While Neighbours is losing some popular characters, the return of old favourites should help pacify fans of the Aussie soap.
Show veteran Ian Smith (Harold) recently announced his semi-retirement from the show and at least five of the younger cast members are set to leave in the coming months, having already filmed their final scenes.
Softening the blow for viewers are the much anticipated returns of two well loved characters - Joan Sydney as Valda and Kym Valentine as Libby.
Neighbours also moves home next month. After twenty years on BBC1 the show makes its highly publicised move to five.
When it was first announced that five had bought the UK rights to screen Neighbours some TV insiders claimed it would lead to a fall in viewers for the Aussie soap, but a recent poll on The Soap Show website indicates that the vast majority of fans plan to follow the show to its new home.
The BBC may have lost a long-running staple of its daytime line-up but there is good news for the channel too. Medical drama Doctors is settling into Neighbours old afternoon slot on BBC1, and the Beeb's newly commissioned Aussie soap Out of the Blue, which starts filming in Australia this month, is keenly anticipated by viewers looking forward to another Antipodean serial to get hooked on.
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