Neighbours ratings continue to slide

Sunday 19th March 2007

Long running soap Neighbours is experiencing a dramatic slide in the ratings in Australia.

The show is now pulling in fewer than 700,000 viewers each night and Network Ten drama executive Dan Bennett has admitted the channel is concerned about the current decline.

Bennett has revealed that executives are keen for the show to go back to its family orientated roots rather than the sensational story lines the show has recently featured. He explains:

"Certainly, the figures we're getting now aren't a great basis for our night-time schedule. Storylines are going to be refocused on what has quintessentially been at the heart of Neighbours: relationships and family dynamics."

"There can be the occasional bomb blast - no soap is complete without it - but at the end of the day, Neighbours began as a show about friends and families living on a street and all the problems people face every day. And that's what we'll be heading back to."

However, it shouldn't be forgotten that Neighbours has always been more popular in the UK than in Australia. The good folks down under have never taken to their own show in the same way as the British viewing public.