It seems odd to claim that a show that ran for 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes was cancelled prematurely. But that’s exactly how Melbourne TV writer Vaya Pashos feels about Neighbours, which ended in a cameo-laden blaze of glory on Thursday evening.

The show had more to do, she tells me, to make amends for its problematic past with regards to representation of cultural and gender diversity. In recent years, First Nations actors and actors of colour have described it as a painful, unwelcoming, homophobic and racist environment.