It’s hard to overstate the way Sylvania Waters changed the landscape of British television, so I won’t. What’s interesting is how the show was received in Australia compared to how it was received here in the UK.
Sylvania Waters exploded on to Australian TV on 21 July 1992. The link to the fictional soap that inspired it was clear in the tagline: “Could these be your neighbours?” Aussie critics immediately fired up, with the Daily Telegraph Mirror writing it was “a vicious putdown tailor-made for British audiences”.
The Sydney Morning Herald agreed, arguing that Watson was pandering to “every British preconception about Aussies” with a family that was “materialistic, argumentative and heavy-drinking”. Unsurprisingly, Sylvania Waters attracted a huge audience and the morning after it aired everyone seemed to have an opinion on it.
Remembering Sylvania Waters: the real-life Neighbours that angered Australians and titillated Brits, by Andrew Mercado, The Guardian, Tuesday 21st November 2023
Politicians waded in, apologies were made, and as always, opinions were shared.
Sylvania Waters screened in the UK in 1993 with one critic saying it was “Neighbours gone mad, Home & Away on drugs!” English fans seemed to love that and they lined up to get Noeline’s autograph when she visited, prompting her to say: “After the fuss in Australia, this is a dream come true.”
ibid
This show is indelibly lodged in my brain. Take a look for yourself.
