Home and Away - Just the facts

Home & Away (commonly abbreviated to H&A) is an Australian weeknightly half-hour television soap opera that has been produced in Sydney by Seven Network since July 1987. The show first went to air on Sunday 17 January 1988 with a two hour pilot & from then it premiered as a weeknightly program the night after on Monday 18 January 1988 at 6 p.m. before Seven News which then aired at 6:30 p.m.. H & A has also aired at the 6:30 p.m. timeslot however from 1992 the 7 p.m. slot has been its stable time.

The show is broadcast on the Seven Network & its affiliates from Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. in Australia & is exported to many countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Estonia, France, Norway & many Asian countries.

When the show began in January 1988 ratings were low but soon improved & gradually the show's popularity grew. Originally H&A focused primarily on Pippa & Tom who ran the Summer Bay Caravan Park & lived there with a succession of foster children, but eventually the show's focus broadened to focus on the lives & loves of the inhabitants of the rest of Summer Bay.

In 1985, Seven Network axed the poor rating soap Neighbours; they continued producing that series for its remaining contract, ultimately producing 170 episodes. However Seven Network was unaware that Network Ten, a rival television network, was in talks with the production team to air the soap on their network in 1986.

When Neighbours returned, on Ten, in 1986, it initially attracted low ratings. The Network worked hard to publicise Neighbours by revamping the show & adding several new, younger cast members, & they launched a concerted publicity drive largely focused on these new actors. This paid off for Neighbours & its popularity grew; by the end of 1987 it was attracting high ratings in Australia. In October 1986, Neighbours started being broadcast in the UK, where it began to attract strong viewing figures. From about 1988 to 1991 Neighbours was regually watched by 20 million viewers in the UK.

In late 1986 the Seven Network’s head of drama at the time Alan Bateman was tasked with creating a pilot for a soap opera that was in no way a copy of Neighbours. Bateman soon found his inspiration when he stopped in Kangaroo Point, New South Wales on a family outing. Chatting to locals Bateman discovered that the townspeople were angered over the construction of a home for foster children from the city. Seeing the degree of conflict the plan for the new youth centre had produced within the community, Bateman recognised the drama that could be generated by this situation & began to develop it as the basis for the new soap opera.

List of Home & Away characters & List of cast members of Home & Away
Actor Role Status
Nicholas Bishop Peter Baker 2006-
Holly Brisley Amanda Vale 2005-
Tim Campbell Dan Baker 2004-
Lyn Collingwood Colleen Smart 1999-
Indiana Evans Matilda Hunter 2004-
Mark Furze Ric Dalby 2004-
Jodi Gordon Martha Holden 2005-
Chris Hemsworth Kim Hyde 2004-
Amy Mathews Dr. Rachel Hyde 2006-
Lynne McGranger Irene Roberts 1993-
Ray Meagher Alf Stewart 1988-
Bobby Morley Drew Curtis 2006-
Ada Nicodemou Leah Patterson-Baker 2000-
Paul O'Brien Jack Holden 2005-
Kate Ritchie Sally Fletcher 1988-
Chris Sadrinna Brad Armstrong 2006-
Jon Sivewright Tony Holden 2005-
Jessica Tovey Belle Taylor 2006-
Sharni Vinson Cassie Turner 2005-
Rhys Wakefield Lucas Holden 2005-

Recurring cast members
Actor Role
Alexa Ashton Kelli Vale
Isaac Gorman Ryan Baker
Rebecca George Const. Lara Fitzgerald
Kim Knuckey Sgt. Darren McGrath
Amy Mizzi Kit Hunter
Cooper Scott VJ Patterson

Comings & Goings
Actor Role Status
Danny Raco Alex Poulos Returns May 2007

Locations
Aside from the residents' houses Summer Bay has several well-known locations including:

Spoiler warning: Plot & /or ending details follow.

