More than 40 years of Neighbours history is being reimagined for the vertical television era, as RoseBerry Media and Fremantle team up to transform classic storylines from the long-running Australian soap into short-form, mobile-first series.
The partnership will dig into an enormous archive of more than 9,300 episodes, turning selected storylines into standalone vertical titles. The first Neighbours vertical series is expected to debut this fall on epis, RoseBerry’s streaming platform dedicated to premium vertical television, with additional distribution deals expected to follow.
Among the stories receiving the vertical treatment are two featuring Margot Robbie as Donna Freedman, the character she played on Neighbours before becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The show’s extensive list of famous alumni also includes Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce.
Rather than simply cropping existing episodes into a vertical frame, RoseBerry is using its proprietary RedSnapper technology, an AI-assisted production workflow designed to analyze television and film libraries and identify character arcs, storylines and standout moments. Human editors then reshape that material specifically for mobile-first viewing.
“Neighbours is an iconic piece of television history and exactly the kind of premium entertainment IP we believe can thrive in the vertical format,” RoseBerry Media Co-Founder and CEO Guy Hameiri said in announcing the partnership.
Hameiri described the project as the first opportunity for RoseBerry to apply RedSnapper to a long-running soap with such an extensive collection of characters and stories.
For Fremantle, the project offers another way to introduce decades of Neighbours history to audiences who may never have experienced Ramsay Street in its traditional television format.
“Neighbours has an extraordinary legacy, with decades of memorable characters, stories and talent,” said Jens Richter, CEO Commercial and International at Fremantle. “Working with RoseBerry allows us to explore incredible archive in an entirely new way, bringing much-loved IP to new audiences while demonstrating how established television libraries can continue to evolve.”
It’s also another interesting development in the rapidly expanding vertical drama space.
I recently spoke with Buzz Leer, host of The Vertical Buzz, about the rise of vertical dramas and how the format is developing its own place within the entertainment industry. What RoseBerry and Fremantle are doing with Neighbours adds another dimension to that conversation: instead of creating an entirely new vertical drama, they’re exploring whether decades of established television storytelling can find another life through the format.
RoseBerry calls the concept “library verticalization.” Its RedSnapper workflow can scan large episode libraries to map story arcs and identify material that could work in the shorter format, while editors handle the creative process of restructuring those stories for vertical audiences.
The company launched epis globally in July 2026, with more than 100 titles encompassing original productions as well as existing television properties adapted for mobile viewing. RoseBerry has also established agreements with A+E Global Media, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Cineflix Rights and Fremantle to adapt selected programming from their libraries.
For Neighbours, that means more than four decades of Ramsay Street history suddenly becomes potential source material for an entirely different type of viewing experience.
The series originally premiered in 1985 and became one of Australia’s most recognizable television exports, building a global following while helping launch the careers of numerous actors who would go on to international success.
Now, a show that has already lived through multiple eras of television is preparing for another one—this time designed to fit directly onto the screen in your hand.
The first Neighbours vertical series will premiere on epis this fall, with additional details still to come.
