EVERYBODY needs good neighbours, according to one of the most easily recognisable theme tunes on television. Presenter and property expert Sarah Beeny knows that with a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend.

Back with a fifth series of Property Ladder (Channel 4, tonight, 8pm), she's busy filming a new project which will show how good neighbours can also become good friends.

Sarah is getting residents to work together for Streets Ahead, a six-part series set to be screened on C4 later this summer. She hopes it will change the way the nation thinks about the people next door.

"It's an opportunity for a community to get to know each other. So often today, people live in houses for years and years and have no idea who their next-door neighbour is. I think this new programme is a very exciting idea."

Six streets have been chosen across the UK for the property makeover show, which looks at homes from street level - including front gardens, garages, curtains, trees and anything else passers-by might notice.

Channel 4 give each street é10,000 to start the ball rolling, with Sarah and her TV team in place for a month in each location, encouraging residents to open their doors to each other.

"It needs quite a brave person to come out and knock on everybody's doors and say, `Right, you're all going to come out every weekend for the next month and we're going to work together to make our street look great.'

"I think they'd be a bit scared that they might, at best, get the door slammed in their face and, at worst, get a punch on the nose."

Sarah, 33, has already filmed three of the six projects in Nottingham, London and Kent, with three more to go.

"I think we've been through the period of looking after ourselves and people are realising they've lost a sense of community.

Example

HOPEFULLY, more and more people will be inspired to follow our example and start their own projects after the programme has finished.

"It leads to nicer streets, with neighbours who say hello to each other in the mornings, as well as looking out for each other's homes."

Sarah says one street looked like a supermarket car park because of the number of parked vehicles.

She managed to persuade neighbours to accept car ports, which have transformed the look of the area and the appearance of a now pretty street.

"There are some quite lively antics when people fall out and then make up. Sometimes it's like trying to organise a bunch of children.

"And this isn't about taste. It's about an overall concept for a street - looking outside your house rather than inside."

Sarah is filming a sixth series of Property Ladder, which will follow on later this year. Tonight's hour-long show again sees her giving newcomers to the property business advice and tips on how to make money from property.

First in line is Sue Silver, a mother-of-three who has given up her job as a pharmacy assistant to move into property developing as a way of clearing her debts and paying for a more affluent lifestyle.

It's a path trodden by more and more people, who think they can make lots of money, even in areas where prices are falling. Sarah says some need to take a reality check. "There still are people who have a blind belief that it's a quick way to make a very fast and easy buck. But they find it's not. It's getting harder and harder for them."

With homes in Yorkshire and London, Sarah also runs a property business with artist husband Graham Swift, brother Diccon and his wife, Caroline.

Now mum to 10-month-old Billy, she's busier than ever.

"It's been hard, but Channel 4 have been very fair. I work more days, but shorter hours," explains Sarah, who went back to work ten weeks after the birth of her son.

"I do get to see him a lot and I take him on set. He's lovely - the perfect child. I'm not biased, obviously."