The Surf Club - As with many real life Australian beaches Summer Bay has its own Surf & Lifesaving Centre. Over the years as well as serving its purpose as a centre for sea & land rescues it has been a place for the young people of the Bay to relax & socialise. Town meetings are often held in the Surf Club. It has also been used as a polling station & a private party/formal venue & has housed various food outlets. Several characters have been trained as lifeguards over the years & surf competitions take place occasionally.
Noah's Bar - Located in & joined to the Surf Club. Originally intended to be a business venture between newly-weds Noah Lawson & Hayley Lawson, the bar was renamed after Noah's tragic death & changed hands after Hayley's move to France with Scott Hunter. The only known licensed premises regularly shown on the show, it is also used for private functions. Beth, Tony & Alf run the bar.
Summer Bay Super Bods - The gym is also located next to the Surf Club. Currently owned by Amanda Vale, & run by Tony Holden & Kim Hyde. Previous employees include Jesse McGregor, & Hayley Lawson.
The Bayside Diner - More commonly known simply as The Diner. Originally owned by Bobby Simpson & her best friend & aunt Ailsa Stewart, currently by Leah Patterson-Baker & Irene Roberts, although Alf still owns half the building, with Leah owning the other half. It was gutted by fire in 2000 due to Colleen Smart pouring a drum of oil, which she mistook for water, on a raging fire. The diner was forced to move location. Above is a two-bedroomed flat where Martha currently lives. The Diner is the first port of call for any residents of the Bay who wish to have a "choccy milkshake", laid-back dinner or take-away.
Summer Bay High - The local co-ed high school. It is also used as an evacuation centre in extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes & has been the scene of a hostage situation. Most of the younger characters attend the school, & many of the adult characters have worked there as principals, teachers, admin staff & counsellors. These include Donald Fisher, Sally Fletcher, Irene Roberts, Amanda Vale, Tony Holden, Shauna Bradley, Brad Armstrong, Dan Baker & Noah Lawson.
The Beach - The beach is an important part of the Bay & several major storylines have revolved around it. It is the main outdoor location, often used for casual encounters between characters. It also serves to showcase the looks of the cast, who are often seen wearing beachwear. There is a small salt-water swimming pool at one end of the beach which is used occasionally.
The Police Station - Since the Zoe McAllistar saga began Summer Bay Police Station has been an increasingly popular setting for scenes. Peter Baker & regular character PC Jack Holden work there. Former officers include Nick Parrish,Joel Nash, Kim Mitchell, Detective Inspector Mike Carter & PC Pia Corelli. Other police officials are recurring characters (PC Lara "Fitzy" Fitzgerald, PC Ashton Nader, Detective Ken Harper & Senior Constable Darren McGrath) & regular viewers will know of their simple but recognisable characteristics, i.e. good cop, bad cop.
Northern Districts Hospital - Illnesses, accidents & emergencies have seen many characters brought to the hospital for treatment. Current hospital employees include characters Dr. Rachel Armstrong, Nurse Julie Cooper & physiotherapist Samantha Tolhurst. Former hospital employees include Dr. Charlotte Adams, Dr. Lachlan Fraser, the late Dr. Flynn Saunders & Dr. Kelly Watson.

Production & broadcast schedule
The show is filmed five days a week for 46 weeks of the year. The crew is given a four week holiday at Christmas & a two week break for recuperation mid-year. A normal shooting day is 7:00am to 6:00pm, but can go later if shooting goes over time. There are an average of 8 weeks between shooting & airing the program. The interior shots are filmed at a permanent set for the show in Seven Sydney's Epping studio. The exterior scenes are filmed on location at Palm Beach & at Long Reef Beach in Sydney's Northern Beaches region. Filming normally takes place early in the week here.

Australian broadcasts

Jodi Gordon & Ben Guernens during filmingH&A is broadcast in Australia on weekdays at 7:00 p.m.. The show airs for 46 weeks each year (except for occasions where worldwide events take priority such as tennis & Olympic Games). Each new season begins on the second Monday in January (an exception to this was the 2006 season where it returned on the third Monday), & the season finale airs on the last Friday of the ratings period (usually the last Friday in November, although was not the case in 2006 as it was aired on the first Friday of December). The show rates very well in its timeslot, receiving between 1.1 & 1.5 million viewers per episode. The show's main rival is Temptation on the Nine Network, which usually comes second in this timeslot. In this timeslot Network Ten screens, at various times of the year, programs such as the Big Brother Australia Daily Show, The Biggest Loser, or repeats of The Simpsons, which usually come third in ratings behind networks Seven & Nine.

During the broadcast there are three ad-breaks & immediately following the broadcast of each episode is a short promotional trailer for the next episode.

Repeat episodes of the series were broadcast between 1999 & 2002, with a one-year break in 2000. The first 623 episodes (except for Episode 469, which was overlooked when Seven were showing the tennis in September 2001) were shown in this run, before it was taken off in May 2002, & so far has never returned. Restrictions due to contracts with actors who appeared in the early days of the series prevent the Seven Network from showing repeats of H&A, or releasing DVD sets.

United Kingdom
The show has more overall viewers in the larger UK market than it has in its home market, but a higher proportion of viewers in Australia due to Australia's smaller population. All ITV regions showed the same episode each day however it was shown at different times, with the first opportunity to watch normally at lunchtime, followed by a teatime screening.

UK regions have historically had different timeslots for the programme. Most regions aired it at 5.10pm, however Central & Anglia originally showed it at 6.35pm, later 6pm. Thames & Granada then moved the show from 5.10pm to 6pm, Border at 6.30pm, TSW at 3.25pm, before their successor Westcountry Television moved the series to 5.10pm in 1993. At one point the TSW region screened it at 1.20pm with a repeat of the same episode at 3.25pm (1991). All regions screened at 5pm from March 1999.

