Home and Away & Neighbours to return to 5 episodes per week in UK
Channel 5 have today confirmed that both Home and Away and Neighbours will be returning to their full schedule in just under two weeks.
In a statement, Channel 5 said:
Neighbours and Home and Away will return to five episodes a week from Monday 11th May, resuming their usual Monday to Friday slots.
Both shows have been running on a reduced schedule on the channel for the past month.
The date also has an added bonus in that it ensures that Home and Away episodes will air in the correct blocks, as originally intended by the writers (i.e. Monday episodes on a Monday etc.)
It was announced that Home and Away had temporarily shut down production on 22nd March due to the COVID-19 crisis, with the show also taking a three week transmission break in Australia to make way for extended news coverage.
At the time, a Seven spokesperson said:
Seven Studios advised today that it would halt filming of Home and Away immediately. It confirmed that no cast or crew had tested positive for COVID-19, but that the decision was made due to the increasing logistical hurdles related to the COVID-19 situation.
The show returned to air in Australia on Easter Monday, and this week has bumped up its schedule to air triple episodes on a Thursday.
Channel 5 initially reduced both shows to two episodes per week, before increasing this to three episodes from 20th April.
Although production is yet to resume on Home and Away, the gap between filming and transmission means there are several months worth of episodes still available for airing.
Sam Frost, who plays Jasmine Delaney on the show, recently speculated as to whether Seven will be forced to reduce their schedule further down the line.
Show stalwart Lynne McGranger (Irene) confirmed on Twitter this week that a return date for production is still unknown.
For a rundown of upcoming Home and Away episodes in the UK, see this page or our in-depth preview articles here.