Home and Away

called Refuge, but the name was changed to the "friendlier" title of Home and Away once production began. The show premiered with a ninety-minute pilot episode (subsequently in re-runs and on VHS known as Home and Away: The Movie). Since then, each subsequent episode has aired for a duration of twenty-two minutes and Home and Away has become the second longest-running drama series in Australian television. In Australia, it is currently broadcast from Mondays to Thursdays at 7:00 pm.

'Home and Away' follows the lives and loves of the residents in Summer Bay, a fictional seaside town in New South Wales. The series initially focused on the Fletcher family – Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa (Vanessa Downing), and their five foster children, Frank Morgan (Alex Papps), Carly Morris (Sharyn Hodgson), Lynn Davenport (Helena Bozich), Steven Matheson (Adam Willits) and Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) – who moved from the city into the Summer Bay House, where they assumed the new job of running the caravan park, and eventually took in a sixth foster child, Bobby Simpson (Nicolle Dickson). Home and Away was not without controversy. During the first season alone, it featured several adult-themed storylines such as teen pregnancy, rape, drug and alcohol addiction, drug overdose and attempted suicide. The series has dealt with similar storylines over the years which have often exceeded its restricted time slot. Palm Beach in Sydney's Northern Beaches district has been used as the location for Summer Bay since 1988. The exterior scenes are filmed mainly at Palm Beach, while the interior scenes are filmed at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern.

Home and Away has been sold to over eighty countries around the world, making it one of Australia's most successful media exports. In the UK, it and Neighbours, another Australian soap opera, are the most popular of the genre that are filmed internationally, with them both airing twice daily on Channel 5. It is one of the highest-rating shows on RTÉ Television in Ireland and TVNZ 2 in New Zealand. In Australia, Home and Away is the most awarded program at the Logie Awards, with a total of forty-six wins, including Best Drama Program. Some cast members have won several other awards such as the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor, and Most Popular Actress. In 2015, Home and Away was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.