When does Home and Away return in 2020?

If you’re desperately missing your Summer Bay fix this Christmas, well, you’ve still got a little while to wait. We can now confirm that Home and Away will be back on Australian screens on Monday 27th January 2020.

The show’s final episode of 2019 was on Wednesday 27th November, meaning the show will be off the air for a total of 8 weeks, 5 days. Strewth!

Even with the online Christmas Specials to keep us entertained over the festive break, that’s still a lot of time away from the Bay.

Five episodes of ‘Home and Away: Christmas in Summer Bay’ are now available for free on streaming services 7Plus and My5, taking us behind the scenes with the cast of the show

The break is slightly less than between the end of the 2018 season and the start of 2019, when the show was off the air for a whopping 9 weeks, 4 days.

Although the show has always taken a break over Christmas, the gap was longer than usual in 2018 due to Seven winning the rights to the cricket – and it’s the cricket that will once again dominate Seven’s schedules for the first month of the new year.

UK viewers have slightly more luck – Home and Away returns to the UK on Monday 6th January 2020, after just six weeks off our screens.

Courtney Miller

Bella may look innocent and have Colby fooled, but what lengths will she go to to keep her brother and Mackenzie apart?

When the show returns to the UK, viewers will see Ryder get further embroiled in Blake’s plan to cheat his way through his exams, Ben continue to struggle with the side effects of his antidepressants, Bella get more and more desperate in her attempts to keep Colby and Mackenzie apart, and Tori struggle as her health takes a turn for the worse.

And that’s just the start. With the show around six weeks behind the Australian episodes, UK viewers don’t have long to wait before things start gearing up for the dramatic season finale, which sees us say goodbye to two Summer Bay friends.

The season finale episode will air in the UK on Friday 6th March 2020. However, while Aussie viewers have had to contend with an 8 week break before they find out the resolution, for UK viewers there’ll only be a weekend to wait, with the 2020 season return episode airing in the UK the following Monday 9th March.

If you can’t wait to see what’s coming up in the UK over the next couple of months, a very special episode of Home and Away : Christmas in Summer Bay will be added to My5 on New Year’s Eve, in which Jason Smith gives us an extended sneak peak into what’s coming up in the year ahead.

The Ouroboros gang have sieged Northern Districts Hospital and not everyone will make it out alive

Meanwhile, Australian viewers are eagerly awaiting the resolution to the dramatic heist at Northern Districts Hospital, which left many of our favourites in danger. It looks like Mason took a bullet as he tried to help free the hostages – but what’s in store for Jasmine, Marilyn and the other characters, who are still stuck inside with the Ouroboros gang?

Plus Colby and Dean have snuck in through a side entrance and are on their way up – will they help or hinder the situation?

Robbo’s life is also in danger – having just found out that Scott is on the side of the Ouroboros gang.

We’ve definitely got a few dramatic moments in store when the show returns to Aussie shores.

Plus there’s a new family in town!

The Parata family will be moving to the Bay in January, and while it looks like they’re going to spend a lot of time with their kit off, they also seem to be hiding a dark past, as they “just want a fresh start” and hope that “maybe it’s different here.”

Find out all about the new family in our dedicated article here.

We’ve also got a full article detailing everything we know about 2020, which you can find here.

Or, if you’d rather watch what’s in store, the Home and Away 2020 promo at the top of this article gives us plenty of insights!

If an eight week break wasn’t enough, the show will likely be taking another break in Australia later this year, as Seven clears its schedules to make way for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The games run from Friday 24th July until Sunday 9th August, so it’s likely that the show will take another two week break, returning on Monday 10th August.

An Olympic break does mean a second major cliffhanger, often rivalling the season finale.

In 2016, the show saw a number of Summer Bay residents in danger as Duncan Stewart organised a disastrous birthday flight for Tori.

The newly qualified pilot arranged to borrow a mate’s plane to take a charter flight to a winery in Lightning Peak for Tori and a group of her friends – but unbeknown to anyone on board, Morgan family enemy Spike had sabotaged the plane in an attempt to take the Morgans out and cover his tracks.

As the cabin fills with CO2 and the passengers begin to pass out, the flight crashes in the bush, putting numerous lives in danger.

Previous Olympic finales have seen Nicole and Geoff get washed up on an island after Elliot put his revenge plan into action, and Sarah Lewis take the residents of Summer Bay hostage at Leah’s house, leading to Noah’s death.

Plenty to look forward to when Home and Away returns in 2020!