'Neighbours' star: Timeslot 'a challenge'

Neighbours star Jackie Woodburne has said that the show's early timeslot presented difficulties for the recent surrogacy storyline.

The actress, who has played Susan Kennedy for 15 years, said that writers had to tone down the plot to comply with regulatory guidelines.

The story saw Susan offer to become a surrogate for her daughter Libby after Libby was told she could have no more children.

"Because of the time of day that our show is on - it's on at 6.30 here and day time in the UK - obviously doing something as controversial as surrogacy at that time slot we would be so restricted by censorship," said Woodburne. "Logistically, that's a big challenge.

"We could only could talk about certain things in vague terms - that's a challenge. Everyone had to work very hard to make it as complex and sophisticated as the story demanded but keep it within the restrictions of timeslot."