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.
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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.
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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
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This show is indelibly lodged in my brain. Take a look for yourself.
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