In the UK episode from 1993 onwards were sometimes censored for content. Two episodes were dropped in their entirety, one due to similarities to the Dunblane massacre, another due to similarities to the James Bulger kidnap.

In 2000, episodes aired in the UK were aired only one week previously in Australia.

The shift in the UK from ITV in June 2000 to Five damaged the program's ratings; contract obligations kept it off air in the UK for a year (although episodes from 1997 were broadcast on ITV2) & the smaller audience share Five has is believed to contribute to the show achieving ratings significantly lower than those it enjoyed on ITV. Five funds more than half of the production costs, & it is officially Five's second highest rated show.

As of 2006, in the UK, the show is broadcast weekdays at 6:00 p.m., (repeated 12.00pm the following weekday) on Five. The following episode is broadcast at 6.30 p.m. on Five's digital sister channel Five Life. Five life will also air 4pm replays weekdaily as from february 2007. There was rumours of classic episodes from the past being shown on Five Life, however this is not the case.

In accordance with European Union regulations for shows of this time-length, only one advertisement break is inserted into the programme at approximately the halfway point. An omnibus edition aired on Saturday mornings when that week's episodes were all repeated. As of October 2005, there was no airing of the omnibus, however Five life, a brand new channel, started aired the omnibus as of October 2006.

Home & Away was first aired on Five on 2001-07-16. At this stage it was fifty weeks (250 episodes) behind Australia. Due to the breaks in transmission in Australia, it has been catching up in the UK ever since & is currently only eleven weeks behind. It is believed that by December 2008 that both the UK & Ireland will have caught up fully with Australian episodes (this is not the case for New Zealand as they too take their summer break at this time)

The deal between the channels was reached on February 24, 2000.

Five scheduling
Monday to Friday 12.30pm-1.00pm (repeat of day before's episode. This was from July 2001-December 2005. The only exception to this was the night before Home & away launched officially on Five, Five broadcast a recap episode featuring Sally Fletcher & Leah Patterson-Baker this aired from 12.30pm-1.30pm the next day)

Indiana Evans, Mark Furze & the crew during filmingMonday to Friday 12.00noon-12.30pm (repeat of the day before's episode) This was from January 2006 until the present. This means the repeat screens 1 hour & 40 minutes before the new episode of rival soap Neighbours screens on BBC ONE from 1.40pm-2.05pm (or occasionally 1.45pm-2.10pm) however, unlike Neighbours Home & away screens in the UK EVERY WEEK DAY (sometimes Saturday's as well) because the BBC sometimes shifts Neighbours onto BBC 2 for the lunchtime slot or both its daily slots & sometimes it doesn't show because its Christmas Bank Holiday New Year etc. Whereas Home & away does normally screen on Christmas Day & New Year's Eve. This however was not the case when it aired on ITV when it did a similar thing the BBC was doing to Neighbours.

Monday to Friday 6.00pm-6.30pm. The Nightly episode new to analogue viewers (as of October 2006. Before then it was New to the UK altogether.) Screens straight after BBC One repeats Neighbours from 5.35pm to the 6pm News Hour. The only two exceptions to this are in early 2005 there was a football match so H&A screened its new episode between 3.15pm & 3.45pm as a one off. However recently on Valentines day 2007 the episode was screened between 7.30pm & 8.00pm. This was the only time Home & Away has ever clashed with a soap rival Coronation Street on Terrestrial Television in the UK. The Only Time Home & Away was screened for an hour was on Sunday July 15th 2001 between 6pm & 7pm. This was the night before Home & Away was officially launched on Channel Five.

Between July 2001 & October 2005, Channel Five screened Home & away Omnibus on Saturday's. To start with it was 2.30pm-5.00pm in the afternoon. Then it moved to 11.30am-2.00pm until it moved to its earliest ever timeslot in the UK in 2004 until 2005 between 7.55am & 10.00am.

Then it repeats episodes from 2 days previous days at 4pm (4 hours after Five repeats the same episode) Then at 6.30pm Monday-Friday it airs the episode that will air the next day/week on Five at the 6pm slot.

