Neighbours, episode 1: bride to be?

The history-making, decades-long run of Neighbours began on 18 March 1985. The Reg Grundy-produced soap was a huge hit both home and away: over 20 million viewers in the UK watched Scott and Charlene’s 1987 wedding, the romantic highpoint of the show.

The first episode of Neighbours opened with a character’s nightmare, styled like a horror movie, but quickly moved on to a more realistic storyline. On the eve of his wedding, regular character Des (Paul Keane) is whooping it up at his bachelor party. In this clip, his bride-to-be Lorraine (Antoinette Byron) is having a cosy night in with Julie (Vikki Blanche), her bridesmaid – and also Des’ ex. Over hot chocolate, Julie trashes Des so effectively that Lorraine gets cold feet and decides to call the whole thing off.

The scene is ambiguous: is Julie deliberately derailing her bestie’s big day, or is she just tone-deaf? As she insouciantly pulls out her Lady Jayne side combs and settles down on her pillow, she could be innocently anticipating her happy future as Des and Lorraine’s good neighbour – or relishing the results of her poison arrows.