Neighbours sparks fan confusion with strange social media change

Daniel Kilkelly

24 December 2024 at 5:26 am·10-min read

Neighbours has left fans baffled with a string of unexplained social media posts highlighting storylines from 14 years ago.

The long-running soap has been flooding its official Facebook page with out-of-context clips from the 2011 season, accompanied by strange captions.

Neighbours has started streaming episodes from 2011 for free on YouTube, featuring faces from the past like Donna Freedman, Summer Hoyland, Andrew Robinson and Kate Ramsay.

Tying in with this, clips from the same episodes are now being posted on the Neighbours Facebook page – often as frequently as once per hour in recent days.

summer hoyland in neighbours — Amazon Freevee / FremantleMedia Australia

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The large volume of posts has sparked confusion and some frustration among fans, who are questioning why the show is promoting 14-year-old storylines more prominently than the current season.

Fans have also criticised the quality of the posts, which have contained mistakes over character names and relationships.

One 'classic' post referencing Natasha Williams and Summer Hoyland read: "Summer wants to leave the Tash's home" and "Summer Feels Uncomfortable Because She's Staying At The Tash's Home".

Another mistakenly referred to Sophie Ramsay as "Sofia", while a third confused Lyn Scully as Summer's mother.

karl and susan kennedy in neighbours — Amazon Freevee / FremantleMedia Australia

Writing in the comments section, one fan complained: "I'm almost positive that the page has been hacked seeing as this is a regular occurrence over the past few days.

"The video quality is poor and the tagging is unusual if the uploads are genuinely coming from the page owners. What I don't understand is how they're unaware if it is indeed a hack to the page."

Another asked: "Have they been hacked? It's just the one episode being spammed over and over."

A third chimed in: "Legit why are we being shown this episode all day every day for about a week? Is there a reason?"

summer hoyland and melissa jarrett in neighbours — Amazon Freevee / FremantleMedia Australia

A fourth complained: "What exactly is the purpose of all these posts Neighbours? So random."

The new approach appears to be in stark contrast to the Neighbours digital content created on set for the 2024 season. The show regularly releases cast interviews, behind-the-scenes features and sneak peeks which are well-received and widely enjoyed by the fanbase.

Over on BlueSky, some fans darkly speculated over the sudden shift away from promoting Amazon's Neighbours reboot.

Prime Video streams the new season and also has the rights to every episode from 2012 onwards. Meanwhile, the 2011 clips don't mention the current show and are accompanied by the hashtag "Neighbours Forever".

embargo 23122024 paul robinson and terese willis in neighbours — Amazon Freevee / FremantleMedia Australia

Viewers are currently awaiting an announcement on whether Neighbours will be renewed by Amazon once the initial run of 400 episodes finishes filming early next year.

The reboot has been a success for Prime Video in the UK, regularly featuring in the streamer's top three most-watched shows on days when new episodes are released.

One fan posted: "I have so many questions for them. Like have [the posts] been sitting in drafts for 10 years? Why are the titles so weird? WHAT IS HAPPENING."

Another added: "It is just so strange! I swear someone must have hacked the Facebook page as seriously no social media manager worth their salt would be happy with that content?"

A third said: "They are ridiculous and have generated so many worries amongst observant fans about the future, or non future, of the current show..."

Digital Spy approached Neighbours' production company Fremantle about fans' complaints but the reps declined to comment.

Neighbours releases new episodes from Mondays to Thursdays for free on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video in the UK and US. In Australia, the show airs from Mondays to Thursdays at 4pm on Channel 10, with a 6.30pm repeat screening on 10 Peach Comedy.