YMMV / Neighbours

• Alas, Poor Scrappy:
  • After a roof collapses on her, Jessica Wallace (the resident highschool bully) only has moments to ask her boyfriend to tell her mother that she is sorry for being a disappointment before she dies from her injuries. The kicker: He had agreed to be her boyfriend just minutes before the accident occurred.
  • Moody rich girl Serena Bishop suffered through attempted-rape, finding out her boyfriend was really her half-brother and a plane crash. She was eventually lost at sea.
  • Bridget Parker received much negative backlash from both the public and the media when she first joined the show, and many viewers called for her death. Ironically, just as fans had warmed up to her character, she was killed off in a freak car accident.
  • Prue Wallace had been pretty unlikeable in her brief guest stint thanks to being a terrible parent to Harlow, but between her breakdown on the phone to Harlow's voicemail in her final moments (in which she rants about her broken engagement to Gary, saying "I hope you're happy!", before repeating that she genuinely does hope she's happy) and the fact that she was a completely unintended casualty of Finn Kelly's feud with Lucy Robinson, her death was one of the biggest Tear Jerkers of the "Endgame" storyline.
• Ass Pull:
  • The introduction of Jill Ramsay and her children in 2009, a Retcon in which Max Ramsay (a main character from the first year of the show) and Anne Robinson (who had been dead for years before the show started) were revealed to have had an affair, conceived a child (apparently some time after Scott but before Lucy) and given said child up for adoption. Since there's no way most of the Robinson or Ramsay family members who had appeared on the show could have been in the dark about it, one has to wonder how this story didn't come up when Max found out Danny wasn't his son in 1985, when Jim met his own illegitimate son Glen in 1990, or when Julie found out in 1993 that she was the result of Anne being raped by Jim's then boss. Reportedly the purpose of this was to reintroduce the Ramsay family to Ramsay Street, and apparently none of the age-appropriate existing Ramsays (Shane, Danny, Henry, Charlene or Gemma were interesting enough.
  • The resolution to the Tanaka brothers' search for their father, who turns out to be Paul Robinson, thanks to a one-night-stand with Kim Taylor, a guest character from the first few months of the show who was the subject of its first teen pregnancy storyline (however briefly). The explanation given contradicts the onscreen events from 1985 in numerous ways, suffice to say that there was nothing whatsoever to suggest Paul had even heard of Kim before she got involved with his brother, nor that Kim was pregnant before she ran away from home, or had dated anyone before Scott. Even ignoring the contradictions, the retcon now means that Paul has possibly been guilty of statutory rape for the entire run of the show: in Kim's first episode, she was stated to be 15, and while it's possible this has been retconned as well, since Scott was seemingly aged up a year or two after his recasting, she's still stated to have been a high-schooler in Scott's year and it's pretty hard to believe Paul's claim that he didn't recognise her as such, especially given that the episode revealing all this uses flashbacks of 1985!Kim.
  • While perhaps not as infuriating as the above examples, the explanation for Dee Bliss's return from the dead in 2019 can feel like this when compared to the original episode. Or, for that matter, when compared to the fake explanation Andrea Somers gave in 2017. The subsequent reveal that Dee and Andrea were Separated at Birth twins after two years of people accepting Andrea as an Identical Stranger without question and it being stated several times that there was no connection between them (even down to a DNA test showing Dee was related to the Bliss family) came even more out of nowhere and made even less sense.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • In the 1986 season final, Clive is knocked unconscious while refereeing a boxing match and has a dream where he is Santa Claus and everyone else are panto characters.
  • Bouncer's dream about marrying Rosie (both being dogs).
  • One Christmas-themed episode in the late 2000s showed Santa Claus seemingly flying over the street.
• Character Re Railment: Although Lucy Robinson is still played by Melissa Bell, who took over the role in the 90's, since the 00's she has regained much of the intelligence she lost back then and is now a successful no-nonsense businesswoman.
  • Also her brother Paul, who has become much more sane and normal since his brain tumour was removed in 2007, although he still comes up with nasty and evil schemes from time to time.
• Esoteric Happy Ending:
  • While many of the final pairings are down to personal taste, the reunion of Paul and Terese definitely qualifies. In the final six months alone, he gaslights her by pretending to be ill so she'll stay with him, then schemes to ruin her career to punish her for leaving him, while also playing every dirty trick he can think of to deny her a divorce settlement. Even in the last episode, he admits that if they get back together, he'll just carry on hurting her. Yet it's treated as a big romantic reunion of a couple who belong together. The 2023 revival seems to address this by revealing that Paul jilted her at their vow-renewal and they went ahead with the divorce.
