air episodes that were classified M on a late Sunday night slot. The series made its Irish debut on 5 May 2008 on RTÉ One. Screening the show five days a week (compared to the BBC latterly only showing four), RTÉ went on to overtake the UK and began to premiere individual episodes, ultimately airing episode 130 on 12 November 2008. The series has been airing all over Africa on the GO channel, a satellite TV channel. Five episodes are shown on Wednesday evenings, repeated at various times during the week. On 5 January 2009, the series started to air on NET 5 in the Netherlands. The series is shown at 2pm. On the same day, Net 5 started to show Home and Away which airs twice a day at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Reception Critical reception Prior to the launch of the series in the UK, an article in The Times described Out of the Blue as "compulsive, classy, fast and slick" and made comparisons to BBC One's long-running soap EastEnders, though the author also expressed concerns over the "logic" and "financial" sense of commissioning a British soap to be set in Australia. Nevertheless, the article stated that the BBC hoped for the show to be a "long-stay resident of the daytime schedule" like Doctors. Other early reviews were also generally positive. The Daily Telegraph said that the show looked "quite promising" and described its murder mystery hook as "quite neat". A reviewer for The Daily Mirror wrote: "Oo-er. Forget Neighbours, this is more like a warmer Big Chill, Desperate Housewives Down Under or a better-acted Echo Beach, with all kinds of dark secrets buried in the sand waiting to be washed up by the tide." Meanwhile, The Guardian remarked upon the difference in style between Out of the Blue and Neighbours, writing: "Au-ssies! Everybody needs good Au-ssies! But wait a minute ... stepping into Neighbours''' slot is something a little more grown up, with drink, gangs and even a murder." In September 2008, as the long-running murder mystery plot was about to reach its climax, an article on British soap website The Soap Show described the programme as "much underrated", noting that it had built up a "loyal cult audience" in spite of "being moved between channels, subject to frequent schedule changes and often pre-empted for summer sport". In November 2008, the show's Australian premiere attracted a mixed response