There is an air of expectation before this show. Outside the venue large numbers of late twentyearly thirty-somethings reminisced about their favourite characters; upon entering, they were greeted to the video of Especially For You to which some chose to sing along to; the next video brought whoops and cheers: Oh God, Stefan Dennis! Don't It Make You Feel Good! If you understand this reference then this show is the one for you. If you don't, go ahead and see it anyway; you'll still have a great time.Ever since it began on UK televisions in 1985 the Australian soap-opera Neighbours has gradually acquired a cult following. It started off with housewives and soon spread to the teenage after-school crowd, before drawing in thousands of university students as a distraction from working, peaking in its heyday with 20 million viewers watching the wedding of Scott and Charlene, Ramsay Street's most famous couple. In recent years its popularity has weaned slightly, not helped by the programme's defection to Channel 5 from the BBC. Nevertheless, across the years millions have taken the world of Ramsay Street, Lassiters and Erinsborough High into their hearts and are only to willing to step back in time and refresh their memories.At this performance the enthusiastic crowd were lapping the nostalgia up and, almost like members of a cult, they knew instinctly how to react as one: the iconic street map and theme tune got a cheer; Henry Ramsay falling into the swimming pool during the opening credits brought fond laughter, Jim Robinson's death met with a sigh of pity, whilst Dee and Toadie's wedding reached panto-esque danger warnings of oooooooooh. Yet the star of this show is not Neighbours, but rather Fergus Craig, a member of the Neighbours generation. He literally grew up with Neighbours, being 4 when it first started, and has watched it every day since, provided that it was on and he was in the house of course. Craig's love and knowledge of the show is clear but it is not simply an Ode to Neighbours. Ingeniously Craig uses the Neighbours clips as a springboard to talk about his own life; not in a my-father-also-died-of-a-heart-attack-whilst-his-evil-bitch-girlfriend-looked-on-and-then-stole-his-money kind of way, but as a way of explaining why he came to love it so much. He does so with such unaffecting charm and warmth that it is impossible not to like him.Interspersed with the clips of the show, we see videos of Craig aged 4, performing for the camera; we hear about his childhood experiences, watch a family Christmas in Newcastle. This material wouldn't seem out of place in an open mic session and it is hard to describe exactly how he manages to segue so seamlessly from Toadie crying on a beach to this but he manages to make it seem so normal that you run with it. Somehow it just works. It helps that his running commentary on Neighbours is not one of idolisation but with a warm cynicism that fully acknowledges the flaws in production, script writing or acting, pin-pointing the actual charm of the television programme.Ultimately its success is all due to the normality of Craig. He is entirely reminiscent of the kind of boy you knew at school, a friend from down the road. His own self-description is of a normal white guy who doesn't really want to rock the boat, and this is exactly what makes the show as a whole work.When I was leaving the venue I suddenly realised that I was born in the same year as Craig, and the majority of the audience. We were all part of that generation and consequently we understood exactly what he was talking about, from the childhood references to the observations of Neighbours. I went on to discuss the show with several friends of the same age and we spent an entire hour remembering parts of Neighbours history, whilst at the same time talking about the other things that were going on in our lives at that period of time. Just like Craig, Neighbours offered us and thousands of others that shared experience to talk about and laugh over. I said earlier that if you are a Neighbours fan you'll love the show. You'll come out also loving Fergus Craig.
