'Neighbours' drops to 386k in Australia

Neighbours' ratings troubles continued in Australia on Friday evening as fewer than 400,000 viewers tuned in for the latest episode of the soap.

An instalment which saw Andrew Robinson (Jordan Smith) organise some Halloween fun for Summer Hoyland (Jordy Lucas) attracted an audience of just 386,000 in Channel Ten's 6.30pm slot, which is thought to be one of the show's worst-ever viewing figures.

Neighbours returned to Ten's schedule a fortnight ago following a two-week break to make way for the network's Commonwealth Games coverage. Since then, the drama has pulled in fewer than 600,000 viewers for all but one episode.

The programme has been in a ratings slump for most of the year, prompting August's announcement that it will be shifted to Ten's new digital channel Eleven in January.

Rival 6.30pm shows Today Tonight and A Current Affair pulled in respective audiences of 1.1m and 876,000 on Friday. Meanwhile, Seven's Home and Away took 922,000 at 7pm.

Neighbours is expected to be promoted as Eleven's flagship show when it makes its network move next year. The soap also remains a strong performer for its British broadcaster Channel 5.