Neighbours is preparing to make its untimely exit after almost 40 years on our screens, the beloved soap that helped launch the careers of some of today’s biggest stars including actress Margot Robbie, pop star Kylie Minogue and singer Jason Donovan.

The show has been on air for 37 years but recently Channel 5 has decided to part ways with the Australian drama, leaving them with no broadcaster for the UK.

As a result, the show is gearing up for its final episode, which will be aired in summer 2022.

Throughout its near four decade run, the Neighbours brand has seen many unusual branches due to its popularity, including a spin-off series about teenage students and a questionable 8-bit video game.

Read on to check out some of the show’s wackiest money makers.

The Neighbours Video Game

Probably the more unconventional concept of the franchise, the Neighbours game featured a whole host of familiar faces as you try to beat your opponent.

The player takes on the role of Scott Robinson, who was Jason Donovan’s character, as he speeds around Ramsay Street, the pub, cafe and Erinsborough High School.

Of course, it's not as simple as it seems.

Any number of obstacles aim to throw you off course, such as emus, kangaroos, cars in traffic, the show’s favourite pooch Bouncer and former resident Mrs Mangle.

Scott is joined by Charlene, played by Kylie Minogue, and some other recognisable characters as he tries to make his way round the course to collect Grundy diamonds.

The Neighbours Board Game

Prior to the video game’s inevitable popularity, a much more analogue way of bringing the characters to life was on the shelves.

The Neighbours Game, created in 1987, featured a board similar to the one found in Monopoly, with different colours and icons that had their own meanings.

Players simply pulled a character card, followed by an action card, followed by another character card to create an episode, which inevitably gave hilarious results.

However, in a later version of the game published in 1988, the character card Jamie Clarke, a three-year-old who suffered breathing problems after his birth, was removed, presumably due to the inappropriate nature of some of the other cards.

Erinsborough High

The show’s spin off series Erinsborough High, which is widely speculated as a loose acronym of Neighbours, was released in 2019.

The programme followed a group of students at the Australian school after one of their Year 12 peers had gone missing.

It only ran for one season which had five episodes, titled after days of the school week Monday through to Friday.

Erinsborough High featured some of the regular characters on the show as they navigated high school life amid the crisis, including Jason Donovan’s daughter Jemma as Harlow Robinson.

Neighbours VS. Time Travel

In celebration of Halloween back in 2017, the official Neighbours YouTube channel released five webisodes in which Paul Robinson, played by Stefan Dennis, alters time and attempts to change the course of 30 years of Neighbours history.

In the series, Paul travelled back to 1985 and accidentally created a parallel universe where all is not as it seems.

His attempt at giving his past self goes horribly wrong when he discovers that Susan is married to another man and Toadie is actually a gangster.

Neighbours tried out another Halloween concept back in 2014 when they aired Neighbours VS. Zombies.

In this spooky spin-off, Ramsay Street is completely heaving with the undead and some of the show’s cast are tasked with defending their beloved home.

Both mini series were well received by audiences and the comments section on the YouTube videos were flooded with praise for the lighthearted shows.

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