Do you know your neighbours? It’s almost an old-fashioned notion nowadays, as we pack ourselves inside hastily erected apartment blocks costing an arm and a leg for a box room. When you meet the people you share a building with in the lift on your way back from a long day in the office, do you give a polite nod, before looking back down at your phone to see what’s happening in the world?

That doesn’t happen on Ramsay St, perhaps the most famous cul-de-sac in Australia, located in Melbourne’s most famous fictional suburb, Erinsborough. They chose the name because it’s almost an anagram of the sunny soap opera where good neighbours never fail to become good friends – even when they end up running over each others’ children or carrying out short-lived adulterous love affairs.

Neighbours turns 30 today, a milestone in soap opera that’s going mostly unnoticed in Ireland, without any of the fanfare that accompanied Eastenders entering its fourth decade last month. But then again, in lieu of a week of live episodes shifting time and going live to reveal who killed Lucy Beale, I suspect Neighbours will mark the occasion with a barbecue and a game of cricket where nobody ever keeps score and the worst thing that might happen is a broken window.

I owe my love of Neighbours entirely to my sister, who, as a child of the 80s, became as enamoured as everyone else in the UK and Ireland when Erinsborough made its debut on the BBC a month before I was born. The sunny locations, the quick turnaround of storylines, the gentle humour and overblown drama, Neighbours made its way inside the homes and hearts of viewers, presenting Australia’s housing estates like a quasi-Communist state – where everyone shares everything, doors are left wide open, swimming pools can be used by anyone at any time, and nobody is ever without a job. Ramsay St has cracked inter-generational friendships like no other place, where teenagers scheme with pensioners, and a peg-legged megalomaniac heir to a hotel dynasty lived in the smallest house for the better part of 20 years.

A defining memory of my childhood is Charlene and Scott’s wedding, despite my being far too young to remember it. A well-worn video cassette was brought out over and over again and popped into the VCR, the tracking knob twisted till the picture stopped moving up the screen, and I sat there, the lyrics of Angry Anderson washing over my impressionable mind. And suddenly, every part of me needed to know every part of Ramsay St.

I still watch it today, recorded for secret consumption when my flatmate isn’t around. She thinks it’s unbelievably naff, and that if I’m going to watch an Australian soap, I should at least have the self-respect to watch Home & Away like her. For the record, there are about 50 unwatched episodes of the Summer Bay soap on our box, but I’m up to date.

Yes, it’s predictable and it’s silly and it’s naff. But so what, it’s 20 minutes of my day spent in a suburb where everyone likes each other. Sure, there’s death and hinted violence. But strewth, then there’s a ballsy Sheila (actually named Sheila) to say something cutting that strips away all the tension. It’s always there. And I hope it always will be.

Neighbours’ top 30 moments of the last 30 years

1.       Scott and Charlene’s Wedding

The peak of Neighbours mania around the world when teen lovers Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell married in a fairytale ceremony to the soundtrack of Angry Anderson’s 80s rock ballad ‘Suddenly.’

2.       Paul and Gail’s Fake Marriage

Hotelier Paul Robinson was so keen to secure a lucrative business deal with a Japanese hotel chain, he persuaded his assistant Gail to marry him in order to appeal to create the illusion that he was a family man. But deep down, Paul and Gail were in love with each other and eventually married for real.

3.       Daphne’s Death

The first major character to be killed off, Daphne Clarke lay in a coma for weeks after a car accident as hapless husband Des kept a bedside vigil. She woke briefly to utter the words “I love you too, Clarkey” before dying in his arms.

4.       Lucy Changes

Little Lucy Robinson left Erinsborough to tour Europe for a couple of months and returned looking quite different. And it later happened all over again.

5.       Madge and Harold’s Wedding

Fuddy-duddy Harold Bishop and brash Madge Ramsay were childhood sweethearts and chalk and cheese. Harold walked back into Madge’s life after she had encountered a failed marriage, rebellious offspring and the advances of Harold’s high-school rival Lou Carpenter.

6.       Charlene Leaves Ramsay Street

Tears all round as Charlene bid Scott farewell to start an apprenticeship at a garage in Brisbane. He followed her a few months later and they were never seen again.

7.       Bouncer’s Dream

In one of the show’s silliest storylines, Ramsay Street’s lovable Labrador Bouncer dreamt of marrying Rosie the sheepdog.

8.       Mrs Mangel Leaves

The street’s resident busybody Mrs Mangel had antagonised her neighbours for years but when she found love with her dentist, he whisked her off to start a new life in the UK leaving Ramsay Street a less gossipy place.

