After over 40 years, Neighbours is preparing to go off air — again.

Harold’s Café will serve its last coffee, The Waterhole will host the ultimate game of pool, and the final car will drive down Ramsay Street.

Once a launchpad for Australian talent, including Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Margot Robbie, and Felix Mallard, it is now an institution at risk.

Neighbours will finish broadcasting in December after international broadcaster Amazon axed the show in late February.

The announcement marks the end of a short revival for Neighbours, following the show’s previous cancellation in 2022.

Production wrapped on July 11, with the finale written by executive producer Jason Herbison.

The loss particularly carries weight for actor Alan Fletcher.

Fletcher has portrayed Dr Karl Kennedy since 1994, a career he believes is “almost impossible to imagine”.

“On Neighbours I get a chance to do scenes that are absolutely the highest drama you can imagine, and then the following week, or sometimes even the following scene, I’ll be doing scenes that are just like high comedy,” he says.

“I’m not just doing the same thing for 30 years. I’m really playing a character that’s almost changed in time.”

Neighbours was created by Australian TV executive Reg Watson and debuted in March 1985 on the Seven Network.

The show was first cancelled in July 1985 and immediately revived by Channel 10.

It has featured more than 200 regular cast members, including long-standing characters Jarrod “Toadie” Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney), Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis), and Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou).

Fletcher credits his “symbiotic” relationship with actor Jackie Woodburne for keeping him on the show.

“It’s a really tight cast and everyone just gets on like a house on fire. So, it’s pretty much like a family,” he says.

But the “biggest loss” of Neighbours’ cancellation, according to Fletcher, is to the Australian film and television industry.

“The number of people who have come to Neighbours to work, and we’re talking thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of people … they’ve developed their craft,” he says.

“People come to work on Neighbours, and they start work as a runner … and they end up directing the show.”

Former Neighbours employee Philippa Burne believes the show’s loss reflects an industry move “into a sort of more of a prestige, rather than an ongoing series, era”.

Burne wrote and edited several storylines from 2000 and 2017, “spending over 10,000 hours” in the writing room.

“I mean, we used to joke about it and call it Neighbours University because it really was such a training ground,” she says.

“I think we’ll lose the depth of skills amongst the [television industry] because the opportunities aren’t there … to become an expert in something.”

Screen Australia announced over $380,000 of Industry Development funding on June 26, following critical workforce and skills shortages.

The initiative responds to a 2024 Service and Creative Skills Australia (SACSA) report finding Australia’s creative industries are impacted by the economic climate and limited career opportunities.

“There’s a significant shift in the sort of stories we’re going to see,” Burne says.

She believes intergenerational television will also be impacted by Neighbours’ cancellation.

“You’re constantly seeing the teenagers sit down with Harold [Bishop] and have a conversation,” she says.

“Are we going to see that reflected as much, or are things going to have a slightly narrower age and generational focus?”

The 2022 Neighbours finale was watched by more than 1.2 million viewers in Australia, winning all key demographics between 16 and 64.

Fletcher believes Neighbours has aired several “very, very important” storylines for social awareness, including Sonya Rebecchi’s (Eve Morey) battle with ovarian cancer.

“I think probably in terms of social impact, the fact that Neighbours had the first same-sex wedding on Australian TV was a massive, massive achievement,” he says.

Burne agrees with Fletcher’s sentiments regarding the show’s “amazing” societal impact.

She was a script editor for a “groundbreaking” same-sex kiss between Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh) and Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval) in 2004.

“[McIntosh] was so worried about how the fans would react, and we got such incredible feedback for that story,” she says.

“It was people just saying, ‘thank you, thank you for enabling our family to open up a conversation’ and, you know, from kids saying, ‘I feel less alone now’.

“Those shows like Neighbours, they’re incredibly important to people, and incredibly important to society, really.”

A 2024 study by PLOS ONE found Neighbours fans experienced a high level of grief emotions following the 2022 finale due to strong parasocial relationships.

Neighbours fan Larah MacGregor has been watching the show for 40 years and was in “disbelief” when it was cancelled again.

“The essence of the show — connection, friendship and excellent writing can never and has never been replicated,” she says.

MacGregor says fans will lose “a glimpse into sunny suburbia”, as “classic, gripping soap drama is now not happening, especially in the UK where soaps are losing their appeal”.

Neighbours’ cancellation follows a trend in the UK, with soap opera Hollyoaks being cut to three days a week early last year.

Regular viewer Sandra Kenny says she will lose the time “where [she] could sit down with a cuppa and watch [her] favourite show.”

“Miracles can happen. All I can do is have hope,” she says.

When asked about another Neighbours revival, Fletcher is uncertain.

“Last time it happened, I said to people, ‘Neighbours is like a huge cruise liner, and when you put it in dry dock, it takes a long time to get refloated,’” he says.

“I’m sure Fremantle Media are working overtime to find another backer, but I don’t know how they’ll go. It’s a lot of money.”

Neighbours is estimated to cost between $100,000 and $200,000 per episode, according to sources close to the show.

“It’s a really difficult one to imagine what the future might be,” Fletcher says.

Regardless, he believes there “isn’t an acting job like [Neighbours]”.

“It’s really extraordinary to think that an actor like myself can have 30 years on a drama, and that’s all down to an audience supporting me,” Fletcher says.

“There’s no question there’s a place for Neighbours.”

Catch Neighbours on Channel 10 at 4:00pm local time, Monday to Thursday.