Home and Away star reacts to reports of soap being 'pulled from prime time'

One of Home and Away’s longest-serving cast members has weighed in on the rumours that the soap will be pulled from prime time programming.

Actress Lynne McGranger, who plays Irene Roberts on the Channel Seven soap, says the cast has not been informed of any changes to the timeslot, let alone any news that the show’s getting the axe altogether.

“First I’ve heard of it,” the 66-year-old initially replied to a curious fan on Twitter.

After seeing a series of other tweets speculating the future of Home and Away was in jeopardy, Lynne’s frustration grew and she wanted to set the record straight once and for all.

“NO!!! Ok getting sh**ty now!!” she wrote.

“To my knowledge this is...,” she continued, before adding horse and poop emojis.

“Enough already. We are not going anywhere. I turn up to work. People film me. I get paid. Pretty sure that means the show will keep going to air. AND we’re 5-6 months ahead with the filming.”

Last week a report emerged that after 30 years on Aussie screens, Home and Away might be pulled from Channel Seven’s prime time programming.

According to TV Blackbox, network executives have observed a decline in the show’s ratings since 2017, and replacing Home and Away with another show in that time slot is one of the options they’re considering.

The Australian television commentary website claimed it ‘learned’ that Channel Seven has thought about moving the Summer Bay fan favourite to a later time slot, so the network can compete effectively at 7pm with the other channels.

One option is to bring Today Tonight back to Eastern states, which would pose as direct competition to Channel Nine’s A Current Affair that airs at 6:30pm and Ten’s The Project that airs 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

The other pathway that is reportedly “being considered by Seven” involves five episodes of Home and Away airing on Friday nights on the network’s streaming platform 7PLUS, before being broadcast the following week on 7TWO.

Earlier this year Home and Away was briefly bumped from its usual time slot to make way for the launch of My Kitchen Rules, but that was just a temporary change.

The show, which first aired in 1988 has launched the successful international careers for the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Melissa George and Isabel Lucas.

Meanwhile rival soap Neighbours was booted from Channel Ten in 2011 and moved to its other channel called Channel Eleven, which is now known as 10 Peach.

Yahoo Lifestyle has contacted Channel Seven for comment.

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