Geoff Paine (Clive Gibbons): When I joined in 1987 things were still looking pretty tenuous. I’d never seen anything like it before and I’m not sure I will again. The mania over the wedding was really something else – people wanted to wear the same clothes, to have the same hair, and they were even singing the song Kylie walked down the aisle to. When you’re sitting in a bus being rocked backwards and forwards by crazed fans, you realise something major is happening. We were lambs to the slaughter in those early days. That was only a couple of weeks after Scott and Charlene’s wedding was broadcast. We were never prepared for what was going to happen when we went over to Britain for the first time for the Royal Variety Performance in 1988. Stefan Dennis: The show completely skyrocketed once it went on to the BBC. Although it wasn’t until I went to the UK in 1999 to do panto that I realised it was a global phenomenon. When they asked me to audition for the role of Karl in 1994, the show had completely taken off. I had no idea it would be a success back then – the look and feel was cheaper, the sets tended to wobble and it mainly was just a nice gig for a jobbing actor to have.
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I nurtured that over the next 20 years.Īlan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy): I started out in 1987 doing three weeks’ work as a guest character called Greg Cooper. That turned into the clumsiness and naivety that Harold brought to the screen. I went into rehearsals and in the second week, out of desperation, I did something stupid, tripping over myself – and the crew all laughed. Initially, the role was only for five weeks and so I searched for something to make Harold stand out. On Neighbours, people putting their rubbish in each other’s garbage bins was the worst crime that could happen. So, I went from the blood, gore, hate and violence to children playing in a cul de sac in Ramsay Street. I had been starring in another programme started by Neighbours’ creator, Reg Watson, called Prisoner. Ian Smith (Harold Bishop): I joined the show in 1987.
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I’m certainly glad I gave it another chance. Then, a couple of months later, my agent got in touch with me to say that Neighbours was being picked up by Channel 10 and they wanted me to come back as Paul Robinson. I was disappointed, but I moved on and went to Europe indefinitely to start trucking around in a combi van.
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I got the part and decided to give it a go, mainly because I thought it would only last six months anyway it lasted seven the first time around.Ĭhannel 7 dropped it because of poor ratings, but by then I had settled into the character of Paul and thought the show did have some mileage in it. Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson): When the show was starting, my agent contacted me, but I didn’t want a job on it – I ended up going to the audition because I was talked into it. With the show celebrating its 35th year, the cast and makers recall its early days of shaky sets and dodgy wardrobe choices, fan phenomena and decades-long onscreen relationships. In recent years viewership has declined – the show moved to Channel 5 in 2008 – yet a committed fanbase continues to tune in, nostalgic for the viewing habits of their school days, or a younger bunch looking for that familiar escapism and more modern storylines, along with the usual screaming matches and heartbreak.