  • The show's finale week also saw most of the street's residents planning to move away, with various reasons for wanting a fresh start. Most of them ended up changing plans in the final episode, regardless of whether those reasons were still valid (e.g. David having ruined his career). Likewise, the revival was forced to address some of these issues, opening with David, Aaron and Nicolette having left town for reasons that would later be revealed in flashbacks.
• Ethnic Scrappy: The Lim family were introduced in an attempt at subverting Monochrome Casting, but thanks to their poor acting, and out-of-character racist behaviour by other residents, their six week tenure is generally seen as an embarrassment.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: And Brits Love Australian Soaps, to the point where viewing figures for Neighbours in the UK often surpassed the population of Australia. In fact, this is the only Australian series (and the last imported one to date) to have topped the ratings in Britain. Indeed, this trope is the reason why the show survived so long despite dwindling interest in its home country — for many years most of the show's costs were covered by the UK broadcaster, Channel 5, whose announcement in February 2022 that they were dropping the show led to it being cancelled the following month.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Harold's association with the Salvation Army, in particular when he quit while Not Himself in 2004 and his return a year later was portrayed as a good thing, has become pretty uncomfortable given that organization's track record on LGBT rights, especially after his granddaughter Sky was confirmed to be bisexual in 2020.
  • In the lead-up to the 2022 finale, Harold expressed his reservations about Toadie and Melanie's engagement, based on how much she hurt Joe Mangel and his children when they broke up. Harold was later forced to apologise after learning that Joe didn't hold any such resentment for her (aside from some slightly bitter remarks that he made while drunk and missing Kerry), but as of the 2023 revival Harold's fears have been proven entirely valid, as Melanie walked out on Toadie a year after their wedding, leaving a letter claiming that she still wasn't cut out to be a stepmother. While flashbacks in subsequent episodes revealed that this wasn't the full story, the point stands that she did hurt Toadie and the kids at least as badly as Joe, for reasons that had been set in motion by the time of the wedding.
• He's Just Hiding: Those who didn't hate Serena Bishop were happy to believe this of the poor girl lost at sea, owing to Never Found the Body. Ditto for her less contentious mother, Liljana, presumed victim of the same plane crash.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Years before he became a major star on the show, Alan Fletcher guest-starred as a mechanic called Greg Cooper, who at one point refers to his ex-girlfriend's new partner as "Karl".
  • In 2006, Stingray made a student film about a Zombie Apocalypse for a university assessment. Eight years later, he becomes a zombie.
  • Speaking of Neighbours vs Zombies, Dee Bliss shows up towards the end in the form of a Fake Shemp (credited as "Blonde Zombie", but she was wearing a wedding dress and she'd showed up at No. 30). In early 2017, Madeleine West returns as an apparently alive and well Dee. Who is then revealed to be an Identical Stranger named Andrea. And then in 2019 Dee turns out to be alive after all.
  • An actress called Cassandra Freeman - the same name as Donna's troublesome mother in 2009 - plays Vivian Banks in a new version of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air called Bel-Air.
• Ho Yay: Ringo and Declan seemed, at times, suspiciously intimate with one another. They were even assumed to be a couple when they went on a weekend away.
  • Kelly Katsis initially mistook Toadie and Dan for partners.
  • Libby and Steph had even greater levels of Les Yay. Steph at least was eventually revealed as bisexual.
  • Finn Kelly looked a little too enthusiastic watching Aaron and David kissing in the swimming pool. (And he did have a sort-of gay relationship with his former boss, lest we forget).
  • It has occasionally been insinuated that, as part of their polyamorous relationship, Levi and Ned have got it on.
• Hollywood Homely: Considering how nerdy and insecure he was supposed to be, Brett Stark was actually quite handsome.
• Jerkass Woobie: Rhys Lawson. Despite the despicable things he did to get into the hospital's surgery program (namely, dating Erin just he could sabotage her and get her kicked out), it's hard not to feel sorry for him once he loses his dream due to a hand injury that he gained while saving someone's life after a car crash.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • After over a decade of being an Amoral Attorney, Tim Collins crossed this when he agreed to sabotage his own defense of Mason Turner on Paul's orders, not caring about the result as long as he got paid.
