Kylie Minogue admits there was 'pressure' to return to Aussie soap Neighbours

The show will finish this summer after 37 years of episodes

Kylie Minogue arrives for the 29th Annual ARIA Awards 2015 at The Star on November 26, 2015 in Sydney
(Image credit: Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Kylie Minogue, who returned to the set of Australian soap Neighbours, has spoken about her role in the show's final episodes. 

At the beginning of the year it was announced that the Ramsey Street-based soap, loved all around the world, would end after 37 years. But after a petition to save Neighbours failed fans had to come to terms with the show coming to an end. 

Former stars, including Jason Donavon and Guy Pearce, as well as Kylie, showed their support by returning to the show to film final episodes with the rest of the cast. Now the actress and singer has revealed there was 'quite a bit of pressure' for her character to return to the soap. 

Kylie, who previously admitted that her Neighbours return was for this adorable reason, said, “I got this role in Neighbours, that was in 1986. So I was only in the show for two and a half years. But it just exploded – England just went crazy about it. So it’s been with me ever since and it’s been a large part of how I entered into the music industry.”

Speaking on the Late Night With Seth Mayers show she added, “The show was played twice a day, and people would bunk off school, they changed the office hours.

“They’re finishing the show, and there was quite a bit of pressure for me to go back, so I shot my scenes back in Australia.”

It was announced last month that after 37 seasons the Australian soap will be ending in the summer of 2022. The Spinning Around singer joined the show as Charlene when she was just 18 and stayed on the show for around two years. 

Her character married Scott Robinson, who was played by Jason Donavan - and they both left the soap to pursue singing and acting careers. As well as launching Kylie's career these are the former Neighbour's stars who need up with huge success

Neighbours sadly announced the end of the show on March 3, releasing a statement that said, "We are so sorry to say that after nearly 37 years and almost 9000 episodes broadcast we have to confirm that Neighbours will cease production in the summer. Following the loss of our key broadcast partner in the UK and despite an extensive search for alternative funding, we simply have no option but to rest the show."

The show's actors filmed its final scenes this week, and shared a picture of the whole cast on their Instagram page, with a comment which said 'It's a wrap'. The final episode will air in the UK on August 1 on Channel 5.

Sarah Finley

Sarah is a freelance journalist - writing about the royals and celebrities for Woman & Home, fitness and beauty for the Evening Standard and how the world of work has changed due to the pandemic for the BBC. 

 

She also covers a variety of other subjects and loves interviewing leaders and innovators in the beauty, travel and wellness worlds for numerous UK and overseas publications. 

 

As a journalist, she has written thousands of profile pieces - interviewing CEOs, real-life case studies and celebrities - interviewing everyone from Emma Bunton to the founder of Headspace.