Home and Away is now off air until 2021 on Channel 5

 The show takes its annual break.

Home and Away fans in the UK will have to cope without their fix of Summer Bay action on Channel 5 over the next few weeks.

The popular daytime soap has disappeared from the schedules from today (November 23) in order to take its annual festive break.

Every year, Home and Away goes off air on Channel 5 in the run-up to Christmas in order to maintain a gap with the Australian broadcasts.

The final UK episode of the year aired on 5STAR last Thursday (November 19) and on Channel 5 on Friday (November 20).

This ended on a cliffhanger, as Dean Thompson (Patrick O'Connor) made the impulsive decision to snatch his young son Jai Simmons after fearing that he'd lose access to the youngster.

The show is not expected to return until January, but an official date for this won't be confirmed until nearer the time.

Channel 5 is forced to take an annual break as Home and Away doesn't air all-year-round in Australia either. It traditionally airs enough episodes to stay on Channel 5 for 46 weeks of the year, although even fewer episodes than usual were screened in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show will also be taking a break in Australia imminently too, with a 90-minute season finale episode scheduled in on Channel 7 for Monday, November 30.

Fellow Aussie soap Neighbours is still on air as usual, but the lunchtime episode has now moved to the earlier timeslot of 1pm.

Channel 5 will be airing festive films in the afternoon in the run-up to Christmas, while Home and Away's 6pm slot has been taken by repeats of Friends.