Neighbours to air in UK ahead of Australia in new scheduling change

 Fans Down Under will fall behind.

The long-running soap is shifting to a three-episodes-per-week schedule in Australia, but there's no similar move planned by Amazon for UK and US viewers.

Late last week, Neighbours' Australian broadcaster Channel 10 confirmed that episodes will only air on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the rest of the year.

This means that the regular Thursday broadcast has been dropped as a temporary measure.

A Channel 10 spokesperson told Australian site TV Tonight: "From Monday, 14 October through to Wednesday, 18 December, Neighbours will air three times a week (Monday to Wednesday at 4pm on 10 and 10 Play and 6.30pm on 10 Peach Comedy).

"In 2025, your favourite Ramsay Street residents will return to screens four times a week from Monday to Thursday."

 approached Amazon to ask if a similar schedule change is planned for the UK and a spokesperson replied: "We will continue to be airing four episodes a week through the end of the year."

The news means that Amazon's airings will pull ahead of the Australian broadcasts by a rate of one episode per week over the next couple of months.

Channel 10's statement does indicate that a Christmas break is scheduled on Australian screens from December 18, but it's currently unclear whether Amazon has similar plans.

If broadcasts on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee take a longer Christmas break, this would put both countries back in line from 2025. However, if this doesn't happen, Amazon could stay ahead on a longer-term basis.

Neighbours episodes previously aired in the UK ahead of Australia for much of 2022, which was the final year on Channel 5.

Australia's Channel 10 later scheduled in extra episodes to get back ahead in time for the star-studded 2022 series finale, which featured the returns of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce.

Since Neighbours returned to screens in 2023, both countries have aired episodes on the same day and fans had praised the efforts to keep the Neighbours community united in watching the storylines unfold together.