0/5

25th Anniversary of Scott & Charlene’s Wedding

Soapie weddings don't come any bigger than the Neighbours wedding of 1987.

Today marks 25 years to the day that Scott & Charlene’s Wedding aired on Australian TV.

Two and a half decades later it still needs no introduction.

As soapie weddings go, they really don’t come any bigger than the Neighbours wedding of 1987.

It had a star-studded cast, it had big hair and and an 80s love ballad, it had Kylie and Jason. And really, that was all that mattered.

The wedding of the heartthrob couple (Episode 532) was “bigger than Ben Hur,” pulling in massive audiences in Australia and the UK. Neighbours was at its height and the wedding represented the marriage of the feuding Robinsons and Ramsays.

The audience was in love with its teen stars, whose on-screen romance reflected their rumoured off-screen relationship. They were on magazine covers, packing out shopping centres with hordes of screaming fans, winning Logies, and about to embark on massive pop careers. It was a TV fairytale.

“I don’t remember that particular day well, but when you do set ups like weddings it takes a long, long time to put things together,” Jason Donovan told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“But I felt the after-effect. There was a hysteria.

“What you appreciate is looking back on the fact that 25 million people watched the show. You don’t get those sort of numbers any more.”

Guests at the TV wedding included all the central cast, including characters played by Guy Pearce, Craig McLachlan, Alan Dale, Ian Smith, Stefan Dennis, Anne Charleston, Anne Haddie, Annie Jones, Vivean Gray and Elaine Smith.

Filmed at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church of Doncaster, it included the song Suddenly by Angry Anderson, which went on to become a Top Ten hit, including in the UK.

So much has changed since then.

Kylie Minogue became a global superstar. Jason Donovan had a rollercoaster career and is now returning to TEN. Guy Pearce is a Hollywood star. Alan Dale has international success. Craig McLachlan is filming for the ABC. Ian Smith is instantly recognisable, but in retirement. Stefan Dennis has returned to Neighbours. Even the show’s then-publicist, Brian Walsh, is now Director of Television at Foxtel.

We’ve seen many soapie weddings since Scott and Charlene. But few come close to topping this one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-2BLRg9dCU[/youtube]

6 Responses

  1. I can’t believe it’s that long ago 😉
    I’ve watched since the beginning.

    Sadly, I don’t think it will last another 25 yrs,
    unless they get new writers.
    The storylines are some of the worst I’ve seen
    (& I’ve watched a lot of tv over the yrs) 😉

  2. @ Mac – You and me both, mate 🙂 I was also 12 and born in the UK and watching this at lunchtimes at home (an hour for lunch; I’d walk home and back to school).

  3. That means it’s been 25 years since my parents let me eat my tea in front of the tv just so I wouldn’t miss the wedding of the year! Decade even! Feels like yesterday!

  4. This was when I was a 12 year old Neighbours junkie in the UK when the average daily audience of the show was the same as the population of Australia. Thanks for marking the anniversary, David.

Leave a Reply