Neighbours to take a Christmas break – extending output gap between UK and Australia
Not the news we were hoping for...
The question on every UK Neighbours fans lips was "when are we going to catch up with Australia?" and the answer is... well, it isn't a good one for fans of the Aussie soap.
Viewers know that Channel 5 dropped the episodes down to two per week when COVID broke out and as a result, the UK's episode output was delayed by roughly three weeks.
Some hoped that with Home and Away taking a break they may get some double episodes to reduce the gap as that seemed like the best time to do it.
That won't be the case as Neighbours has confirmed it will be taking it's annual Christmas break.
That means, the final Neighbours episode for 2020 here will air on December 23rd and the show will then go off the air until January 4th.
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Channel 5 told RadioTimes.com: "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties surrounding production, Channel 5 took a precautionary measure to reduce the number of Neighbours episodes earlier this year, ensuring that dedicated viewers could enjoy the soap for as long as possible.
"Currently, Channel 5's full schedule means it is unlikely that we will be able to catch up with the transmission of episodes in Australia in the near future. Neighbours will return to UK screens on the 4th January 2021, and we hope that viewers will continue to enjoy watching Neighbours with the profound affection that we know many of them hold for the soap."
The jury is out as to whether fans will catch up to output in Australia, but some will be disappointed to have to avoid spoilers from the original broadcast.
Still, it is not all bad news as Amy Greenwood is returning early in 2021 with Jacinta Stapleton reprising her role.
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