HAAAAAAROLD! Not Steptoe, the Other One!

harold bishop drowns (neighbours)



One of the genuine sore moments for the Neighbours viewers in it's early days, was the mysterious dissappearance of loveable Harold Bishop (Ian Smith), when himself and wife Madge (Anne Charleston), who go visit the coast or "surf". Once Madge's back is turned, she can't see him anymore and that is left is his glasses washing up on the rocky shore, leaving the impression that he had drowned. I'm afraid this clip is really short, and just really the aftermath. Wish I could see a more extensive clip but, anyway, it seemed Harold was gone for good, but his body was never found. End up, he returns to Ramsay Street 5 years later with amnesia, and Harold lives on impressively, becoming one of the longest-running characters, after leaving the soap in 2009.

Australian soap "Neighbours" began on 18th March 1985, and was very nearly a goner 4 months later, but was picked up by another Australian TV channel "Network Ten", and not only that, the BBC picked it up in 1986, and the soap became a great success, focusing on the happening and goings-on of Australian family life in an almost perfect surburbia with the sort of hot weather, many Brits fantasise about, called Ramsay Street, in Erinsborough. Neighbours actually became a bigger hit in the UK than it did in it's native Australia. What was unusal about the BBC scheduling was, it was shown twice every weekday, first in the early afternoon after 1pm I think maybe 1.35pm, and then showed immedietely after CBBC in the early evening, to suit those coming home from work about 5.35pm. So the show wasn't terribly slumbered as a show for "students, the unemployed and housewives" like "This Morning". When some of the show's younger actors moved into the world of Pop in the late-80's, you know, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and erm..Craig McLachlan. Neighbours' influence was huge at that point, in 1989-1991.