Shortland Street returns to UK screens on Amazon Freevee
New Zealand soap Shortland Street is set to make a return to UK screens in December, as it premieres on Amazon Freevee.
The show, which began on TVNZ 2 on 25th May 1992, is New Zealand’s longest-running soap opera, and is one of the country’s most popular shows. It is set in Shortland Street Hospital in the fictional suburb of Ferndale, Auckland.
It hasn’t aired in the UK since 2010, but it is set to return to UK screens on Amazon Freevee, the streaming service which brought back Neighbours earlier this year after it was cancelled by Channel 5 in 2022.
Neighbours became the first soap to premiere on a streaming platform
The news was announced via Freevee’s Instagram account on 1st December.
There’s no confirmation yet as to where the show will pick up, but Back to the Bay has approached Freevee for further details.
Shortland Street began broadcasting in the UK in 1993 in a limited number of ITV regions, and fleeted in and out of the schedules until it aired for the final time on ITV in 2003.
Carlos Muller plays Logan Barnes in Shortland Street
It was picked back up by Living in 2010 before moving to Living Loves, but was axed just two months later, with the final episode show on 29th October 2010.
The Kiwi soap also returned to Australian screens earlier this year, when it began streaming on 7Plus.
From Monday 3rd July, the show resumed Aussie airings, picking up from one of its biggest ever cliffhangers, which saw hospital staff in shock as their building went up in flames. It is currently around 100 episodes behind New Zealand broadcasts.
The series is watched by over 1.5 million viewers each week in New Zealand, and has aired more than 7,800 episodes.