Hot Picks: Meet The Neighbours

Sydney-based Blackfella Films has made a name for itself with shows ranging from punchy political drama Total Control to First Nations-focused doc The Dark Emu Story – programming that “provokes debate and a national conversation, shifting the dial on major social issues”, according to head of factual Jacob Hickey.

Its latest show, Meet The Neighbours, is no different. The social experiment is a novel concept that centres on the inhabitants of old gold-rush town Maryborough, which was once a vibrant, multicultural and wealthy place, but has become one of the least ethnically diverse and most disadvantaged towns in Australia – with a rapidly ageing population. Meet The Neighbours sets about remedying that.

Eight Australian households from diverse cultural backgrounds take up an invitation to leave their cosmopolitan city lives and make this place home, aiming to embed themselves in the local community and breathe new life into the town.

“The logistics involved were extraordinary,” says Hickey. “The participants moved house, started new jobs and their children enrolled in the local school. Our role as producers extended to real estate and employment agents. But it was worth it. It’s a unique format and one that could be applied to many countries grappling with similar issues.”

Blackfella has had previous success with social-experiment titles, such as Filthy Rich & Homeless and First Contact, and Hickey expects Meet The Neighbours to have similar resonance.

Meet The Neighbours places a strong emphasis on the importance of Australia’s immigrant population, with the eight families including Indian-Australian family the Singhs, South Sudan-born cricket star Akon, El Salvador-born chef Hector, the Rosales family – Eduardo and Estela, who migrated to Australia from Chile and El Salvador 35 years ago – and Nepalese single mum Anki.

The show came out of Blackfella’s development conversations. “We were thinking about Australia’s history and how it’s changing as a nation,” says Hickey, who is series director, producer and writer on Meet The Neighbours.

“For us, this project was a way of attacking another social issue - the divide between urban and regional Australia - and to again delve into questions of national identity.”

For distributor ABC Commercial, the title has taken on even greater significance. “It is unlike anything else in our catalogue,” says manager of content sales Karen Quinn.

“It’s a social experiment that offers a different point of view to other reality content. This show focuses on country towns with ageing populations – a problem that’s not unique to Australia. If social issues like this are out of sight and out of mind, programmes like Meet The Neighbours bring them to the forefront.”

Territories with high migration, such as the UK and European countries, would be a good fit for the series, both as finished tape and format, Quinn says.

“The format comes with its own set of learnings and is highly adaptable,” she adds. “I haven’t seen a social experiment like this on screen before. It’s highly entertaining and full of relatable characters, with a lot of heart.”