  • Paul conspiring with Holden Price to ensure Brent is sent to prison and out of Harlow's life is described by Terese as unforgivable, though funnily enough it's only a slight variation on the aforementioned stunt with Tim Collins to get rid of Mason. It also doesn't convince Terese to leave him: what does is when it's revealed that he used the bank loan they had planned to invest in the Quill group to pay off Nicolette and then went to great lengths to keep her or anyone else from finding out about it. When Harlow herself finds out about Brent, she is furious, but not enough to stop being a Shipper on Deck for Paul and Terese.
• Nightmare Fuel: Fox from Paul's brain tumour arc.
  • Also, Robert Robinson. The man has been responsible for the direct or indirect deaths/murders, attempted murders or otherwise ruin of several people, including his own father, his brother and sister, and his one-time girlfriend. To say the man is a Sociopath would be an apt title for him.
    • He's even worse in his 2019 return. He's spent over a decade in a supermax facility (implying that in-universe, he's one of Australia's most dangerous criminals) and when visited by David he just stares unnervingly and moves unnaturally slowly. When Paul shows up, the sheer Tranquil Fury expressed on Robert's face is truly terrifying.
• Plot Hole: Paul used the Internet to look up who Tess Carmichael was, so why couldn't he have done the same with Reece Sinclair when she was hiding her true identity?
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The Kennedys went from being the perfect family with the perfect life, to a more believable and well-rounded bunch of characters.
  • The main catalyst for this was Karl's affair with his secretary Sarah Beaumont. Although the affair itself was objectionable, nevertheless Karl became significantly less uptight and stuffy afterwards, while Susan became stronger and more outspoken.
• Retroactive Recognition: Like Home and Away, many future stars started their careers on this series such as Margot Robbie, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Chris Hemsworth, Guy Pearce, Dichen Lachman, Eliza Taylor, Alan Dale, Bella Heathcote, Caitlin Stasey, Ben Mendelsohn, Adelaide Kane, Liam Hemsworth, and Jesse Spencer.
• Ron the Death Eater: Nicolette Stone gets a lot of this kind of vitriol on the Neighbours Facebook page, to the point of people cheering on Paul's Breaking Speech to her while ignoring that his crimes and manipulations have long since outstripped hers by a long way, and he's rarely been punished or atoned for any of them the way she has, not to mention that he comes off as an Ungrateful Bastard given that Nicolette saved Harlow's life earlier in the year. On top of that, the speech itself was triggered by the fallout of something that Nicolette was unmistakably the wronged party in: as far as anyone knew, Chloe had cheated on her with Leo while David and Aaron had covered for them to avoid complications with Nicolette's pregnancy, and Paul is essentially telling her that she deserved to be cheated on and has no right to expect better from the boys. And while Nicolette's actions following this, with her accepting a bribe from Paul before handing over another baby to the boys (albeit with the consent of that baby's mother, who actually ended up with the money) may have been beyond the pale, her detractors are generally convinced that she was planning to do something like this from the beginning of the surrogacy agreement, which ignores that she was in love with Chloe and knew she would never have forgiven her for betraying Aaron like that without provocation.
  • Nicolette is enough of a Broken Base character that she can get both Ron the Death Eater and Draco in Leather Pants treatment. Her constant It's All About Me attitude can make it hard to see her as a victim. The only evidence that Chloe had cheated was that she got drunk with Leo, then woke up in her underwear, wearing his jacket, with no memory of the previous night. Instead of worrying that the woman she loved had been sexually assaulted, Nicolette dubbed her a lying cheat, considered David and Aaron as having betrayed her because they didn't mention Chloe was having doubts about their relationship, ignored all attempts to explain what had really happened (Chloe had fallen over in a puddle and taken her clothes off to dry), and used it as a very flimsy justification to run off with the baby she was having for David and Aaron and give them a ringer. She might not be as bad as Paul, but that's definitely damning with faint praise!
• The Scrappy: As summarised here, Jo Hartman, Lisa Elliot, Eddie Buckingham, Nick and Caitlin Atkins, Lauren Carpenter (arguably Rescued in her 2013 return under a new actress, at least until she broke up a marriage and was rewarded with a happy ending), the Lim family, Katya Kinski, and to a lesser extent the Hancock and Parker families (Stuart and Ned excepted).
