Channel 5 To Air Neighbours & Home and Away Five Episodes Per Week

Fans of “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” can rejoice following the decision to air five episodes per week on Channel 5. Both soaps will resume their regular slots starting May 11. Last month, episodes of both series have been cut down to just two per week. Production was on a standstill when the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to mass gatherings, temporarily shutting down filming.

A spokesperson has said that measures were taken to drop the weekly number of episodes for “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” from five to just two. This step was done in order to allow viewers to enjoy both series a low longer. The spread of COVID-19 has strained production which hampered the regular airing of soaps. Earlier this month, however, Channel 5 decided to bump the weekly episode count from two to three as solutions to filming problems were quickly formulated.

https://twitter.com/neighbours/status/1258656694961180674

Production To Return But Not Without Caveats

It was believed without rationing, the pool of episodes for both soaps would have dried up by mid-June. Despite problems with production, there remains a silver lining. Filming for “Neighbours” is set to resume later this week. However, there will be some changes to the means of production. Social distancing rules will be imposed, making the filming process rather difficult than it normally would have. Holding hands and kissing won’t be possible onset. As per usual, soap viewers in the UK will still be left behind a few weeks as a result of Channel 5’s delayed airing of the series.

Filming Dates Remain Elusive

On the flipside, “Home and Away” viewers will need to wait for fresh content. Aussie actor Lynne McGranger recently replied to a fan on Twitter, saying there is no definite date on when filming on the series can start safely again. Rumors of production resuming in June or July are just hearsay, according to McGranger. Production for the show was shut down in March. Fans are hoping that the soap’s showrunners would follow the steps of “Neighbours” show executives.

At the moment, there are no concrete details of when filming for “Home and Away” would return and if episodes run out before they could restart production. On the bright side, there’s still a lot of drama before it all runs out.

Listen up, Home and Awayers – your favourite sunshine soap will be back to five days a week on @channel5_tv from Monday 11th May! #HomeandAway pic.twitter.com/bRfk3cqIsB

— Home and Away (@HomeandAwayTV) May 5, 2020