash were fugitives from the law and were being assisted by Jessica was totally removed. No reference to the Sam Cash character was ever made in this series. The previous antagonist, the corrupt police trooper, Lieutenant Keogh only appeared in the first episode of Tandarra, and the character of Jessica’s servant, Annie only appeared in the second.

Number 96 was a popular Australian soap opera set in a Sydney apartment block. Don Cash and Bill Harmon of the Cash Harmon Television production company, produced the series for Network Ten, which requested a Coronation Street-type serial, and specifically one that explored adult subjects. The premise, original story outlines, and the original characters were devised by David Sale who also wrote the scripts for the first episodes and continued as script editor for much of the show's run. The series proved to be a huge success, running from 1972 until 1977. Number 96 was so popular it spawned a feature film version, filmed in December 1973. Number 96 was known for its sex scenes and nudity, somewhat risque at the time, and for its comedy characters. The series was the first Australian soap opera to feature an openly gay character.