It's too easy to be cynical about Neighbours, to dismiss it as a daggy throwback to a simpler time in Australia's history, memorable mainly as a launching pad for the likes of Russell Crowe, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, and Kylie Minogue.

When the Post Office announced recently that it was issuing a set of stamps to honour the 30^th anniversary of Neighbours, Australia Post's Philatelic Manager, Michael Zsolt, said: "We trust that the public and especially Neighbours enthusiasts will jump at the opportunity to collect the stamp pack. The trifold stamp pack is a great gift and a highly collectable memento in this 30^th anniversary year."

My first reaction was "Do people still collect stamps?" My second reaction was "Do people still watch Neighbours?" (answer to second question is about 350,000 every weeknight in the mainland capitals of Australia and about 2 million every weeknight on Channel 5 in Britain and several more millions every weekday in 40 other countries).

As Daffy Duck might say: sometimes we should set aside cynicism and simply celebrate – a 70 cent stamp seems a suitable start.

Jackie Woodburne is not cynical. She's starred in Neighbours for 20 years, playing a character called Susan Kennedy. I confessed to her during the week that I had not watched Neighbours for a few years, and asked her to fill us in on what Susan Kennedy has been doing. Her response: "She's the principal at the high school, she's been in a plane crash, she's married Dr Karl three times, she's been a surrogate mother to her daughter's baby that she miscarried, she's developed multiple sclerosis, she's been involved in fire and flood … I don't think pestilence, but you know, the night is young."

In recent weeks Susan Kennedy has been organising the Erinsborough Festival, which is the vehicle by which the writers of Neighbours will be able to bring back a dozen characters (and familiar actors) to help celebrate the big anniversary.

Woodburne said playing a lead character meant she worked from 6.15am to 6pm five days a week for 40 weeks of the year. She usually finds out about the dramatic twists in Susan's life about two weeks before she has to film them, but she had rather more notice when the writers decided to give her multiple sclerosis.

"Because we were portraying something that was a very real situation for a lot of people, we wanted to do it authentically and we wanted to do it respectfully. I talked to people at the MS Society and a couple of people that I know that have MS, and did as much research as I could. We're telling a story, the drama is heightened, but we're mindful to stay grounded in the reality of something like that."

Woodburne was relieved to learn that the disease the writers had given her was unlikely to be terminal any time soon. "She has remitting relapsing MS, so most of the time it's in remission and she's quite well. Susan could quite conceivably have a long and mostly well life."

I asked if she regretted not joining the likes of Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Alan Dale, Jesse Spencer, Craig McLachlan, Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem, who left to find fame and fortune overseas.

"I have no regrets about anything to do with that," she said. "I truly love this job. I look forward to coming here every day. When you've had 20 years to have a crack at a character, you do get to layer it up a bit.

"I think it's important to note that for all the Guy Pearces and Margot Robbies, there are scores of young jobbing actors who come in, stay for two or three years, learn their craft more fully, and then go off and work in other television shows, in theatre, in film and have a good, solid career. They're as vital to our industry as the obvious stars.

"In my generation, it wasn't really the thing to go and do the Hollywood thing, which seems to be de rigueur these days. Perhaps down the track, it might be nice to see what's happening in the UK. That would appeal to me more. Certainly I would have an entrée there, I guess, and I think they make really interesting television. The women characters in British shows seem quite substantial. They're often complicated women, as opposed to generic mums."

And how does she respond to the notion that the ratings decline of Neighbours in recent years is because some Australians see it as a bit tame, a bit too Anglo and a bit old-fashioned.

"Our challenge is to try and tell stories that are current, that our audience can engage with, but remain within the confines of the 6.30 timeslot. The characters are as diverse as we can make them. There have been several main characters who have been gay. We have a character currently who is gay, Nate, who is a returned Afghani war veteran. It's not a big coming-out story or anything, that's who he is. He is played by an indigenous actor [Meyne Wyatt], but that's not made a big deal of, either.

"I really think you should turn on and start watching again. I think you'll be surprised at what you see. It may give you a different slant on it."

Neighbours airs on Eleven at 6.30pm every weeknight. The first 30^th anniversary special is on Ten on on March 16 at 7.30pm.

The thrills of a lifetime
The final episode of Rebecca Gibney's mini-series Winter is on this Wednesday and to mark that moment, I asked Gibney to tell us why crime buffs should watch it.

"What we learned from the telemovie [one of the hit dramas of 2014] was that a lot of people's response was 'we need to know more about Eve Winter'," she said. "We set out to create a character vastly different to Julie Rafter and I think we've done that. She's a strong woman powering ahead in a predominantly male environment. You know the mistakes she makes and you know about her vulnerability and her weaknesses. She emerges as a well-rounded character."

Gibney said it won't be like so many US series that leave the viewer with unanswered questions. "That was one of the discussions that we had right at the very beginning when we were plotting. I said even if we are hoping for a second series, I don't want to get to the end and leave it open-ended. For the audience it's really unsatisfying.

"This does wrap up nicely. The six episodes have been about Eve Winter's dogged determination to find out who killed Karly. She does unravel it and she does solve the crime. There will be that resolution at the end."

Does she get to kick ass in the final episode – engage in a bit of hand-to-hand fighting, perhaps? "I certainly pull my gun out and I certainly play a psychological game with someone."

Another reason Gibney is proud of the final episode is that her 10-year-old son has a substantial part in it: "He begged to audition and I said 'If you audition, I'm stepping away as producer. I will not be the one making the decision on whether you are cast. I'm not into nepotism' – not that he understood what that meant. The director and the other producers chose him because he was right for the role."

As producer of Winter, Gibney spent many hours watching other examples of the thriller genre. She kindly produced for us a list of the series she found most satisfying, and you can see that across the top of this page. Judge for yourself on Wednesday at 9pm whether Winter meets that standard.

What you think
Too many ads. In cooking and renovations shows, too many product placements pretending not to be ads. Too many programs moved to different timeslots without warning. Too many programs not starting at the advertised time (so my recordings of the smartest drama on mainstream television, The Good Wife, always stop five minutes short of the ending).

Those would be this column's major issues with commercial television in Australia, but they don't get a mention in the document just released by Free TV Australia under the title "Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice Invitation for Public Comment".

Free TV (which represents Nine, Seven, Ten and their spinoffs) has drafted a new code which it describes as "simplified, more concise and consumer-friendly" (usually a dangerous euphemism) and adds: "The level of regulatory intervention in some areas has been recalibrated to appropriately take into account the diversified digital media environment, in which viewers are accessing content from a variety of platforms, many of which are not regulated."

Some media reports have suggested "recalibrated" means they want to show more sex, violence and bad language before 8.30pm. That might not be the first priority in the minds of Australians when they think of ways that commercial TV could be improved.

The networks want you to go to their website – freetv.com.au – read the fine print and give them feedback on the draft new code before April 3. Might as well take them at their word and tell them if there's anything that might encourage you to watch commercials.

For more, go to smh.com.au/entertainment/blog/the-tribal-mind.