Home and Away's hot couple Nate and Ricky. Photo / Channel 7
Home and Away's hot couple Nate and Ricky. Photo / Channel 7
TV3 is proposing a new soap that will try to replicate Home and Away - and it could be one of our most expensive shows ever made.
The Herald on Sunday understands the show will be based around a beach community, will screen up to four nights a week, andwill require more than $10million of funding.
Details have been kept under wraps since MediaWorks invited production companies to submit ideas a year ago.
But the Herald on Sunday understands the in-development soap will be family-oriented and set on the outskirts of Auckland.
"It will be a soft, family relationship series set in a fictional community," a TV industry insider revealed.
"A decision will be made on December 11," spokeswoman Allanah Kalafatelis said.
NZ On Air has $15.5 million available in funding until June next year but 41 applications seeking $21 million have been submitted, Kalafatelis said.
NZ On Air made a $10 million commitment to a 5.30pm soap called The Point in 2006-07 but the idea was dropped in favour of other dramas.
When Shortland Street was launched in 1992 it received almost $9 million over four years.
This year NZ On Air awarded TV3 series Westside $7.6million to make a second series and new TVNZ drama series Dirty Laundry $6.7 million.
In recent weeks MediaWorks announced it would not renew the much-criticised local version of British cooking hit Come Dine With Me and confirmed X Factor NZ and MasterChef NZ were off the TV3 rosters next year, too.
Dancing with the Stars is also believed to be under threat.