One person’s trash is another’s treasure. So why did “Neighbours” producers just give away the show’s props?

Who gave the greenlight for one or more people to take truckloads of props from the Nunawading set of iconic Australian TV soap Neighbours and drop them off unannounced at op shops in eastern Melbourne?

The mystery surrounding the decision to dump the potentially valuable items has deepened in recent days, as Neighbours fans from around the world discover that props used in the show were - bizarrely - being sold via charity shops in eastern Melbourne.

🗓️A 40-year history: More than 9,300 episodes of Neighbours - a soapie created by Reg Watson and set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough - were made between 1985 and 2025.

It is one of the longest running soap operas ever produced, in rare company that includes Coronation Street, Days of Our Lives, EastEnders, General Hospital and The Young and the Restless.

The show was initially produced for Channel 7, however the network dumped it months after it premiered in 1985. Channel 10 saw an opportunity and bought the show.

It screened on Channel 10’s main free to air channel for many years, but was later moved onto one of its digital channels, 10 Peach. The BBC in the UK ultimately dropped the show about 17 years ago, and it was picked up by Channel 5, but in 2022 the axe came down, with the final episode airing on July 28, 2022.

In true soap style, that was not to be the end of it. 

📺 A brief resurrection: Amazon and Neighbours producer Fremantle Media cut a deal to relaunch the show again, and regular production resumed in April 2023, with the show returning to air in September 2023. 

By February this year the luck had run dry, and Neighbours was again cancelled. Production concluded in July and the final episodes will screen in December. Fremantle Media vacated the site in August ahead of its ongoing decommissioning.

🌎 A global hit: The show may have been lightweight - the production team was making more than 100 minutes of TV a week - but it resonated with many Australians. It also took the fancy of millions of Brits, who looked longingly at the wide blue skies, tans and pools; and a legion of others around the world. 

📸 A start for Aussie superstars: The show became a crucial training ground for Australian writers, camera operators, producers, directors, costume and prop masters, set builders, and was a stepping stone for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Delta Goodrem, Guy Pearce and Jason Donovan.

🚐 Special delivery: What is known about the prop haul - which includes a fake driver’s licence; a medical satchel full of fake patient files, used by Dr Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher), an Erinsborough High bag, fake Medicare cards and a spa key ring for the fictitious Lassiter’s Hotel - is that it was delivered to This N That Community Store at Forest Hill’s Brentford Shopping Centre shops a few weeks ago by workers who said they were dismantling the Neighbours sets.

“We have no idea who they were, they told us they worked on the sets and production that's all I know. To us it was just a donation, so we don't ask questions,” store manager Michelle told the Eastern Melburnian.

🛜 Going viral: Mitcham-based op shop influencer Rebecca Brewin visited the This N That Community Store at Forest Hill’s Brentford Shopping Centre last Friday and videoed the props for a post that has attracted more than 240,000 views on Instagram.

“I thought a video about the pieces might do well, but I didn’t anticipate a global response,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “I’ve had messages from the UK and New Zealand.”

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📞Ringing off the hook: Michelle said interest “blew up” last weekend, with a number of Neighbours-obsessed podcasters offering to buy the lot.

“I’ve had phone calls and emails from the UK, New Zealand, even Sierra Leone,” she said.

⛔️ Empty icon: The Nunawading TV lot, famed for the external shots of buildings used in Prisoner, included outdoor sets away from the main production building, used in Neighbours as the location of Lassiter’s Complex, which included Harold’s Cafe. The set had been originally built for the short-lived soap Holiday Island (1981-82).

On Wednesday, the Eastern Melburnian attended the studio facility, which is protected by a perimeter fence, but all the gates were locked and no security guard was manning the entry. From the roads surrounding the site, it was not possible to see what had become of the external sets.

☝️Bidding wars: When a TV or movie production ends, the producers can either hold onto the props, give them away or hold an auction. In the US, the producers may donate any proceeds from an authorised auction to charity. Such was the case when Seinfeld auctioned props used in the show in the early 2000s. 

Some TV props are hugely valuable. Many are not. Last week an auction house in the UK sold a hat used in the US TV show The Lone Ranger in the 1940s and 1950s for more than $300,000. It was expected to fetch around $12,000.

So, is there any real value attached to the Neighbours goodies? 

The offers made to the op shop to buy the lot, and the fact an auction house contacted Michelle offering to become involved, suggest the items are considered desirable in the collector market.

So, why would Fremantle Media just dump them at op shops and other locations instead of holding an official auction?

🎁 Shared far and wide: The Eastern Melburnian understands the Neighbours production team donated the goods to local charities, schools, soup kitchens and op shops after dismantling the sets. Goods were first sold to the cast and crew working at Nunawading.

One industry source said that people involved in the decision to offload the items in bulk may not have realised the potential demand, but that the Neighbours team was pleased the donations were being covered by the media.

🏘️ A local touch: Michelle said a lot of the shop’s customers had “fond memories” of living near where the show was filmed, as Vermont’s South Pin Oak Court acted as the fictitious Ramsay Street in some external shots.

“We’ve never had anything like this before, so I don’t know how much to put on items. It’s good for us because the die-hard fans actually get to have a piece of Neighbours in their house and it brings in money for our charity.”

📝The real deal: For a piece of TV memorabilia to have any significant value - and for that value to potentially increase over time - it typically requires a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). This vouches for the provenance of the item, and may explain how and when the item was used in the production of a show. It is sometimes accompanied by a still photo of the prop being used in the production.

The COA is typically supplied by the auction house, which bases its reputation on the legitimacy of the items it sells.

But creating potentially hundreds of certificates is a significant and costly administrative burden, particularly if the COA is to state how and when the prop was used. It is something that would require the imprimatur of the production house, and it’s difficult to imagine Fremantle or Amazon tipping resources into the endeavour.

🏷️ Open to all: For Michelle, it’s all been somewhat of a whirlwind, fielding endless enquiries from Neighbours fans and the media while trying to make sense of what she’s got and how best to monetise it for the charity.

On Friday, she told the Eastern Melburnian she was going to hold an online auction open to bidders globally. She has passed on the offer of assistance from the auction house, and said the items will not be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. 

As for the Neighbours episode scripts that were bundled in with all the other stuff, Michelle says she was urged by someone involved in the production to shred them, and she has.