This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/6669769.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Five wins Neighbours soap fight | Five wins Neighbours soap fight |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours will move to Five after the BBC pulled out of bidding for the show. | Long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours will move to Five after the BBC pulled out of bidding for the show. |
| The channel will begin showing the soap, which launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, in 2008. | The channel will begin showing the soap, which launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, in 2008. |
| "Neighbours will be a greatly prized part of our schedule and suitably cherished by us," said Lisa Opie, Five's managing editor of content. | "Neighbours will be a greatly prized part of our schedule and suitably cherished by us," said Lisa Opie, Five's managing editor of content. |
| The BBC withdrew from talks to keep the show, saying it had been asked to pay three times the show's current price. | |
| BBC One controller Peter Fincham said he had been asked for £300m over eight years by Fremantle Media, which owns the rights to the show. | |
| "We would have loved to have kept it, but not at any price," he said. | |
| NEIGHBOURS' FALLING AUDIENCES Scott and Charlene's wedding (1988) - 19.1mCharlene leaves (1989) - 18.4mHenry Robinson leaves (1991) - 16.6mJim Robinson dies (1994) - 15.1mHarold Bishop returns from the dead (1997) - 10.3mHelen Daniels dies while watching Scott and Charlene's wedding video (1998) - 10.1mSusan and Karl divorce (2004) - 5.8mLassiters plane crash (2006) - 6.75m Izzy leaves, hiding her pregnancy (2006) - 5.6m "Sad though this is, we think this we're doing the right thing with our licence-payers' money." | |
| The show has aired twice a day since 1986, with a combined current audience of about five million. | |
| It will end on BBC One in the spring. Mr Fincham said it was too early to discuss what would replace the soap on the BBC. | |
| "It's a big thing," said Stephen Murphy, editor of Inside Soap magazine. "Families plan their evening meal around the show." | |
| "But one of the big criticisms of Neighbours' fans is that the BBC never promoted the show," said Murphy. | |
| "Five might make a bit more of a fanfare about it, so it might even be for the benefit of the show in the end." | |
| Both Fremantle and Five are owned by the RTL Group media company. | |
| 'Not performing' | |
| Neighbours reached its peak in 1990, when it drew a combined audience of 19 million every day. | |
| In recent years, viewing figures have fallen with landmark episodes like last year's plane crash only attracting six million. | |
| In Australia, the show has struggled for some years, and currently averages less than 700,000 viewers for TV network Ten. | |
| The soap has been a student favourite for 21 yearsRival soap Home and Away regularly attracts more than a million people. | |
| In March, Ten's drama executive Dan Bennett told Australia's Sunday Telegraph the programme was not performing as well as the network would like. | |
| "The figures we're getting now aren't a great basis for our night-time schedule", he said. | |
| "We'll be saying goodbye to quite a few characters." | |
| But executive producer Ric Pellizzeri played down talk of a crisis. | |
| "Coronation Street's been going 40 years, and we're looking at Neighbours as a show that will run for 40 years and even longer.'' | |
| The soap launched the careers of Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Jason Donovan, and is seen in countries like Papua New Guinea, Dubai and Ghana. |