Good Neighbours become good targets
Ian Smith copped years of abuse from drunken idiots for his role as Harold Bishop.
- Published by David Knox
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Actor Ian Smith has told The Sun newspaper in Britain of strangers yelling insults at him and revving their cars outside his home. It all contributed to him wanting to quit Neighbours.
“You know it’s time to move on when you’re being hassled outside your home every night by drunk idiots screaming abuse,” Smith told the newspaper.
“I got so fed up I ended up calling the police. They were making my life hell. Every night at the same time they would drive up to my house and start revving their engines really loudly.
“I lost count of the times I was shouted at. They’d scream: ‘Harold you fat so and so’, but obviously their language was a lot stronger.
“They’d hurl abuse, these nasty young men – most of them drunk. I love the show to bits, but there’s only so much nastiness one man can take.”
Smith says he is no fan of soaps and much prefers theatre.
“But you never know. I may be back there one day, not as a permanent character. I’m too old for that.
“If there was a good enough reason for me to do a one-off appearance, I’d consider it.”
Smith’s final Neighbours scenes will be aired on Channel 10 in February.
Source: The Australian
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7 Responses
Brenton he didn’t just make his small fortune playing Harold, he worked as a writer and script-editor on soaps for many years before that. Soap has put food on the dude’s table for most of his life. How many actors are there who get a great, long gig like his? One percent? Less? Craig H is right, it’s poor form.
Thats why actors get paid the big $$$
Surely there would be at least twice as many fans of the show that loved him to bits though to make up for a few bogans – who’d ironically not admit to watching Neighbours anyway.
It is a shame because Ian really is a talented actor he was great in neighbors and also as Ted Douglas in prisoner sadly Ian isn’t the first neighbors star to be harassed by fruit cakes poor Vivian gray who played the legendary Mrs. Mangle also had a lot of trouble
Harold was, and still is, the only reason the watch Neighbours. but in all honesty, I don’t think he should be bagged for saying he prefers theatre. I bet you’d be fed up with soaps if you played the same guy for 20 years too.
fair enough if he wants to comment about the harassment but to then go on and trash saops and comment that he only did it for the money (which I ready on a UK website) is poor form I reckon, regardless of whether he watches soaps or not, the genre has kept him in a job for 20 years..he should have a bit of respect for that.
Poor Ian – makes me want to re-watch Rush (the old ABC series), or The Olden Days (where he makes a brief appearance with Gov. Frontbottom tweaking his beard near the start of the show while showing he doesn’t know how to smoke).