On Saturdays it has revived its omnibus & seems to have a rather fixed time- 11.45am-2.00pm & the 1.35pm-2.00pm airs the episode that will next air on Five too. Weirdly this is how the episodes air on Five Life's Schedule

Five Life = Monday- Friday {remember this is the day before Five] this will Equal Five= Tuesday- Friday then the next Monday's episode. Confusing isn't it? This is the same with other UK rival soap Hollyoaks which clashes with the 6.30pm show but the next episode follows after Home & away's new one on E4 at 7.00pm the time New episodes of Neighbours could air on the BBC The BBC are thinking about airing first-look Neighbours on its sister channel BBC Three. Home & away is also aired on Five Life on Saturday Mornings for 135 minutes (2 hours 15 minutes) from 11.45am-2.00pm when the week's episodes have been repeated (in the same Tuesday-Friday, Monday format, for some apparent reason)

ITV regional scheduling
ITV Region Programme Schedule Pattern AXED IN ALL ITV REGIONS IN JUNE 2000 AS SERIES RIGHTS LOST TO FIVE
Start Date Daytime Times Screened Evening Times Screened
Central Television Saturday, 11 February 1989 at 5.00 p.m. 11.00 daily from June 1989. 11.00 moves to 12.30 in September 1989. From 17 January 1991 the 12.30 episode switches to 13.20 then ??? Mondays to Fridays 18.35, then 18.00, then 17.00
Yorkshire Television (YTV) as Central as Central Mondays to Fridays 17.10 then 17.00
Granada Television as Central as Central Mondays to Fridays 17.10 then 18.00 then back to 17.10 then back to 18.00 then 17.00
Television South (TVS) as Central as Central repeated from 17.10 17.35 until winter 1999 when it aired at the slightly earlier time of 17.00 until it got axed.
Television South West (TSW) as Central as Central Mondays to Fridays 17.10 then 15.25 in 1991 & 1992 (only 95 minutes after the end of screening 1) then 18.30 then 17.10 then 17.00
Channel Television As TVS As TVS As TVS
Thames Television as Central as Central as STV although Friday episodes remained at 17.10 while Monday to Thursday was 18.00
Anglia Television as Central as Central as Central
Tyne Tees Television as Central as Central as Yorkshire
Scottish Television (STV) as Central as Central Mondays to Fridays 17.10 then 18.00 then 17.00
Grampian Television as Central as Central as Yorkshire
HTV Wales as Central as Central as Yorkshire
HTV West as Central as Central as Yorkshire
Border Television as Central as Central as Yorkshire until late 1990s then 18.30
Ulster Television as Central as Central as Yorkshire

Other international broadcasts

The Beach & Stewarts PointIn New Zealand, the show used to be broadcast on TV One, later TV 2 but now screens on TV3 on weekdays at 5:30pm, (repeated 10:30am on weekdays & an omnibus airs on Sundays at 10:15am). 1995 episodes were briefly shown on Prime TV at 3:30pm weekdays. NZ is 7 weeks behind Australia.

In Ireland, the national state broadcaster RTE has shown the programme since its inception. It has continually been a highly popular show, that has attracted a very wide & loyal fan base. The show is broadcast weekdays at 1:25pm on RTÉ One & repeated at 6:30pm on RTÉ Two regularly getting into the top 5 ratings for that week. It is approximately three months behind Australia. The show is now also repeated on RTÉ Two on Saturdays & Sundays (subject to no live sport etc.) with two episodes on Saturday & three on Sunday. Also on one occasion a double-episode was shown on a Friday.

Estonia is quite behind various other countries. Currently episodes from 2003 are shown on Kanal 2 every weekday at 6:30pm. In summertime (June-August), two episodes are shown instead of one. Other countries that broadcast Home & Away include: Belgium on Kanaal Twee with a double broadcast on weekdays; Denmark; Iceland; Israel; Lithuania; Norway; Poland; Serbia; South Africa; Sweden; France.

The series is also broadcast in the following countries via the Australia Network: American Samoa; Cambodia; Cook Islands; East Timor; Federated States of Micronesia; Fiji; French Polynesia; Guam; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kiribati; Laos; Macau; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Mongolia; Niue; Northern Mariana Islands; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Samoa; Singapore; Solomon Islands; South Korea; Sri Lanka; Taiwan; Thailand; Tonga; Vanuatu; Vietnam.

Popularity
H&A has seen a resurgence in popularity since 2003, beginning with the Angela Russell storyline. The "Summer Bay Stalker" storyline in 2005 was another storyline that was wildly successful, attracting many new viewers to the show. The Stalker storyline was brought back in 2006, ending with an explosion at the wedding of couple Jack Holden & Martha Mackenzie. The show also started airing more risky material in 2006 with storylines including drug use, violence & family love triangles, which proved to be popular with audience & a few times pushed the show which is normally rated G into a PG rating. Television programs are not rated in the UK, but episodes that originally aired in 2001 have been released on DVDs there.

The show has often broken in to the weekly top ten most watched shows in Australia according to OzTam. The success of the show was seen at the Logie Awards of 2006 with the soap's actors winning many awards & Home & Away winning the award for outstanding Australian drama series.

The 2006 season finale aired 2006-12-01 & attracted a total audience of 1,220,000, making it the fifth most watched show in Australia on the day & the most watched soap on the day.

In 2007, the British sketch show Man Stroke Woman preformed a sketch where the characters sing the theme tune to Home & Away on a London Bus.

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