It was the wedding that captured the hearts and minds of the UK when just under 20 million people watched Scott (Jason Donovan) and Charlene (Kylie Minogue) tie the knot in the Australian soap ‘Neighbours‘. It originally aired in Australia on July 1st, 1987 but us Brits didn’t see it till November the following year as these were very different times. It would be hard to imagine such a scenario now in an era of YouTube, streaming and social media. What’s quite amazing is that the two UK episodes aired on BBC1 at 1:30 pm and 5:35 pm which are not exactly renowned peak viewing times.

The church where it was filmed is a little out of the CBD in Melbourne but is fairly easy to get to in about 45 minutes via the bus services. Take the #907 bus route from Swanston Street to the Church Road bus stop and just a couple of minutes away on foot is the Holy Trinity Anglican Church (106 Church Road, Doncaster).

The actual wedding part of the episode in the video link at the top of this post is just six minutes long (6:10 to 11:56) beginning with exterior shots of Jason Donovan’s character arriving and chatting outside the church. Sadly the match-up shots below aren’t quite as accurate as I’d have hoped for as I forgot to copy the screenshots on to my phone from the Facebook album (set to “Only Me” in the viewing settings) where I keep such things. Typically, I couldn’t get any free wifi when I needed it most!

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the occasion is when the church doors open and Kylie enters in her white wedding dress to the soundtrack of the power ballad ‘Suddenly‘ by Angry Anderson which went on to became a number three hit in the UK singles chart. Research for this post tells me that Kylie actually hand picked the song herself.

For those of a certain age this song is instantly recognisable from the opening bars and instantly brings back memories of this iconic wedding. It was also used a couple of decades later for Nessa and Dave’s wedding in the series three finale of the BBC comedy ‘Gavin and Stacey‘.

Annoyingly the church was completely locked so I was unable to get the interior shots I wanted. A shame but not the end of the world. Although I couldn’t enter the church I could poke my camera through the windows to get a view of the inside which gives you an idea of how much it has changed in the 32 years since filming took place.

Scott and Charlene’s wedding isn’t the only time this church has been used for weddings in ‘Neighbours‘ as it was also used for Libby (Kim Valentine) and Drew’s (Dan Paris) in 2001. Below are a few screenshots from their wedding.

Bonus: No trip to Melbourne (for me…and probably me only!) is complete without a trip to Pin Oak Court in Vermont South which is the small cul-de-sac used as Ramsay Street in the long running Australian soap. Unbelievably this was my fifth visit to the street and full details about it all can be read here from my 2012 post.

The most notable and obvious difference this time was the gate on the old Ramsay/Bishop house but other than that it was pretty much no different from the last time I was there.

There is actually a Neighbours Official Centre (3/570 Flinders Street) close to Southern Cross Station which sells a few souvenirs (I bought a stubby holder and magnet on my previous visit in 2007) and is the place for booking the official Neighbours Tour as well as other various trips in and around Melbourne.

Click here to read ‘TF Flashback – Meet The Neighbours Night (2002)’

Click here to read ‘Australia 2012 Pt VI: Neighbours Filming Locations’

Click here to read ‘Everybody Needs Good Neighbours’