We gain a little more insight of the perfect blend of the Neighbours alumni, as they answer some of our most burning questions.
Find out which friend of Guy Pearce was most excited to see him return! Reflect with the cast members over their favourite first memories, most iconic storylines and even where the weirdest place Alan Fletcher was recognised.
If you have ever wondered who the naughtiest cast member is? Or whether Neighbours may actually be a hit within Buckingham Palace? Well, they reveal all here…
Guy Pearce (Mike Young)
Q: Do you get to catch up with your fellow cast mates like Kylie and Jason?
A: Absolutely. Jason and I see each other all the time, and we still call each other Scott and Mike, which is a bit sad!
Whenever I’m in London I’ll see Jason most times and I’ll see Kylie as well if she’s around. There are a few others I catch up with when I’m in Melbourne like Stefan (Dennis) and Annie of course, she’s been on Jack Irish with me.
Kate Winslet is also a huge fan of the show and is literally wetting herself that I’m back. She was besotted with Mike back in the day. We share a birthday and that was the greatest news to her. When I told her I was coming back, she was beside herself.
Natalie Bassingthwaite (Izzy Holand):
Q: Can you remember you first day on set?
A: I don’t remember the scene, but I do recall Stephanie McIntosh and I went onto the back set, and put on helmets and rode bicycles in the background of a scene.
Alan Fletcher (Dr. Karl Kennedy):
Q: Where’s the weirdest place you’ve been recognised?
A: Well, the weirdest place I was recognised was in Southern India and it wasn’t for Karl Kennedy. It was for Greg Cooper. I played Greg Cooper in 1987 just for three weeks.
I was in Southern India at a temple, very small city and a person suddenly went: “Hey, you’re off Neighbours, aren’t you?”
And it was obviously an Englishman, but it was pretty bizarre, having done three weeks and really forgotten about it.
For this person to suddenly recognise me, I thought: “How does this happen?”
Jackie Woodbourne (Susan Kennedy)
Q: Are you going to take anything from the set?
A: Well, it’s funny, we’re all joking about what we’re going to nick!
We’re joking but we’ve got a little yellow PostIt, we’re just putting our name and sticking it on random pot plants, and little ornaments and things.
Some people have got their eye on some major furniture.
I thought about, you know the Kennedy portrait, the kid’s portrait? But then I thought, no, I think that should probably get auctioned off, or raffled off to a fan.
I definitely will take some little memento of the Kennedys. I don’t know what, but definitely some little thing.
Annie Jones (Jane Harris)
Q: Who would you say was the naughtiest on set?
A: Probably Stefan, who’s on the show playing Paul Robinson.
Yeah, he was always very cheeky. He still is. He’s wonderful. He just did funny little silly dances or sing a little song. He’s just a lovely person. He’s always got a lovely smile on his face and cheering everyone up.
Ryan Maloney (Toadfish Rebecchi)
Q: What’s your favourite Neighbours storyline that you’ve seen but maybe not been a part of?
A: I mean, this might sound a bit funny, but I really like Bouncer’s dream. I really liked that!
And I like stuff with Ian Smith, just watching the idiosyncrasies of Harold and just watching him, an expert at work, really creating a character and enjoying all of the funny things that he does.
Ian Smith (Harold Bishop)
Q: Did you ever meet any royalty?
A: Oh yes, we went over to the UK, I’ve forgotten which year it was, but it was because the Queen Mother was a fan of the show.
You can’t get much more important than that in England, can you?
I watched a television show before I went over there to meet her, and it was a show about how the Queen Mother won over whoever she met with this little submissive head to the side when she talked to them. I thought: “Oh no, you won’t get me, madam. No, far too wary for that.”
We met, she spoke to me, her head went to the side, I thought: “Oh, isn’t she nice? Oh, bugger. She caught me. She got me!”
She was just so charming, and it was nice to know she was a fan of the show.
