Like Neighbours, the Australian soap opera Home and Away became popular with audiences in the UK.
The programme was one of the most watched ones on ITV and was broadcast there from 1989 to 2000.
After being taken off the air in the UK for a year, the programme made a triumphant return on Channel 5 after winning the rights in a £40 million auction.
Since 2001, Channel 5 has continued to air Home and Away. However, with Neighbours’ final episode airing on the network on July 29, viewers are worried about what will happen to the other Australian serial.
What’s the storyline behind Home and Away, how can you watch it in the UK, and was it cancelled? Here is all the information you require:
What is the plot of Home and Away?
The Australian television series Home and Away follows the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of people who live in Summer Bay, a tiny seaside town west of Sydney.
Because it is a soap opera, there is unavoidably melodrama, murder, mayhem, and marital problems.
Like Neighbours, the show served as a launching pad for a number of well-known Hollywood actors; Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor, appeared in 192 episodes from 2004 to 2007; his brother Liam also made an appearance in one episode.
The actors Guy Pearce (Memento, Iron Man 3), Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, The Impossible), Isla Fisher (Arrested Development, Nocturnal Animals), and Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, Brokeback Mountain) have all made appearances in the show over the years.
Is Home and Away still on the air?
Fans will be glad to hear that Home and Away has not been cancelled.
Neighbours’ funding was curtailed by Channel 5 earlier this year with the purpose of using that money to produce unique UK programming.
Neighbours will stop producing new episodes after the soap’s creators were unable to find new funding.
Channel 5’s head of programming, Ben Frow, responded in the negative when asked if Home and Away would suffer the same fate. However, I think it will be intriguing to observe how we use it as we advance. There may be another location on the 5 spectrum where it belongs.
However, because of the life-of-series agreement, nothing will change until the producers decide to halt production.
Home and Away has been airing on Channel 5 since 2000, and the channel has been the show’s longtime and permanent home.
Channel 5 made a lower offer than ITV when competing for the rights to the soap opera, but they sweetened the deal by promising to air the programme for as long as a decision was made.
Home and Away will always be on the channel, but it might be moved to a less watched time slot if the programmers decide to give other shows more priority.
How can someone in the UK watch Home and Away?
Home and Away is currently repeated on 5STAR at 6 p.m. on weekdays at 1:15 p.m. on Channel 5.
New episodes premiere the following day on Channel 5 and are broadcast at 6.30 p.m. on 5STAR.
Home and Away will take Neighbours’ place in the broadcast slot, airing at 1:45 PM, according to Channel 5.
The first look at 6.30 p.m. on 5STAR and the repeat at 6 p.m. will not change.
The modification will be effective as of August 1st, Monday. As usual, My 5 will offer catch-up viewing of the episodes.
These broadcast slots may change again as Channel 5 puts more emphasis on producing new British programmes.
