Fletcher confident over 'Neighbours' move

Neighbours star Alan Fletcher has predicted that the soap's high-profile channel change will prove to be a positive move.

The Ramsay Street serial left its long-time home of Channel Ten in Australia last week, switching over to new digital station Eleven on a permanent basis.

Fletcher - who plays Karl Kennedy on the show - has now claimed that the development is similar to Neighbours' move from BBC One to Channel 5 in the UK, which took place nearly three years ago.

He told the Herald Sun: "When Neighbours moved to Channel 5, people kept ringing me up and saying, 'It's a disaster'. But it has been the opposite.

"The audience is really strong and people can watch it more than once and they are not tied to a timeslot like on free-to-air."

Fletcher also hinted that he is likely to stick with Neighbours for a long time, describing his work as a "refreshing challenge every day".

Neighbours pulled in an average audience of 266,200 during its first week of airing on Eleven.