Home and Away to take UK TV break

Home and Away has been screen in Australia since 1988

Australian soap Home and Away is to take a break from over the summer to allow TV channel Five to stockpile future episodes.

The channel decided to put the show on hiatus for four weeks because the UK is catching up with Australia, where the series takes an annual Christmas break.

The suspension will extend the current transmission gap of two weeks to around six weeks.

The soap will air until 31 July and then return to screens on 31 August.

It has been broadcast on Five since 2001, when the channel snatched the rights from ITV.