Home and Away: Where and When to Watch the Long-running Australian Soap

Introduction: Why home and away matters

Home and Away is a long-running Australian television soap opera that chronicles the lives, loves and heartbreaks of residents in the fictional coastal town of Summer Bay. Its scheduling and international distribution make it a staple of weekday viewing for many audiences. Understanding when and how the series is broadcast is important for viewers, media analysts and fans who follow storylines across different markets.

Main details: Broadcast times, seasons and scheduling

Australian broadcast

In Australia, home and away airs on the Seven Network at 7:00 pm from Monday to Thursday. The programme runs for approximately 45 weeks each year, providing a near-continuous flow of episodes across most of the calendar. In its primetime slot, the show competes with rival current affairs and news-format programmes such as A Current Affair on the Nine Network and The Project on Network Ten.

United Kingdom and other markets

In the UK, Channel 5 began airing new episodes of home and away at 6:00 pm, with a repeat the following day at 12:30 pm. The UK broadcast calendar typically sees a new season start in late February or early March. Each year the series takes an annual Christmas break in mid-November before a season has been completed; the remaining episodes of that season are then broadcast from early January.

Controversies and content standards

The show’s content and scheduling have at times raised questions about suitability in different markets. Notably, a 2010 episode featuring the characters Martha McKenzie and Liam Murphy (played by Axle Whitehead) in a sexual scene on a kitchen table was judged “too raunchy” by a television watchdog in New Zealand, where the series was being shown in a G-rated timeslot at the time. The incident highlights how regulatory standards and timeslot classifications can affect how episodes are received internationally.

Conclusion: What viewers should take away

Home and away remains a key fixture of Australian popular culture and weekday television, with established broadcast patterns both domestically and abroad. For viewers, checking local listings is the most reliable way to find current air times, as scheduling can vary by territory. The series’ international distribution and occasional content disputes underline the differing expectations and rules that apply across markets, a continuing consideration for broadcasters and audiences alike.