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BBC1 has commissioned a new Australian daytime soap called Out of the Blue.
Though long-running show Neighbours comes to an end on BBC1, the channel will keep an Antipodean flavour with a new show set in Sydney.
Out of the Blue will begin shooting in the new year and is set in the Sydney beach resort of Manly.
The story opens when a group of thirtysomething friends return to their home town for a high school reunion.
However, the celebrations are brought to an abrupt end when one of the group is murdered.
Out of the Blue is being made by Southern Star Entertainment, the company behind hits such as The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way.
The BBC has ordered 130 half-hour episodes of Out of the Blue, which will run in an as yet unspecified slot in daytime.
Jane Tranter, the BBC fiction controller, said: "This is an ambitious project that we think will break new ground, at the same time as providing daytime audiences with a compelling and intriguing watch.
"The experience and expertise of Southern Star Entertainment in this area, combined with the strength of the series proposal made this an exciting project, and we look forward to working on it with them."Hugh Mars, the chief executive of Southern Star Group, added: "This is definitely one of the most significant productions Southern Star has undertaken in recent years.
"To have the support of a great partner like the BBC enables us to create a programme that will be full of life, contemporary and very broad in its appeal."The BBC's negotiations were handled by the programme acquisition controller, George McGhee, and the head of series, Sue Deeks.
BBC1 has already started juggling the schedule in anticipation of the departure of Neighbours for Channel Five next year.
Hit show Doctors, which this week won the Royal Television Society's prestigious craft and design judges award, now runs in Neighbours' old lunchtime slot of 1.40pm and is performing well.
The long-running Ramsay Street soap now airs at 2.10pm but is still repeated at 5.35pm.
There is speculation that Neighbours will finish on BBC1 in January and begin on Five in March.
It is still not confirmed what will replace Neighbours in the 5.35pm slot, although the BBC is mulling the idea of it going to BBC2 quiz Weakest Link.

BBC STARTING TO SHOW A NEW AUSTRAILIAN PROGRAMME CALLED OUT OF THE BLUE. IT IS MADE BY SOUTHERN STAR ENTERTAINMENT. THIS SHOW WILL TAKE OVER THE SLOT WHICH NEIGHBOURS ORIGINALLY HAD WHICH IS NOW MOVING TO CHANNEL 5 IN JANUARY. OUT OF THE BLUE WILL WILL TAKE OVER THE 1.40 SLOT BUT BBC HAVE YET TO DECIDE WHAT TO PUT ON DURING THE 5.35 SLOT WHICH IS WHEN NEIGHBOURS IS REPEATED.