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Neighbours unveils million dollar expansion

Neighbours yesterday unveiled its new-look backyards, its biggest investment in years.

Number 32 (1)Neighbours yesterday unveiled its new-look backyards (as first revealed by TV Tonight), part of a million dollar makeover by FremantleMedia Australia.

Cast were joined by Fremantle CEO Ian Hogg, TEN Drama execs Rick Maier, Fremantle Drama  Exec Jo Porter, Producers Richard Jasek &  Alan Hardy, and media.

Producers have built 3 full-size backyards and rears of Ramsay Street households Numbers 22, 26 and 32. This gives producers year-long access to spaces that were limited due to tenants living in the location at Pin Oak Court.

Neighbours is all about families and communities. At the centre of that is the Great Australian Dream, our homes, our backyards and our BBQs,” said Hogg.

“We’ve taken the homes of Ramsay Street and we’ve relocated them a couple of hundred metres down the road. What that does is allow us to sets.

“It’s probably the biggest change to Neighbours that I can remember in a very, very long time. It’s a big investment and I know for the writers it gives them greater flexibility and ultimately these programmes  are about great stories and great casts.”

Hogg also announced another sale to Danish broadcaster DR on tops of its extensive territorial deals already in place.

Number 22 (3)

Number 26 (1)

Rick Maier said the Nunawading site was now the biggest backlot in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We’ve worked on shows at Movie World, Docklands, FOX. There’s nothing like this,” he said.

“We’re very grateful, Channel Five is very grateful and we’ll see the return on air with the fabulous production values of this show.”

Maier also said that the 28 year history of the show puts it within the DNA

“You cannot walk around in TV and not bump into someone who’s been through this show.

“It’s not just culturally overseas, it’s within the DNA of the Australian film & TV business.”

The homes are “half-houses,” only photogenic from the rear. In the case of one house it proved near impossible to match 30 year old bricks, and each one had to be hand-painted. Cameras will also need to avoid shots of the former 0-10 building (also known as Wentworth Detention Centre) and transmission tower.

But these are impressive-looking spaces that will greatly facilitate future storylines.

The first appearance of the backyard sets will hit screens in May.

Photoneigh

 

 

14 Responses

  1. Looking forward to seeing the new backyards. In the earlier years they spent more time in the pools, but not so much recently. Considering Melbourne has just had one of the biggest heat waves on record, it is odd that people with pools are not swimming in them.

  2. Ha, we’re really pointing out that “street” doesn’t have enough houses when it’s clearly not even a street, but a court or crescent?
    Part of the fun of watching Neighbours for me is you can always tell when they’ve filmed a scene during winter. No matter what the costume, you can’t disguise that fact you can see the actor’s breath in outdoor scenes LOL

  3. Good news! This looks pretty dam good and it should bring some interesting stories to neighbours. They need it cause lots are leaving including rhys, tash, andrew and sophie in the next few months. Lets just hope more are coming in aswell

  4. Pin Oak Court (Ramsay St) has 7 houses, however the real owners of number “20”, which is located on the right at the entrance of the street, wanted their house to be kept seperate from the show.

    This is why we only see residents walking on the left hand side when they go in/out of the street 🙂

  5. Those back yards look way longer that what we normally see.

    Also, If they have numbers like 22, 26 & 32, how come we can only see about six houses in the street?

  6. Oh wow, so the only shots of the houses at pin oak court now (posing as Ramsay street) will be the front yards and the court itself.

    I wonder how the residents now feel, that they won’t really have to use their homes anymore.

  7. “Extensive territorial deals”, huh? I challenge someone to actually name them. Aside from the UK, Neighbours is seen in only a few very marginal, completely insignificant markets. Yet Fremantle continually makes smoke and mirrors claims about worldwide sales. Even quite recently they were using the old “seen in more than 50 countries” line – something that hasn’t been true since about 1990.

  8. Ramsay Street is getting crowded. Where is the new Willis family going to live and where will the Turners family go when Lucas and Vanessa move back home. It would be great if Ten promoted Neighbours more instead of that flop Project show.

  9. great news, hopefully this will mean plenty of backyard, busty bikini shots…..I mean what better way to boost the ratings

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