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Neighbours twist: “We also have the unique opportunity to go back in time”

Fans reeling at the union of Toadie & Terese should hold on, as Exec Producer Jason Herbison teases how the show will fill in the story gaps.

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EXCLUSIVE:

Neighbours fans yesterday were reeling from the unexpected union of Toadie (Ryan Moloney) and Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou).

It wildly contrasted the 2022 finale in which Toadie married Melanie (Lucinda Cowden) and Terese had rekindled with Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis).

The Fremantle team has been at pains to keep the twist under wraps until broadcast. Now that it is out in the open, Executive Producer Jason Herbison answered these questions for TVT.

With a two year time leap, he hints at “going back in time” to show fans more.

What’s behind the pairing of Terese and Toadie and how did you land on this?
JH: In doing the two year time jump, I wanted to reward the audience with a truly surprising twist. It’s very possible that two unexpected characters could fall in love during that time frame and it would make total sense if you’d seen it play out. The difference is, you haven’t seen it play out – so now we ask you to keep watching and discover how it happened. I wanted an OMG moment to kick off the new chapter and Toadie and Terese were perfect. I love that they’ve never looked twice at each other in that way. But it’s not just there for shock value – there is a deep and complex back story that underpins it. We always work hard to ground everything and ensure stories are true to character.

How did Ryan and Rebekah react to the idea?
JH: Bek screamed so loud that they probably heard her at Home and Away! But it was a great scream – she very quickly got excited and saw the possibilities. Ryan took a minute to digest it but he also saw how it could have happened. As it turns out, they have terrific chemistry and have given it their all. I never once thought to pair them in the past but there have been many times in this season where I’ve thought – why didn’t I think of this before? I will give one cryptic tease for the future: trackie dacks.

Will fans learn what happened between the four characters at the centre of the twist?
JH: Absolutely. It’s a massive story locomotive with cause and effect for many characters. We also have the unique opportunity to go back in time – what did happen during those two years?

Are there any concerns fans may not take to the idea?
JH: I’ve learned over the years that you can’t please every fan. In fact, what our audience wants and enjoys varies wildly, depending what facebook post or twitter feed you happen to read. For example, there were people who loved Paul and Terese getting back together in the finale, yet there were others who didn’t. Some people loved Toadie and Melanie as a couple, others felt the wedding was rushed. Like every storyline, I expect there to be fierce debate. Our audience research constantly tells us that viewers want to be surprised and I think this story does that in spades. It can also be true to life. I’ve had many instances where I’ve learned people are together and gone – wow, I never saw that one coming!

He added, “One of the hardest things in in my job is you can’t please everyone. We have such a broad audience, some of them have been with the show for 37 years and want something that reminds them of 37 years ago. We have newer members of the audience, we have people that have joined the show a year ago.

“At the end of the day, I just have to go with my instincts of what I think is a great comeback for the show, trying to deliver something for everyone…. with what I think is a great kicking-off point and a great hook.”

Neighbours continues 4:30pm Mondays – Thursdays on 10 (Sept 25 on Prime Video).

26 Responses

  1. Personally, I have more of an issue with the new version of the theme song. Chris Sebastian is a fine singer, but this arrangement is horrible. Like, ears bleeding horrible.

    Maybe they can do away with the theme and just do a title card.

    1. Yes I’ve been thinking the same thing. Really don’t like the new theme song. I really liked Bonnie Anderson’s version but I guess now she’s no longer on the show they didn’t want to keep it.

  2. I have been a Neighbours fan from the start but I am not a fan of this twist. I don’t know why you would create such a divisive storyline to relaunch the show. For every fan who loves whacko soapie storylines there are nine who hate them.

    1. Agreed. A better pairing for Therese would have been Paul’s half brother Glenn. And it would have played into scrapped stories that couldn’t be told, because the show was ending. Days of our Lives did the surprise pairing also when they had a time jump. Dr Kayla was paired with former brother in law Justin Kiriakis. Although this pairing was not as off the wall as Toadie and Therese, the pair eventually found their way back to their true loves. Lets hope the same thing happens with Therese and Paul and Toadie and …?

      1. I thought there were a few hints last night that they won’t last. I hope Terese ends up back with Paul & Toadie & Melanie end up together. Just can’t see Toadie & Terese lasting.

  3. I watched Finale last year for nostalgic reasons and got teary at times, but I hadn’t watched the show for many years before, watched the first two eps tonight online and wow!! I’m hooked, I’ll be back for more!

  4. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the return episode was. I felt it honoured the finale perfectly while moving the show on. It has been 2 years and they’ve explained that they will fill the gaps.

    It was a great twist that made for a great kickoff.

    I think there’s a bit of an overreaction to what was one episode and they haven’t seen where the storyline has gone.

  5. Indeed. So many hoped they would not undo the wonderful finale. Well unfortunately they did just that with Toadie and Melanie, Therese and Paul. At least Mike and Jane are still together…for now.

  6. I was gobsmacked. It does kind of retroactively ruin the previous ‘finale’, but at the end of the day it’s a soap and I’m glad they’re pumping some much needed drama and intrigue back into the show. Otherwise we’d be twiddling our thumbs waiting for things to get juicy again.

  7. The ending of the show last year was perfect, now that has been destroyed, absolutely destroyed. Not impressed. What were they thinking. I am not 100% sure if I want to continue watching this anymore.

  8. I gave away watching soaps……I can’t handle all the excitement…with dodgy dealings.. bed hopping.. drug dealing..snogging..affairs..stealing..the resident baddies..serious health issue.. abandonment..illegitimate kids popping their heads up unexpectedly..serious accidents (on purpose)..thrown under a bus..miraculous recovery from the brink of death..broken marriages and remarrying..being left at the altar..murder and mayhem..followed up with court room dramas.. then there’s people leaving and then their comeback.. (that just about covers it for me)….its too stressful trying keeping up.🤣

  11. It was quite the shock reveal, but I suspected it was not going to be Paul from early on. Annoyingly, TEN started the episode about 4 mins early, so when my recording commenced it was as JJ bent down to pick up the gold piece of glitter. Ended up waiting to 6.30pm to catch the missing minutes, then go back to my HD recording. I’ve now added 5 mins extra recording prior to the show starting.

    1. You must be setting a manual recording at 4:30pm. 10 update their EPG at 6pm the evening before for the day ahead. My EPG stated a 4:26pm start (which isn’t dissimilar to what 10 were doing for Bold). Neighbours episodes are running to 24 minutes (longer than the usual 22), that’s after 10 remove the closing credits. Speaking of closing, 10 aren’t giving us an unedited version on 10play.

  12. Well I was one of them screaming at my TV how the hell did that happen? When I heard it was coming back & at first there was no mention of Melanie my first thoughts were they better not have split Toadie & Melanie or Terese & Paul up so I am not happy. Am interested to see through flashbacks how it developed. I guess next will be Jane & Mike splitting up since we know Guy Pearce isn’t going to stick around long term unless either Jane leaves too or they do the long distance thing.

    1. Same here. Just to see if the earlier scenes made sense.
      I did think having Daniel there to ‘support’ Paul was a bit of a stretch. Bur will have to wait and see more.

  17. I’ve been watching soaps for 30 years. Days, Y+R, Bold, E Street, Richmond Hill but now I just follow General Hospital online. I just don’t get surprised anymore. I can always tell where the story is going. But this I did not see coming. I am really happy to have Neighbours back and this time I’m actually going to watch it.

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