The person who got me through 2021: Dr Karl Kennedy in Neighbours was strangely reassuring

He became a stand-in for the family I couldn't see - a paternal character who comforted me amid the loneliness and uncertainty

For the past 20 years there have been a handful of constants in my life: my family, my best friend and Neighbours. Not neighbours like the people you borrow a cup of sugar from, but rather that sunshine-filled Australian soap you probably stopped watching once you left university.

When I graduated, I carried on. First, out of habit (I needed to know the fate of Toadie's mullet), but later for its nostalgic continuity and reassurance.