News round-up: ‘The Voice’ returns to South Korea; Oz soap ‘Neighbours’ resumes production

The Voice

‘The Voice’ returns to South Korea

Reality talent format The Voice is returning to South Korean screens after a seven-year hiatus following a new deal with local broadcast group CJ ENM and UK-based ITV Studios.

Auditions are currently being held for hopefuls wishing to appear on the show, which will air on the CJ ENM-owned channel Mnet later this spring.

The series is distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

Ayesha Surty, ITV Studios’ SVP of licensing for Asia, commented: “Music has the amazing ability to bring people together. In these unusual times, a positive and heart-warming show like The Voice will continue to entertain people across every generation and help bring families together in front of their TVs at home.”

Neighbours

Oz soap ‘Neighbours’ resumes production

Long-running Australian soap Neighbours is set to resume production later this week, despite the country remaining under lockdown due to the global pandemic.

Fremantle Media, the RTL Group-owned company that produces the show, which is broadcast locally on Peach and licensed to broadcasters in 60 other countries, said that it would be employing new filming techniques to remain within health and safety guidelines.

In a statement, the prodco said: “(On Monday) we returned from a scheduled production break, originally two weeks that we extended to three weeks to give our production team time to refine our production model to meet the gov’t guidelines re. health & safety and social distancing. We will be filming with a small unit this Thursday and then full production resumes Monday,” said Fremantle in a statement.

“Due to the style of our show and the vast size of our production studios and back lot, we realized we are in a position to resume filming in a way that protects everyone’s health and still delivers the Neighbours viewers know and love.”