'Home & Away' spinoff rumoured for the axe

Home & Away spinoff Headland is thought to be facing the axe less than two months after it began.

The show, set at the Bay's nearby university, premiered strongly with 1.32 million viewers but has dipped as low as 600,000 in recent weeks. It was also due to air in the UK on E4 from last month, but the channel has yet to schedule a slot for it.

Despite also receiving a critical panning, Seven's programming head Tim Worner said that Headland would finally "hit its straps" in a raft of upcoming episodes.

"We really believe in this show, so we're bedding it down over summer so we can get viewers quickly to the point where it really starts to work," Worner told the Northern Territory News. "I'd be happy to have a core audience of 800,000 to work with when ratings start (February 12) as the show really evolves by then."