The York man who owns two of the most famous houses on TV was shocked to learn that Neighbours is set to be axed.
Businessman Andrew Whitney owns two properties on Ramsay Street, home to the Aussie soap for more than 30 years.
The future of Neighbours has been thrown into question after Channel 5 confirmed it will stop airing the Australian soap later this year.
The two houses Andrew owns on Pin Oak Court, Melbourne – which doubles as Ramsay Street on TV – were the homes of Jarrod ‘Toadie’ Rebecchi and the Robinsons’ old home.
Andrew told YorkMix Radio: “I woke up Sunday morning to a message from Australia from a radio programme over there about the fact that it had been axed by Channel Five and I didn’t believe it.
“I just got straight on to some broadcasters that I know including yourself. And lo and behold, it’s true sad state of affairs.”
No wild parties
Andrew, an Aussie himself, snapped up his first Ramsay Street property when he was just 22 in 1997. Then he bid nearly £600,000 for the second house in 2013.
There are restrictions to owning a home on what is also a TV set. “You can’t be having wild parties, or have people leaving your house at 10 o’clock in the morning after a heavy sesh while they’re kind of film out in the street,” he said.
“You can’t park your car on the street, you’ve got to leave it outside. It’s all it’s all very well planned.”
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]
The Neighbours producers are looking for a new broadcast partner in the UK and have stopped filming while they search for new financial backing.
“Personally, I think this decision today is a long time coming,” Andrew said. “It’s really disappointing, not so much for me and the other people that own property on the street because we still own the houses.
“But you’ve got to think that there’s probably a couple of hundred people whose livelihood for the last 35 years has been Neighbours.
“We always re-sign our contracts every January, and we’ve not had our new contract this year.”