'Neighbours' have added a special scene into today's (15.01.20) episode to reference Australia's bushfire crisis.
Takaya Honda
The Channel 5 show will reflect a "real-life emergency" in the soap for the first time, and bosses felt it is "vital" to include the segment because of the current plight Down Under, during which fires have killed at least 28 people and millions of animals since October.
A 'Neighbours' source told BANG Showbiz: "An additional scene was added into today's episode of 'Neighbours', which sees Sheila, Aaron and David discuss the bushfire crisis.
"This is the first time that 'Neighbours' has reflected a real life emergency, and the decision to include the scene felt vital given the current bushfire emergency across Australia."
Colette Mann (Sheila Canning), Takaya Honda (David Tanaka) and Matt Wilson (Aaron Brennan) will appear in the special scene.
The bushfires have devastated several areas of Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria and parts of South Australia.
At least 20 people have died in the New South Wales area, and more than 5.2 million hectares have burned.
And four people have died in Victoria, with more than 1.2 million hectares burnt.
What's more, the soap is also gearing up to celebrate its 35th anniversary, and executive producer Jason Herbison recently teased fans there will be some "high drama".
And Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy) recently admitted he would "love to be part of" a 'Neighbours' live episode for the show's 35th anniversary, but joked it might be "horrendous".
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "It would be horrendous."
Speaking in a joint interview, Bonnie Anderson (Bea Nilsson) said: "It would be quite funny, and very scary."
Alan added: "If we did do a live episode of 'Neighbours' for the 35th it would be very cool and we would all love to be part of it, but it would be very scary.
"I'm just not quite sure what you get out of that, other than the audience thinking, 'Go on, go wrong.'
"Even if it's live it should just appear to be another episode."
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