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Jul 22 12 tweets 5 min read
Before the final episode of #Neighbours, actor Jason Donovan (@JDonOfficial) explains what the show means to him 👇 thetimes.co.uk/article/neighb…
This week is the final episode of #Neighbours after nearly 37 years.

✍️ I’ve been asked over the past couple of months about my thoughts on the series coming to an end. In my head it’s like the passing of a beloved family member after a long and full life, writes Donovan
Publicly, my response is that it’s sad but it’s time to celebrate.

I owe a lot to those years I spent on Ramsay Street. Most days I am reminded of my time there. A shout-out from a London cabbie, “How’s Kylie?” Image
Or, most recently, at the Platinum Jubilee, a royal recounting her favourite Neighbours memories. 👑

It seems from mullets to Mrs Mangel, affection for Neighbours is never far away. It was massive and it still resonates
🇦🇺 Now with its imminent departure I reflect on how this little Aussie soap meant so much more than any other Australian television show in history.

More importantly, how before it we nearly didn’t have an Australian film and TV industry
thetimes.co.uk/article/barry-…
Channel 7 launched Neighbours to much fanfare in 1985, but the show was axed after four months.

Just as I was completing my final year of school I got a call saying Channel 10 had picked up the series and would I come and audition for the character of Scott Robinson
I did nearly four years in the series and that time would shape my life.

While acting was at the centre of my love affair with the show, and fame the by-product, it was the relationships in it that really shaped the success Image
To be honest, Neighbours had a rocky beginning, but started to break through big time in the summer of 1987.

It was becoming an international hit, particularly in the UK 🇬🇧
thetimes.co.uk/article/hugo-r…
Working five episodes a week, 27 TV minutes a day — Neighbours is the most prolific producer of TV drama content in the world — is intense and requires focus and discipline.

You grow up quick. It’s an apprenticeship like nothing else
While I can rave about the history, the landscape and the reasons I think #Neighbours became what it did, the real stars of the show are those that have kept this cul-de-sac of Aussie life buzzing over the past 37 years — the fans
I messaged Guy Pearce on WhatsApp: “Should we be doing something for the last ep?”

His response (joking): “Wouldn’t it be funny if Kylie, you and me came back to the street and saved the day? Or at least have an OJ at Des’s house!” Image
Read the full story | ✍️ @JDonOfficial
thetimes.co.uk/article/neighb…

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More from @timesculture

Jul 23
Bill Wyman played in the Rolling Stones for 30 years — so where is he in the BBC documentary about Keith, Ronnie, Mick and Charlie? | ✍️ @dancairns123
thetimes.co.uk/article/bill-w…
The band’s bassist was there from the start and his departure from the band in 1993 after three decades marked the end of an era Image
When, at the age of 52, Wyman married the 18-year-old aspiring model and singer Mandy Smith, with whom he had allegedly been in a relationship for five years, all his bandmates and their wives attended the wedding 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/bill-w…
Read 9 tweets
Jul 23
Simon Napier-Bell managed Wham! from 1983 to 1985. Now he’s made a film, George Michael: Portrait of an Artist, about the star — and no one had a bad word to say about him, he says thetimes.co.uk/article/the-tr…
"During fifty years as a music manager, I’ve often wondered whether it’s been a worthwhile way to spend my life. It’s a strange job; you subjugate your own creative ambitions to be an appendage to someone else’s. Sometimes it seems worthwhile, sometimes it doesn’t"
"A couple of times, just when I’ve been in maximum doubt, something has come along to validate it, which is what happened in 1983 when I first started working with George. He was the type of artist who made being a manager feel like a worthwhile job"
Read 12 tweets
Jul 22
"Meghan has curated some of her past to fit her future, spinning the good, excising the unsuitable. Up against Tom Bower, her controlled and carefully burnished image does not survive beyond page five" thetimes.co.uk/article/reveng…
"His book depicts Meghan as a merciless opportunist who found in Harry the perfect vehicle for personal advancement, and in doing so caused irreversible damage to a thousand-year-old monarchy. It’s an undeniably gripping read, but it’s also brutal and ultimately sad"
Read five exclusive extracts from Revenge here:

📖 1️⃣ Meghan, Prince Harry and the war between the royal family thetimes.co.uk/article/meghan…
Read 8 tweets
Jul 21
.@atsohoplace is the first new West End venue to open in 50 years and, in another first, there will be more lavatories for women than men thetimes.co.uk/article/sohopl…
The #atsohoplace theatre was unveiled today with its backers promising a flexible auditorium, 602 roomy seats with great sightlines, excellent acoustics, a range of productions and, thanks to an informal check by @thetimes, the prospect of shorter queues at the female lavatories
🚽 It has long been a gripe of female audience members that older theatre buildings have more bathroom space for men than women, with intervals largely taken up by queueing
Read 12 tweets
Jul 21
Tom Cruise is set to receive more than $100m from the global box office success of #TopGunMaverick, making him the highest-earning actor in Hollywood thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-cr…
The action sequel has grossed about $1.2bn worldwide, with Cruise set to reap dividends from ticket sales and a future share of home entertainment and streaming revenue on top of his fees as producer and star
Cruise’s base salary is believed to be much lower than some other stars.

Will Smith was reportedly paid $35m for his latest film, #Emancipation, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will be earning $30m for forthcoming productions
Read 11 tweets
Jul 21
“This orchestra represents the artistic voice and soul of Ukraine. We are determined to show Putin that he cannot erase Ukrainian culture. Art speaks more powerfully and louder than any human being. We will not be silenced” thetimes.co.uk/article/the-uk…
A 74-strong band of elite Ukrainian musicians have assembled in Poland for a world tour.

Before the group’s #Proms debut, Rebecca Franks (@Becca_JF21) meets them in Warsaw
This is the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO) and this summer it will bring its message of hope to the West, drawing fresh attention to the devastating war in its players’ home country Image
Read 13 tweets

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