Home and Away will return to Australian screens on Monday 31st January, it has been confirmed today.
The show will return on Monday, January 31st, according to a new promo presently showing on Seven, which is 9 1/2 weeks after the show took its yearly vacation.
Each year in Australia, the show takes a summer vacation since Seven devotes much of its early evening schedule to Big Bash League cricket.
It also takes a hiatus during the Christmas season in the UK, but British audiences won’t have to wait long for the show to return, as it will premiere on Channel 5 at 2 p.m. on Monday, January 3rd, and on 5STAR at 6 p.m. on Monday, January 3rd. The afternoon broadcast will resume at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4th.
There is plenty of action in store when the show returns to Aussie shores at the end of the month.
After Chloe (Sam Barrett) whacked him over the head with a rock, Mia (Anna Samson) frantically drove out of Summer Bay with newcomer Matthew’s (James Sweeny) body in the back of her car. Unfortunately for Mia, her uneasiness drew Cash’s (Nicholas Cartwright) notice, and he pulled her over.
She sped off in a panic, and the resulting police chase is expected to be how the new season begins.
Cash and a number of other cops soon catch up with her, and Cash swiftly discovers the body in the back of the car, according to a new trailer. Mia begs Ari to save her from the police station; will he be able to find a way to get her and Chloe out of prison?
When the program resumes, Ryder (Lukas Radovich) is also in jeopardy. He and Theo (Matt Evans) had been preparing for yet another challenge — this time, Ryder would be buried underground for five hours, live streaming the suffering to their thousands of followers.
Unfortunately, Theo stumbled and fell, knocking himself out, which means no one will be able to help Ryder when we return to Summer Bay.
Will someone find the pair in time?
Thankfully, both boys appear to have survived. Late this year, Courtney Miller (Bella) shared a clip of a script on Instagram, showing her character playing poker with Ryder and Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo). Matt Evans (Theo) has also been seen filming in recent months, implying that Theo will be staying in the Bay for some time.
Just how the boys manage to escape their predicament remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, while Ryder will survive his journey underground, it appears that he will not be staying in Summer Bay for long.
After photographs on Instagram appeared to show actor Lukas Radovich filming a parting sequence, we speculated in late November that he might be leaving Home and Away.
Georgie Parker (Roo) shared a photo on her Instagram story of Ryder at Summer Bay House, with balloons in the living room, compass decorations hanging from the archway, and a giant banner that says ‘Bon Voyage’ pointing away from the camera.
Georgie followed up with a shot of herself in a heartfelt embrace with her on-screen nephew, clearly captured during filming the same scene as above. Is it time to bid Ryder farewell?
Ryder’s possible departure isn’t the only one we’ll be saying goodbye to in 2022. Jasmine (Sam Frost) and Cash were one of the most popular couples in the second half of last year, but it doesn’t appear that they’ll be together forever.
Sam Frost will leave Home and Away in early 2022 owing to a medical procedure, as we previously reported. However, it was announced in mid-December that Sam would be quitting the show entirely, with Jasmine being written off.
Her farewell scenes were shot on the last day of filming for the year, and her character is set to leave in June 2022.
After her departure, it’s believed that a number of rewrites were required, and paparazzi photos from Palm Beach show her character looking happy as she films alongside Nicholas Cartwright (Cash), Jacqui Purvis (Felicity), and Kirsty Marillier, who plays newcomer Rose, implying that Jazzie is leaving on good terms with her boyfriend and his sister.
Rose is one of two new characters set to appear on Home and Away in the new year, according to reports. She’ll be joined by Xander, who will be played by Chris Hemsworth’s cousin Luke Van Os and is billed as “a strange individual who arrives in the Bay searching for answers.”
It’s also been said that he’s a relative of one of Summer Bay’s most popular characters. The characters of Xander and Rose have been seen in a number of moments with Jasmine, Cash, and Felicity in paparazzi images from Palm Beach, leading us to suspect that Xander will be linked to either Jasmine or the Newman siblings.
In keeping with the newcomer theme, Logan (Harley Bonner) is in for a blast from the past in the new year, when a mysterious blonde arrives in town looking for him.
“Hey stranger,” she says in the promo for 2022, as she walks up behind Logan near the beach.
He looks startled as he turned around, before saying “it is you!”
While we don’t know much about this newcomer, she appears to be on her way to getting into legal trouble, as another clip shows her dashing over the grass with Cash close behind.
Who is she, and how did she come to know Logan?
In the new year, she isn’t the only lady vying for Logan’s attention. Despite the fact that he’s now in love with Mackenzie (Emily Weir), paparazzi images from earlier this year show him kissing someone else!
Melissa Bonne plays Neve Spicer, the mysterious woman. We have no idea who she is, whether she’s a long-lost relative of Logan’s or a newbie to the seaside town, but we don’t expect Mac to be thrilled when the newcomer begins kissing her boyfriend.
All evidence point to his being engaged with both women at the same time, as Emily Weir and Harley Bonner were photographed filming kissing scenes just days before Harley was spotted filming similarly intimate moments with the unknown newcomer. Mac is in such a bad way!
Salvatore Coco, who played Dimitri Poulos on the show, is slated to return at some time in the new year.
Dimitri Poulos, the eldest of the Poulos siblings, last appeared on the show in 2005, when he attended Leah Baker’s wedding to Dan Baker (Tim Campbell).
Despite the fact that there hasn’t been much mention of Dimitri since then, the recent arrival of his son Theo (Matt Evans) has brought his name back to viewers’ consciousness.
Salvatore confirmed that he was filming something new in October with an Instagram photo, but when prodded by his fans for details, he remained tight-lipped. Fans of Home and Away, on the other hand, would recognize the peculiar surroundings of Sydney’s Palm Beach from the shot.
Salvatore’s reappearance was confirmed when a fan tweeted a photo from the beach of him on set with Lynne McGranger (Irene) and Harley Bonner (Logan), confirming his homecoming.
We’re curious to see what events will lead Dimitri back to the bay after nearly 17 years, and whether father and son will reconcile, since that he appears to have washed his hands of Theo.
We expect these sequences to debut in April 2022, depending on how Seven schedules the show.
Is there going to be another farewell? The cast filmed a scene in the Paratas’ garden in October that appeared to depict a wake.
James Stewart (Justin), Sam Frost (Jasmine), Shane Withington (John), and Nicholas Cartwright (Cash) were all dressed in black in a short clip shared on Instagram, as a number of extras stood around in similarly dark and solemn attire.
The fact that it was shot in the Parata garden drastically reduces the number of potential departees. With Anna Sampson (Mia), Kawakawa Fox-Reo (Nikau), Ethan Browne (Tane), and Courtney Miller (Bella) all spotted filming in recent months, fans are more persuaded that Ari (Rob Kipa-Williams) will be leaving the show in 2022.
Read our whole 2022 Spoilers post for much more information on what’s coming up in 2022, as we deconstruct all we know.
You can expect:
- Battles to survive
- New arrivals
- A death?
- The shock kiss
- Inside Home and Away star Tai Hara’s exciting new gig on Underbelly
- Guess who this Home And Away cutie is! Do you recognize the star in this childhood throwback?
- Marilyn’s most iconic moments on Home and Away
- Another Home and Away on-set friendship? Ethan Browne and Jacqui Purvis gush over each other on set
