Following off-screen scheduling modifications, the Channel 5 episodes of Neighbours are now officially set in the future.
The latest Ramsay Street action wasn’t in line with the UK broadcast date, according to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment from Monday’s episode.
Zara Selwyn (Freya Van Dyke) continued her efforts to impress her pals Sadie Rodwell (Emerald Chan) and Aubrey Laing during her most recent visit to Erinsborough (Etoile Little).
Zara continued to falsely pretend that she has a romantic relationship with Hendrix Greyson as she sent texts to her classmates (Ben Turland).
This included changing her mother’s name on her phone to make it appear that Hendrix had given her a nice message.
The in-universe date was discovered to be Wednesday, February 23 by a brief glance at Zara’s phone.
Today’s UK episode will air on this day in Australia, which currently only shows four episodes per week.
Fans may have also noticed that, unlike previous years, there was no mention of Valentine’s Day in the episode, despite the fact that characters celebrate the holiday on screen.
In Australia, Neighbours has continued to air four episodes each week this year, while Channel 5 has continued to air five.
As a result, the UK broadcasts are progressively catching up to the Australian broadcasts.
With the gap widening, it’s unclear whether episodes will continue to be scheduled around Australian airdates, or if specific dates will be dropped entirely in the future weeks.
Home and Away, another Australian soap, rarely mentions dates, and they aren’t displayed on the phones of the characters.
Neighbours will be withdrawn from Channel 5’s schedule in August, according to a statement released earlier this month. As a result, the show’s future without a UK broadcast partner is questionable.
“Neighbours will no longer air on Channel 5 beyond this summer,” a Channel 5 spokesperson informed Digital Spy. We’d like to congratulate the cast, Fremantle, and the entire production crew for their amazing work on this landmark series, which has been a much-loved part of our schedule for more than a decade.
“We’d also of course like to thank the fans for their loyal support of Neighbours across the years. We recognize that there will be disappointed about this decision, however, our current focus is on increasing our investment in original UK drama, which has strong appeal for our viewers.”
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