  • Kyle fell into this category around the time he moved into the street, seen by fans as annoying, dumb, pointless and adding nothing to the show whatsoever. His relationship with Jade did quite a bit to rescue him, however.
• Seasonal Rot: 1995 has been described as one of the most boring and uneventful years of the show's history, mostly due to a number of failed comedy storylines.
  • 2002 is similarly unpopular, mostly due to a prolonged storyline about Susan losing thirty years of memory after slipping on spilt milk.
  • The 2008 season is fairly unpopular as well, due to a combination of unlikable guest stars, increasingly unlikable regulars, and popular guest stars who never got the chance to become regulars. The introduction of Lucas Fitzgerald and Donna Freedman (Margot Robbie) are seen as bright spots, though.
• Shocking Moments: The season-ending cliffhangers regularly qualify: standouts include 1997 (a marriage proposal, two illicit kisses and a car crash), 2004 (a fire at the pub and the coffee shop, Charlie's death from emphysema with Stephanie appearing to have euthanised him, and Paul Robinson's return to the show after 11 years) and 2005 (Harold strangling Paul as revenge for indirectly causing the deaths of David, Liljana and Serena, while Stephanie discovered that her cancer had returned).
• Super Couple: Scott and Charlene.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Cody Willis calling Jo Hartman "vacuous, inane and a waste of space" may have been intended as such.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Paul Robinson, of all people, reaches this in the lead-up to his wedding to Terese, when his four surviving ex-wives show up to interfere and try to talk Terese out of it. This turns out to have been orchestrated by his daughter Elle, an attempt to break Paul out of his "toxic cycle" with women. But while Paul deserves most of the criticism he gets here (since he's demonstrated repeatedly that he's learned nothing from those failed marriages or several other relationships, and his later treatment of Terese only proved them right), what he doesn't deserve is a rather sick mind-game from Elle and Leo where he finds a photograph of his first wife Terry. The episode provides no context about this storyline for viewers who weren't already familiar with it, basically painting Terry as another of Paul's victims. For viewers who do have that context, this is, at best, blaming Paul for not wanting to visit her in prison before she committed suicide. At worst, it's blaming Paul for her shooting him when he found out she'd killed Charles Durham and allowed Daphne to be implicated in it. (Either that or it's Paul admitting that he was a terrible husband to Terry long before she shot him: He had a very toxic Stay in the Kitchen attitude towards her which tends to be forgotten by people who only remember her last week on the show.)
• Values Dissonance: The programme was in many ways incredibly prudish in its early days - many of the adults and even some of the teenagers were scandalised at the prospect of Scott and Charlene having premarital sex, while Charlene wanting to take the Pill and even walk around in a bikini were also seen as controversial.
  • During the 80's and early 90's, younger people would almost always address older people as Mr or Mrs (insert surname). Nowadays, however, people are usually on first-name terms, sometimes even in the classroom.
    • An interesting example of Character Development here, as Harold and even Karl in the past would most likely have found it very odd and even disrespectful for much younger people to call them by their first names, whereas now they are no different from the rest in that regard.
  • A 1991 episode has Madge and Paul argue because she wants to make the bar she manages but is owned by him no-smoking. Nowadays, of course, no-smoking in bars and other hospitality premises is very much the norm.
• Wangst: Zeke, for a while. Libby since her 2007 return.
• The Woobie: Tash, who finds out her mother died because her dad was with another woman, the aunt she'd spent the last couple of months getting to know, then her dad leaves the country with the aunt leaving her to have to get a job to pay rent, then he sells the house, and she has to move in with a friend, who gets on her case for simple stuff like leaving dishes out. That said, she falls into Jerkass Woobie territory, given that she had her fair share of It's All About Me moments, both before and after Michael walked out on her.
  • Mark Brennan: He has to go into witness protection for two years, then when he returns and rekindles his relationship with Kate Ramsay she gets shot dead, his later engagement to Paige ends when he has to arrest her over receiving stolen goods, on their wedding day, his subsequent relationship with Stephanie falls apart over a poorly-thought-out surrogacy arrangement with Sonya, his attempt to reconcile with Paige falls apart when she cheats on him with Jack, and then his next fiance Elly Conway has an affair with his sister Chloe, which is revealed just minutes after their wedding! He's since earned a happy ending with Paige, though.