Neighbours TV soap creator Reg Grundy dies, aged 92

Australian media mogul Reg Grundy, who developed a string of TV hits including Neighbours, Sons And Daughters and Prisoner: Cell Block H, has died aged 92. “Reg Grundy has passed away in the arms of his beloved wife Joy, on their Bermuda estate,” radio personality and personal friend Alan Jones said on his morning programme. “So ends a remarkable chapter of a great Australian,” he added. No details about the cause of death were given.

He went from an Australian producer, probably small-time would be the best description, to being a major producer around the world, especially in the key areas of the Unites States and England but also of course remaining one of the top producers in Australia.

Australian television personality Bert Newton

Grundy founded one of Australia’s first entertainment groups - the Reg Grundy Organisation - and was widely regarded as the king of the game show, as well as producing a host of successful soap operas. After serving in the army during World War Two, he worked as a boxing and general sports commentator on radio before devising and hosting the Wheel Of Fortune, which he moved to television in 1959. At his peak, Grundy became so entrenched in Australian folklore that it was common in the ‘80s and '90s for Australians to refer to their underwear as “Reggies” or “Grundies”, rhyming slang for “undies”.

Reg Grundy