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Neighbours trimmed to 4 episodes a week

Exclusive: For the first time in its 36 year history, Neighbours will screen 4 episodes a week.

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EXCLUSIVE: 10 is trimming Neighbours back to 4 episodes a week.

A 10 spokesperson said, “From Monday, July 26, Neighbours will air four nights a week, from Monday to Thursday at 6:30pm on 10 Peach.

“On Fridays, viewers can laugh along with their favourite Friends at 6:30pm.”

It will mark the first time in the show’s 36 year history that it hasn’t regularly screened 5 episodes per week, but sources insist the trim isn’t tied to changes in the Australian drama quotas nor to budgets.

TV Tonight understands the move is likely tied to bring Australian episodes more in sync with the UK playout.

Last year Channel 5 trimmed back to 2 episodes a week during the height of the pandemic, although ironically Neighbours was a world-leader in finding a path forward to safely production.

This has consequently put the UK further behind Australian programming, which can lead to online spoilers for British fans. It isn’t clear if it will return to 5 episodes next year, when day and date broadcasts have synced.

Meanwhile Channel 5, which screens the show twice daily, also recently indicated it was looking to reschedule replays.

Fremantle continues to film six episodes of Neighbours a week at its famed Nunawading studios.

Home & Away also screens 4 days a week on Seven, although often with a triple episode on Thursdays.

Neighbours airs 6:30pm Monday to Thursday from July 26, repeated 8:30am every Sunday on 10 Peach and on 10 Play.

33 Responses

  1. I really hate Neighbours not being on Friday nights. Why can’t they show a double episode on Thursday night if they don’t want to screen it on Friday night!

  3. Interestingly, April Rose Pengilly (Chloe) has specifically stated (today) that it’s not due to synching issues with the UK air dates. She responded to a question on Instagram about it, saying that the change was due to no one watching TV on a Friday night and they didn’t want to “waste” an episode. She said that at the current rate, the UK will actually end up airing episodes ahead of Australia by NYE (which is completely bizarre).

    1. Perhaps not so bizarre when you consider that if not for the UK, Neighbours most likely would’ve been axed years ago. How many other local drama productions have survived on such paltry viewing figures. Even its consolidated numbers being new meaning to the word “underwhelming”.

      1. I think it performs well for something that doesn’t air on the network’s primary channel (its ratings plummeted when it moved to Eleven/Peach). The UK funding definitely keeps it alive, but it’s still odd that the network would be happy to allow episodes to air in the UK first.

  4. Why are we punished show our show other countries don’t care about us. We are behind in many of their shows . Look after your Australian viewers bring it back to five days .

  5. Of course if the powers that be had their wits about them, they could have taken a short break over last summer in Australia, like they used too. Then neighbours would only be 10 episodes behind and not 25. Do it again for two weeks, next Christmas, then all caught up.

  6. I wonder if this means they will slow down production or else they’ll end up a lot further than the usual 3 months ahead of air date.

  7. 10Peach is really going downhill. First The Loop gets axed now cutting back on Neighbours. Soon the channel will consist only of repeated US sitcoms and dramas.

    1. Network 10’s schedule has always been overloaded with repeated US sitcoms! Throughout the 70s and 80s, it was the likes of The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, Hogan’s Heroes and M*A*S*H repeated over and over, year after year; throughout the 90s, The Simpsons and Everybody Loves Raymond were on year in and year out, along with more repeats of the increasingly dated Hogan’s Heroes and The Brady Bunch; in the 2000s it was endless re-runs of Seinfeld and Roseanne. Today, it’s a constant cycle of Friends, Frasier, Becker and Big Bang (feels like the latter is on every network!), going around and around and around. It’s always been the same on 10.

  8. The “Neighbours” scripts feature the “on air” date on the front of them, so whenever a date is visible on a smart phone (e.g. when a text message is shown), the date on the phone is the actual date that the episode is aired in Australia (and, pre-COVID, the UK). They’ll re-calibrate now (they’ll need to, because if they don’t, Christmas will be celebrated around the end of January), but it’s going to take a full 6 months for the UK to catch up (they’re 25 episodes behind). Like others posting, I hope they return to 5 days a week next year. I’m going to hate only having it on 4 times a week…!

  9. I get your points and i am sure they could have shown 2 episodes a day to catch up. At the end of the day we have all got to suck it up for a few weeks, without 5 and the UK, Neighbours would have gone(axed) when it moved to 11 (10 Peach)

  10. Channel 5 In The UK Could easily run double episodes to catch up with us in Australia if they really wanted to why should Aussie Viewers have to miss out on an episode on Fridays because of their programming blunder it does not make sense

  11. Channel 5 in the U.K. also refuse to let RTE in Republic of Ireland go ahead off them so they mess up things for the British and Irish and now messing up things for the Australians.

  14. Keep Neighbours 5 Days A Week Please get rid of Friends And The Big Bang Theory they have both been repeated and repeated over and over again I agree boycott peach on Fridays people or put something fresh and new preferably Australina On Fridays

  15. That makes 2 hours instead of 2 and a half hours of FTA TV I will be watching from July 26 now! Hopefully it’s only for a few months until the UK catch up.

    1. I hope so too Bruce. Once the UK catch up I can’t imagine why 10 would keep it at 4 episodes per week. Home and Away airs 4 times a week but the Thursday episode is a triple episode or sometimes a double episode. Fingers crossed in a few months they go back to 5 episodes per week.

  18. I think this is a shame. I liked watching Neighbours 5 days a week.
    Hopefully once the UK are caught up and in line with Aus episodes then they can go back to 5 episodes a week.

    1. I would say that the popularity of Neighbours in the UK is what keeps the production of this soap going, that’s why it’s surprising the UK would need to catch up at all, fast tracking shows is commonplace now.

      1. Hey JamieL.

        Yeah I am surprised the UK is behind too. Their following of Neighbours is so much more than Australia.

        But surely Neighbours could find a way to air more episodes in UK without having to reduce the episode amount in Australia.

        Surely there could have been a way to make it happen without punishing us Australians.

  19. They should put repeats on the 10 main channel during day like they did a couple years back. I will not be tuning in to 10 peach on Fridays everyone should do the same until they bring it back to Fridays

  20. I am one of around 20 people who still watch Neighbours on a regular basis, and am surprised, but understandable, to why this is done. It will get some time to get used to having it only 4 nights a week.

    1. Agreed – it’s airtime that Peach should be using to showcase fresh content.

      Like Becker. Or Frasier. Or Everybody Loves Raymond. Or The Unicorn. Or 2 Broke Girls. Or…

    2. I do – I absolutely love it and I’ve seen every episode countless times. I can’t be the only one who watches it or they wouldn’t keep it on the lineup.

  22. This is absolutely stupid, don’t punish Australian viewers because Channel 5 made a dumb decision and never bothered to play catch up. Now with MasterChef over, it seems I’ll only be viewing the 10 channels for Neighbours and nothing else.

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