Star reveals Neighbours/EastEnders crossover idea

Star reveals Neighbours/EastEnders crossover idea
Star reveals Neighbours/EastEnders crossover idea (Image credit: five)

Neighbours stalwart Tom Oliver has revealed TV bosses once considered a soap crossover with the Australian show and EastEnders. The 74-year-old, who plays businessman Lou Carpenter, admitted that the two shows could have merged in an 'exchange-like' scenario, where characters from Ramsay Street would appear in the BBC series, and vice versa. "I would like to do that. There was talk a while back when FremantleMedia took over our show, and we raised the possibility of that. Kyle could be on holiday in England and pop into the EastEnders pub for a drink, that sort of thing, and the same with Lou, and vice versa," he said. "They thought of marrying the two together for a couple of weeks each, and for the variety. It's never been done. We get people like Clive James drop in, but the shows do not interact with each other like that," he added. While the producers for both Neighbours and EastEnders decided against it, Tom's co-star Chris Milligan, who plays Kyle Canning, said he would gladly make an guest appearance in a British soap. "It'd be good to do a guest role. I don't think I would come over here and do a full-time job like on Neighbours again, but it'd be good to do a stint," he said. Neighbours is shown on weekdays on Channel 5.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.