9.       Kerry’s Death

Heavily pregnant Kerry Bishop was shot by a stray bullet as she protested against duck hunters, dying in the arms of her husband Joe Mangel.

10.   Harold’s Disappearance

Harold and Madge set off on a tour of Australia in their camper van only for their trip to be cut short when Harold was swept off some rocks and went missing - presumed drowned.

11.   Todd’s Death

Teenage tearaway Todd Landers was knocked down and killed as he raced to stop his girlfriend Phoebe from having an abortion.

12.   Jim’s Death

Robinson patriarch Jim collapsed and died of a heart attack on the kitchen floor prompting his devious partner Fiona to empty his bank account before returning with family members to ‘discover’ his body.

13.   Brad/ Beth/ Lauren love triangle

Surfer Brad Willis was left at the altar by bride-to-be Beth Brennan when she realised he had been having an affair with her bridesmaid Lauren Carpenter.

14.   Mark and Annalise’s Wedding

Mark Gottlieb jilted Annalise Hartman at the altar to become a priest.

15.   Harold Returns

Having been presumed dead for five years, an amnesiac Harold Bishop was found working in a Salvation Army shop going by the name ‘Ted.’ A reunion with his beloved Madge – and the return of his memory – followed.

16.   Helen’s Death

The longest-serving original cast member and grandmother to the Robinson brood, Helen Daniels returned home from a spell in hospital and died on the sofa as she watched Scott and Charlene’s wedding video.

17.   Susan Slaps Karl

When Susan Kennedy discovered husband Karl was having an affair with his secretary Sarah Beaumont, she slapped him across the face in one of the most violent scenes in Neighbours’ history.

18.   Madge’s Death

Madge died in the arms of her beloved Harold after a battle with cancer. Surely she couldn’t pull a Harold and return from the dead too?

19.   Susan’s Memory Loss

Susan Kennedy slipped on some milk and hit her head on the floor of the kitchen. She developed retrograde amnesia and spent several months thinking she was a teenager living in the 1970s.

20.   Toadie and Dee’s Wedding Day

Toadie Rebecchi’s marriage to Dee Bliss was short-lived when their car crashed off a cliff as they drove off on their honeymoon. Dee’s body was never found.

21.   Lassiters Fire

The Lassiters Hotel complex burnt to the ground on the night resident bad boy Paul Robinson returned to Erinsborough. It was later revealed he had started the fire.

22.   Annalise’s Documentary

90s bombshell Annalise returned to town and put together a documentary on the history of Erinsborough which featured several old faces and solved the mystery of whatever happened to Marlene Kratz who had left on a three month cruise several years earlier.

23.   The Plane Crash

Harold lost more family members when his son David, daughter-in-law Liljana and granddaughter Serena perished on a flight from Melbourne to Tasmania.  

24.   Izzy gives Birth

Having ruined Karl and Susan’s marriage, Izzy Hoyland almost ruined the couple’s attempts to remarry by giving birth to Karl’s baby in the middle of the ceremony on a boat in the Thames.

25.   Bridget Dies

Only a few months after marrying Declan Napier and giving birth to their daughter India, Bridget Parker died after a car crash. But like many a deceased Ramsay Street resident, she appeared as a ghost to reassure her other half that she would be okay.

26.   Steph and Toadie’s Baby Lie

After becoming pregnant by her best friend Libby’s husband, Steph Scully concocted an elaborate plan with best mate Toadie to conceal the truth and pass the baby off as his.

27.   Sonya is revealed as Callum’s Mother

Toadie Rebecchi was stunned when his girlfriend Sonya Mitchell dropped the bombshell that she was actually the birth mother of his adopted son, Callum. They soon married.

28.   Who Pushed Paul Robinson?

Dastardly Paul Robinson finally got his come-uppance when he was pushed from the Lassiters balcony. A long-running whodunit ensued – it was Rebecca, the fifth Mrs Robinson.

29.   Lauren’s Secret Baby

Years after their affair, Lauren Carpenter and Brad Willis found themselves back on Ramsay Street and living across the street from each other. Then they discovered Lauren had secretly given birth to their child twenty years previous.

30.   The Tornado

A freak tornado engulfed Erinsborough causing Kyle Canning to get trapped in a portaloo, Paul Robinson to damage his prosthetic leg and Susan Kennedy to perform an emergency tracheotomy on Lou Carpenter.