Does the show need an injection of life, if so, then what?

[Gerard]

15 hours ago, adam436 said:

I wonder why viewers dropped off - we did have a bit of cast turnover around 1996 (likely airing in 1997 in the UK?) with characters like Shane, Angel, Michael and Jack going and a bunch of newcomers like Casey, Steph, Joey Liam, Rebecca, Jesse etc.

Home and Away was massively popular in the UK in the early to mid 1990's, and I really think 1992-1996 were particularly strong in terms of characters and storylines. 1995-mid 1996 was probably, in my opinion, peak H&A. The music on the show was also really good back then, and although production values are much better these days, everything else has changed mostly not for the better.

I think things started to slide following the departures of some of the popular characters, who were replaced by characters who never became so well loved. The mid 90s had strong older characters like Pippa, Michael, Alf, Ailsa, Donald, Irene, and I think a strong younger cast including Shane, Angel, Marilyn and Steven (who both returned), Curtis, Shannon, Selina, Jack, Damien, Chloe etc. Once these characters left over the next few years, their replacements and the storylines were never quite as good. The mid-90s also featured a strong run of family and issue-based storylines, along with a good mix of humour, and exciting disasters such as the bushfire, flood, earthquake. Maybe too much in a short period of time, but it was all so engaging back then. In the late 90's the storylines all became a bit surreal, like the cult and "psychic connections", but at least retained many of the older cast. The early 2000's saw a huge turnover in cast and the show was never really the same. This also coincided with the move to Channel 5 and the year long hiatus. 

From the mid 90's ITV also cut the closing credits and censored many scenes they considered unsuitable for younger viewers. Unfortunately much of what they cut was also the most exciting scenes, and likely did more harm than good as far as viewing figures were concerned.

The current series is barely recognisable in comparison. I wonder if there is anyone who watched through that "golden era" of the early years who prefers the modern day show.

 

[CaptainHulk]

Ironically Neighbours was in its Renaissance period in 1997. Still regularly in the top 10 on bbc1.

ITV made some pretty stupid cuts to H&A for the TAMEST material. 

Weirdly some people on Socials prefer it now minus the school and fostering element (baffling, I know)

Edited February 24 by CaptainHulk

[adam436]

On 23/02/2026 at 01:19, Gerard said:

I think things started to slide following the departures of some of the popular characters, who were replaced by characters who never became so well loved. The mid 90s had strong older characters like Pippa, Michael, Alf, Ailsa, Donald, Irene, and I think a strong younger cast including Shane, Angel, Marilyn and Steven (who both returned), Curtis, Shannon, Selina, Jack, Damien, Chloe etc. Once these characters left over the next few years, their replacements and the storylines were never quite as good. The mid-90s also featured a strong run of family and issue-based storylines, along with a good mix of humour, and exciting disasters such as the bushfire, flood, earthquake. Maybe too much in a short period of time, but it was all so engaging back then. In the late 90's the storylines all became a bit surreal, like the cult and "psychic connections", but at least retained many of the older cast. The early 2000's saw a huge turnover in cast and the show was never really the same. This also coincided with the move to Channel 5 and the year long hiatus. 

I liked many of the mid/late 90s newcomers, but they were a bit hit and miss. This era introduced us to iconic characters like Vinnie, Gypsy, Justine and Rebecca, but we also had equally forgettable characters like Casey, Liam, Aaron and Tom Nash. This was the era in which I first got into H&A, so I have fond memories of this era. I can't say I remember too many "surreal" storylines - I associate the cult storyline more with the Selina era since she was involved in that. 

If anything, I'd say the storylines were more dark - like Joey's mental health struggles, Justine on trial for a baby's death, the Robert Perez stuff. 

  

On 23/02/2026 at 01:19, Gerard said:

The early 2000's saw a huge turnover in cast and the show was never really the same. This also coincided with the move to Channel 5 and the year long hiatus. 

This was where it all started going downhill for me. Not just the cast turnover, but the asthetics of the show too such as the new Diner set, the revamp of the opening credits and theme tune and loss of original Stewart house set. This also coincided with the move to Channel 5 and the year long hiatus. 

Does anyone know if Channel 5 had any creative input into the show? Or were they merely a financial partner? 

[Revealed]

I say this as someone who's always preferred Home & Away, it's always played 2nd fiddle to Neighbours in England.

In the 90s your choice was to watch live or to record onto a VHS. With only a finite amount of tape to do the latter you had to be selective in what shows you recorded and it's fair to say most viewers are more casual viewers than big enough fans to tape it.

For many it was a matter of Home & Away fitting into their routine rather than revolving their routine around Home & Away. ITV would show it at different times in different regions and would change it part way. In my region it was 18:30 at the very beginning, then 18:00 a year or so later. Then around the time the decline in viewers took place it moved to 17:10. By default you will lose viewers who watch it because it happens to be on at 18:00. For the teen who watched it, they would now have to make a choice between it or Byker Grove/Grange Hill etc. and for those who worked 9-5 they likely wouldn't be back in time to watch it. I know there were other regions where it was already 17:10 but then there would of also been a chunk of viewers who were students when it started and working full time by the late 90s.

Neighbours on the other hand was on at 17:35 throughout.

I was very on and off myself in the late 90s and then by the time it went to Channel 5 I'd got out of the habit and there was a period in those early days when I couldn't even get Channel 5 at home.

[CaptainHulk]

C5 was a real bugger to tune in for some people making them feel like they were missing out.

[cymbaline]

What were the viewing figures like when it moved to 5? I'd stopped watching H&A by the time the switch happened, so I'm out of the loop. Being off the air for a year, and then restarting on a TV station with coverage problems can't have helped. Did the viewing figures ever come anywhere near the ITV era?

[CaptainHulk]

12 hours ago, cymbaline said:

What were the viewing figures like when it moved to 5? I'd stopped watching H&A by the time the switch happened, so I'm out of the loop. Being off the air for a year, and then restarting on a TV station with coverage problems can't have helped. Did the viewing figures ever come anywhere near the ITV era?

Reports of 3m max (It was a still a young channel in 2001) to start with or around that area. First look in 2007 *really* ate into it.

Edited February 26 by CaptainHulk

[Homeandawayfan.]

On 23/02/2026 at 20:16, Revealed said:

I say this as someone who's always preferred Home & Away, it's always played 2nd fiddle to Neighbours in England.

In the 90s your choice was to watch live or to record onto a VHS. With only a finite amount of tape to do the latter you had to be selective in what shows you recorded and it's fair to say most viewers are more casual viewers than big enough fans to tape it.

For many it was a matter of Home & Away fitting into their routine rather than revolving their routine around Home & Away. ITV would show it at different times in different regions and would change it part way. In my region it was 18:30 at the very beginning, then 18:00 a year or so later. Then around the time the decline in viewers took place it moved to 17:10. By default you will lose viewers who watch it because it happens to be on at 18:00. For the teen who watched it, they would now have to make a choice between it or Byker Grove/Grange Hill etc. and for those who worked 9-5 they likely wouldn't be back in time to watch it. I know there were other regions where it was already 17:10 but then there would of also been a chunk of viewers who were students when it started and working full time by the late 90s.

Neighbours on the other hand was on at 17:35 throughout.

I was very on and off myself in the late 90s and then by the time it went to Channel 5 I'd got out of the habit and there was a period in those early days when I couldn't even get Channel 5 at home.

Yes, Neighbours always was more iconic, and well loved and watched in the UK than H&A.