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NEIGHBOURS deserves respect. That is my overwhelming feeling as the Aussie drama gets set to celebrate its 30th anniversary on March 18.

Neighbours has chalked up more than 7000 episodes, making it the longest-running drama series in Australia. That is a major achievement by anyone’s standard.

Unfortunately, the show has too often been ignored or belittled by critics, actors and even viewers during those three decades.

Neighbours is usually dismissed with the s-word — soapie — and all the negative baggage that entails. You know: wooden acting, superficial storylines, cheap sets.

If you believe the snobs, Neighbours is the show that quality actors shun and its young cast can’t wait to move on to something better. Channel 10 added to that bad perception when it shunted Neighbours on to digital channel Eleven in January 2011.

But Ten’s coming special, Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, is proof of the show’s profound impact on Australian culture.

Stars including Kylie Minogue (Charlene Robinson), Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson), Guy Pearce (Mike Young), Margot Robbie (Donna Freedman) and Delta Goodrem (Nina Tucker) acknowledge that the show kickstarted their career.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for Neighbours,” Robbie, who has starred in Hollywood blockbusters The Wolf of Wall Street and Focus, says graciously.

Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Brennan), Craig McLachlan (Henry Ramsay), Ashleigh Brewer (Kate Ramsay), Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Izzy Hoyland), Daniel MacPherson (Joel Samuels), Holly Valance (Felicity Scully), Jesse Spencer (Billy Kennedy) and Alan Dale (Jim Robinson) are others who can thank Neighbours for a leg-up.

Would any of those stars have had the same level of success without the benefit of their time on Neighbours? Not on your nelly.

Let’s not forget, too, that Neighbours helped take Australia to the world. It is one of our most successful exports. It is a fully fledged phenomenon in the UK where it now screens on Channel 5. You can see it everywhere from Ireland to Kenya to Barbados.

For millions of people overseas, Ramsay St, Erinsborough, is the most famous place in Australia — even though it is fictional.

Long-time Neighbours stars Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne deserve special praise. They have been playing husband and wife team Karl and Susan Kennedy for 21 years. Best Actor Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) recently called the pair “the great unsung acting duo in history”.

Redmayne added he “learnt a lot from them” (Fletcher and Woodburne) in his own journey to become a world-class actor.

It isn’t until you go on the set of Neighbours that you realise how much skill is needed to act in a five-night-a-week drama.

The pace of filming is frantic. There is no time for third or fourth takes. Actors who aren’t prepared will be found out. You have to nail it first or second time scene after scene.

The speed of filming shocks even seasoned professionals. I remember chatting to Gold Logie winner John Wood (Blue Heelers) when he did a six-month guest stint on the show in 2011-12. Wood couldn’t believe the rapid-fire shooting schedule.

That is why Neighbours, as well as Seven’s Home and Away, is such a wonderful training ground for young actors. There is no time for diva antics, for drawn-out rehearsals. It’s one of the reasons stars such as Robbie and Spencer, as well as Home and Away alumni including Liam Hemsworth, are in such big demand in Hollywood.

US TV and movie producers realise those actors will know their stuff, hit their marks and deliver a quality performance first time every time. That’s a major asset in a town where too many young actors end up like Lindsay Lohan.

It is easy to forget Neighbours nearly didn’t make it past its first year. It was commissioned by Channel 7 and first aired on March 18, 1985. When ratings stalled, Seven cancelled it.

Ten swooped and the rest is history. The wedding episode between Scott and Charlene on July 1, 1987, was reportedly seen by two million Aussie viewers. That is what makes Ten’s decision to move Neighbours to Eleven in early 2011 so disappointing. At the time, Ten justified the move by saying Neighbours ratings were dropping and it needed a show to attract younger viewers to its then new digital channel.

Ten replaced Neighbours with 6.30 with George Negus. It lasted less than a year. That led to calls for Neighbours to return to the main channel, which Ten ignored.

The show’s move to Eleven caused an immediate ratings drop. It now has between 230,000 and 300,000 viewers per episode. That is pretty shabby treatment for a show that underpinned Ten’s ratings success for so long

Fortunately, UK sales will keep Neighbours on our screens. If you get a spare half-hour, you could do a lot worse than tune in and watch. It deserves our support.

COLIN VICKERY IS NATIONAL TV WRITER