The 2000 season

[Martin2013]

On 25/10/2026 at 22:14, Revealed said:

Because we were now into a new millennium. The year 2000 was out with the old and in with the new in a lot of respects. For example in the UK there was a Friday night show called TFI Friday which was must watch TV for those of a certain age from 1996-1999 but then in 2000 it was being written off as being too 90s and was axed that year. I guess there was so much hype about the new millennium that things had to change compared to what came before to justify the hype. 

Interestingly Neighbours had its titles/theme tune revamped at the start of 1999.   I wonder if the decision to refresh the H&A titles was in any way a response to Neighbours changing theirs?

I can only assume the forced transmission break in the UK was very disruptive for fans and inevitibly lead to some drifting away plus there was presumsbly the issue of Five not being available everywhere?

I remember someone moaning in Inside Soap about how all the 'good stuff' was saved for the last week on ITV and about how they 'had to wait a whole year to watch it again'.  Does this suggest the season took a while to get going but began to pick up?

[adam436]

1 hour ago, Martin2013 said:

Interestingly Neighbours had its titles/theme tune revamped at the start of 1999.   I wonder if the decision to refresh the H&A titles was in any way a response to Neighbours changing theirs?

And then Neighbours changed it again at some point in 2000. I'm not sure when that year, but they went with the poolside/backyard shots, so maybe that change was in response to H&A? Neighbours really struggled to stick with an opening titles style throughout the early 2000s, with overhauls in 2000, two in 2002, and then at the start of the 2003, 2004 and 2006 seasons, and then again in the 2007 revamp. Whether fans liked them or not, H&A kept the same style for four years, with a refresh/change in 2003.

I can see why H&A needed a refresh. As much as I enjoyed the late 90s titles, they were very "cheesy", for lack of a better term, so it made sense to overhaul them for a new and perhaps in some ways, a darker era. I guess with the revolving door of cast changes in 2000, the underwater/floating boxes style was easier to update too, then having to replace a duo shot every time someone left. Even if there wasn't a replacement character ready to take their place, the boxes were easily slowed down to account for it. 

[Revealed]

I don't think UK viewership ever truly recovered once it moved to Channel 5. Personally I'd got out the habit and it took until the Kane/Dani storyline for me to start watching again. Then I moved to a property that couldn't pick up Channel 5 for a year or so. Eventually got back into it from flicking through channels in late 2003 and have constantly watched it since.

Virtually everybody I know though never watched it in the Channel 5 era. Some are surprised it's still going and even more surprised that Big Alf is still in it. 

[adam436]

39 minutes ago, Revealed said:

I'd got out the habit and it took until the Kane/Dani storyline for me to start watching again.

Interesting! That was a storyline I didn't particularly enjoy, even less in subsequent chapters with Kirsty/Kane getting together, Dani running him over, their secret wedding etc. 

I actually found 2001 through to early/mid 2002 to be quite a boring period to be honest. 2000 had so much going on with the mudslide, the revolving door of comings and goings, Ken's death, Sally's wedding reunion, the Ailsa/Shauna story, Ken's ex-wife targeting Irene, the diner fire, Edward's story, the early days of Vinnie and Leah's romance and probably more I've forgotten now. The only highlight from 2001 really were Vinnie and Leah's wedding episode, Donald and Marilyn's London reunion and the brief Gypsy/Desiree stuff. There were other big dramatic moments like Kane/Dani, Brodie's boyfriend being killed in an accident and her blaming Alex, but I had zero interest in them because I didn't care much for the characters involved. 

By mid 2002 it felt like the drama had ramped up again with the bus crash that left Nick in a wheelchair, the cast reunion/lost at sea saga, Kirsty and Kane (wasn't a fan of the pairing, but the initial wait/anticipation for the reveal was good!), the death of Charlotte Adams (the producers definitely saw her as an expendable character for the sake of a death!) and then Jade "acting out" in the fallout, and then storylines toward the end of the year like Alf's memoy loss, Sally and Flynn's surrogacy plans and the Angie Russell saga which set up the 2002 finale/the start of the 2003 season. 

[Revealed]

It wasn't because of that storyline, that's just what was going on what I happened to switch it on again. I remember not knowing who half the characters were because there had been quite a few changes since it had been on ITV. Was around Easter 2002 if I remember correctly.

I've since bridged that gap when they repeated them on Five Star or whatever it was called at the time around 2007. That included the London storyline where Fisher followed Marilyn out of a building by the Thames and into Finchley Road station which is around 8 miles away. As a Londonder I found that amusing.