FremantleMedia International (FMI) yesterday announced a deal to bring a local version of FremantleMedia Australia’s long-running drama series Neighbours to Turkey. CEETV reported first back in September that the series will be adapted for Fox Turkey. It premiered on the channel yesterday, November 6.

The first global format commission of the hugely successful original series, watched by millions in Australia and the UK, will be produced by No:9 Productions.

Neighbours is a daily drama and award-winning television phenomenon which has been on-air since 1985. Set in fictional Australian suburb Erinsborough, the story is centered on the lives of friends and family living in Ramsay Street. For three decades, Neighbours has delighted viewers around the world with its gripping storylines of drama, family, love and loss. To this day it remains the highest rating drama on both Channel 5 in the UK and Australia’s Channel 11.

The Turkish adaptation, entitled Komşular, will be set in a fictional suburb of Istanbul called Karanfil Yokuşu. The imagined setting is one of the oldest and most beautiful parts of Istanbul, home to people from all walks of life, from seamstresses to doctors, businessmen to movie stars. In reality, the location is a blend of three different areas in Istanbul, creating a Turkish Erinsborough.

Each episode of Komşular will be one hour long and will be based on original Neighbours storylines from 2012 onwards, starting from when the Turner and Willis families joined Ramsay Street. The original Australian character names will be adapted to Turkish versions, along with a couple of new additions, and the series will air every weeknight before the evening news on Fox Turkey.