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Harold back to Ramsay Street

Ian Smith is returning to Neighbours to revive his beloved character Harold Bishop next month, in yet another comeback.

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Ian Smith is returning to Neighbours to revive his beloved character Harold Bishop next month, in yet another comeback.

Harold was last seen on the show in 2009 but returns for a six week stint which was filmed in February.

“Let’s be brutally honest here, we suffered a heavy whack in the recession and to make up a bit of that it was sensible to go back and earn a few dollars,” Smith told the Herald Sun.

“(Our) superannuation took a dive along with everyone elses.”

Smith, 71, left the show after tiring of constant abuse, especially from teenage males, and wanting to enjoy his retirement.

But after his Gold Logie nomination in 2009, even that has changed.

“What I find now when we are walking up the street is a more gentle recognition,” he said.

Harold Bishop first left the show in 1991 before returning in 1996 after suffering amnesia. In 2008 Smith left again but returned part-time several months later before eventually departing in 2009.

In 2009 Producer Susan Bowers said the character should have been killed off, but didn’t rule out a return.

“You never say never. I just think that if you do it too many times, though, the audience just gets p*ssed off,” she said.

Smith later appeared in Underbelly.

17 Responses

  2. @deedeedragons you and i could get a job as writers for these shows to be honest. they pick the best finger painters from prep school round the country to write the stories for the show. i shouldn’t denigrate the talented 5 year olds of this country. sorry for that

  4. @Mr chandler: Both shows share the same problem: they only really write for the teenage characters & all the adults do is stand around and give advice, they never get a proper storyline of their own.

  5. @deedeedragons i don’t think home and away should be doing cart wheel about their actors. they have some terrible actors on their show and the storylines nearly worse than neighbours

  7. Pure and simple – move the show back to TEN and stop the crap lead-in provided by those dipsticks in drag. Honestly, the crass nature of Channel 11 makes me I’ll, and to even spend 30 mins a night on that channel makes me ill. Time for new writers and a decision to bring Neighbours home where it belongs (and lose that dull and dated Negus at the same time). Wake up TEN!

    1. Not a year, but was reported briefly a few months ago before he began shooting. I didn’t log it then but have left it closer to the arrival on screen which I noted in the story is now 2 weeks away. H Sun’s quotes on why he returned added some context.

  9. I know the acting is not as good as the stuff that comes out of America and England these days not to mention the lack of twenty and early thirty somethings on Neighbours these days.That guy who plays Andrew reminds me of a certain annoying scumbag at my workplace who shall remain nameless.

  11. I woudn’t have said that about Andrew, I have certainly seen worse actors. Returning characters was always a sure thing to get me to return to watching a soap, but I totally missed Oliver and Carmella’s recent return. The writing on Neighbours was just to flat and depressing. I am having a look to see the changes now that so many have left and a couple of the guys who were recurring are now regulars.

  15. god they’re desperate aren’t they. a character that died on a storyline that was built around the harold holt drowning. they bring him back every few years to make the poms happy

  16. Will it make any difference? The writing is as crummy as ever, and the acting? Surely the guy who plays Andrew is the worst actor in soap…ever.

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