Actors come and go and the same plots go round and round. It's another typical day in Ramsay Street. But the much-maligned Aussie soap is about to reach its 4,000th episode on British TV screens.

Neighbours is the soap that was dead but wouldn't lie down. That it lived to reach its 4,000th episode - which hits BBC1 screens next week - is down to a persuasive producer at Grundy Television, the company behind the Ramsay Street saga.

The future looked as black as the inside of a kangaroo's pouch when, after just 171 episodes, Australia's Network 7 axed the series because of poor ratings.

This was a blow to creator Reg Watson, who also has the dubious honour of being the first producer of the original wobbly-sets-and-forgotten-lines soap Crossroads.

After working in British television, he returned in 1973 to Australia, where he was responsible for inflicting The Young Doctors, Sons And Daughters and cult favourite Prisoner: Cell Block H on the viewing public.

Then he created Neighbours, based on the Brisbane street where he grew up. Like Crossroads, it featured a theme song by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent.

Other titles, including One Way Street and No Through Road, were considered and, thankfully, discarded before Neighbours was settled on.

Watson once explained his game plan in creating the series: "I started with the Robinsons - a widower and four children. The mother-in-law lives with them. Everyone would immediately think she'll be interfering, but, no, I went the other way and made her back him to the hilt.

"I hoped to bring out warmth in those attitudes. I wanted humour and a likeable roughness with the Ramsays. And I wrote teenagers as adults, talking to each other and to adults, and adults listening to them and being guided by them. Communication between the generations was very important."

The first episode was screened in Australia on March 18, 1985. Six months later Neighbours was evicted by Network 7. Somehow Grundy's Ian Holmes persuaded the rival Channel Ten to take the programme, but at a cost - more humour and youth appeal were demanded to try to boost ratings.

Viewers noticed that the homes of Ramsay Street residents looked different. That was because Network 7 refused to sell Channel Ten the original Ramsay Street interiors, so new ones had to be constructed.

Out went many of the original cast, replaced by younger, more teen-friendly performers such as Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. A massive publicity campaign, including appearances at shopping malls, was undertaken to boost the show's public profile.

The BBC, looking to fill the schedules with more ratings-friendly shows at no great cost, bought the series to fill a lunchtime slot as daytime programming was launched.

And there it might have remained had it not been for the daughter of BBC1 controller Michael Grade. Young Alison Grade complained to her father that she and her schoolfriends missed episodes during school-time. So the dutiful dad gave Neighbours an early teatime repeat, before the Six O'Clock News.

When the two viewing figures were added together, Grade could boast that Neighbours was edging towards the ratings achieved by Coronation Street and EastEnders. In the early days, the series was costing the BBC just £5,000 a episode and attracting a massive 14 million viewers on a daily basis.

No one pretended the quality was the same as its British counterparts. Neighbours has never pretended to be heavy, social drama. There is little preaching and few messages being peddled. The setting is a permanently sunny cul-de-sac where a crisis rarely lasts longer than a few episodes, marred only occasionally when an actor wants to leave and is killed off.

Just think, without Neighbours there would probably have never been any Jason or Kylie, whose screen wedding as Scott and Charlene remains the most memorable Ramsay Street moment.

Neighbours has been responsible for launching the careers of people such as Guy Pearce, who's appeared in Hollywood films including The Time Machine and LA Confidential. Others, such as Anne (Madge) Charleston, have returned to the theatre after spells in soapland.

A stay in Ramsay Street is not an open door to long-lasting acting success. Younger cast members can hope for little more for than a few years of TV fame, followed by pantomime in England and then obscurity. Although it's worth noting that one actor who appeared in several episodes back in the late 1980s has gone on to bigger and better things - namely, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe.

The series has been more successful as a launching pad for pop than acting careers. Not just Kylie and Jason but Natalie Imbruglia and, most recently, Holly Valance have taken that route.

A look down the roll of honour of past cast members in the current edition of Inside Soap magazine illustrates this point. Phrases like "still works occasionally" and "is still busy auditioning for roles" feature a lot. And the original Scott Robinson, Darius Perkins, was last spotted working in a car wash.

The 4,000th episode finds it's business as usual for the residents of Ramsay Street. There isn't actually a wedding although Steph is trying on her wedding dress, and sharing the news of her suspected pregnancy. The main drama comes when Flick discovers the church on fire with both Lou and Rosie trapped inside.

All in all, a typical day in Ramsay Street. Actors come and go, the same plots go round and round, and Neighbours goes on forever. The series being sold to more than 50 countries, so it really is a case of love your Neighbours.

The 4,000th episode of Neighbours is on BBC1 on Thursday.

Published: 08/06/2002