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Home / Interviews & Articles / Set Secrets |
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This page was last updated on 11th February 2007. Page launched on 11th February 2007. Site launched on 24th January 2004.
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INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES
Set Secrets TV Week, Australia, 30th December 2006
Here's 15 things you didn't know about Neighbours
1. The Lassiter's set is located in the grounds of the show's Nunawading studios in Victoria, which is also home to a rather large family of crows. "There'll be hundreds of them up there, and they make a noise like you wouldn't believe!" says Ian Smith (who plays Harold), pointing to one of the huge transmitters in the lot. "So (when we film), we have somebody with a great big piece of pipe, whacking the bottom of the tower till they all fly off."
2. In the early days when Claudine - who plays Sky's baby, Kerry - was on set, it was required by law that she be accompanied by her mother, Nathalie, as well as the show's on-set tutor and, strangely, a midwife.
3. Each year, the crew and some of the cast take part in a footy-tipping comp. From what we hear, Alan Fletcher did well last season!
4. Thank God You're Here is filmed in the same studios as Neighbours. Dan O'Connor made a cameo on the popular improv show - and many of his co-stars snuck 'round to watch it being filmed.
5. The exterior of the Neighbours studios has little windows with bars on them. Back in the '70s, the same building was used to depict the women's detention centre in Prisoner and - nearly 30 years later - they still haven't removed the bars!
6. Ben Lawson's absolutely obsessed with Sudoku puzzles! "Well, technically I'm an ex-Sudoku victim,"he confirms. "I'm in recovery." At the height of his addiction, Ben was doing several brain teasers a day. "I remember being in Canberra doing a play and getting three or four papers every morning!" he admits. These days, he's content doing the odd crossword and daily quiz from Melbourne's Herald Sun. Completing the quiz together has become a ritual on the set. So who's the show's biggest trivia whiz? Nell Feeney!
7. If you ever get the chance to visit the set of the Lassiter's complex, look up and you'll notice that many of the surrounding trees are slightly charred. Unfortunately, they caught alight when the stunt team burnt down the set of Lou's Place for the season finale two years ago. "I can't tell you how big the fire was," Ian says.
8. A masseuse comes to the studio once a week to give the cast massages, which means new cast member and trained masseuse David Hoflin - who plays Oliver Barnes - is off the hook!
9. Kyal Marsh recently bought a new motorbike. "It's a Honda CBR 1000," he tells us. "It's a Japanese sports bike and absolutely magnificent!" He's not the show's only bike enthusiast - Stefan Dennis also has a high-powered machine, which he rides to work every day.
10. Between takes, the show's school-aged actors must hit the books, with resident tutor, Rosemary Cullinan.
11. Out the back of the Neighbours studio, there's a funny little door with graffiti all over it. No, it's not part of the set but the old entrance to a radio station that used to operate out of the studios. It closed down a few years ago - but the colourful paint job remains.
12. Tom Oliver, who has now clocked up over a decade on the show, has made friends with one of the native birds nesting in the studio gardens. Over the years, the bird has become so tame that it now eats out of his hand.
13. There's a small kitchen on set, used to prepare all the food featured in scenes. If the cast are peckish, they'll often ask resident chef, Warwick Spanisich, to make them up a thickshake!
14. Step into the make-up room, and one of the first things you'll notice are the scores of old polaroids adorning the walls. There are some that date back to the very early years - remember Craig McLachlan's glorious mullet?
15. A TV in the green room screens whatever's currently being filmed in the studio and - between takes - the cast often sit and watch each other work.
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