Neighbours’ boss Ben Frow shares an update on future of Home & Away

WHEN Channel 5 boss Ben Frow announced that they would no longer fund Neighbours, devastated fans were concerned he’d axed fellow Aussie soap Home & Away.

But the media manager has now shared an update on the second soap.

And he’s confirmed that it’s here to stay.

When asked if Home & Away was for the axe, he replied: “No. I think it will be interesting to see what we do with it as we evolve.”

He added in the chat with Radio Times: “There might be somewhere else to put it in the Channel 5 spectrum.

“But it’s a life-of-series deal, so it’s not going anywhere until the makers decide to cancel it.”

Neighbours was axed because Channel 5 put forward the majority of funding towards production.

Its makers FremantleMedia could not secure a new backer so were forced to call time on the soap.

Ben said: “I could spend the money on other things, which is what I decided to do.

“I can better spend the Neighbours money on UK shows.”

The news left fans devastated, but the countdown to the long-running soap’s finale on July 29 is now on.

Home and Away began three years’ after Neighbours and follows the lives and loves of the residents in Summer Bay, a fictional seaside town in New South Wales.

It was originally inspired by creator Alan Bateman’s visit to Kangaroo Point in the region, where he noticed that noticed locals were complaining about the construction of a foster home and against the idea of foster children from the city living in the area.

The soap airs in over eighty countries across the globe and, just like Neighbours, spawned a galaxy of stars including Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fisher and Heath Ledger.