Craig McLachlan to appear in Neighbours anniversary special

EXCLUSIVE: He’s played the extremes of Doctor Blake to Rocky Horror’s Frank N. Furter in the same year, but Craig McLachlan wasn’t able to return as Henry Ramsay for Neighbours‘ 30th Anniversary episodes.

“To be honest I really wanted to do something. I really wanted to be a part of it somehow, then we realised it wasn’t going to work to do an episode,” he told TV Tonight.

“In a perfect world I would have loved to have shaved the beard off, not let the whiskers fallen onto the floor, but gather them up and tie them to the back of my short hair to create something mullet-ish.

“I would have loved to have grabbed Henry’s overalls and done something!

“But the schedule, for what Fremantle and Neighbours were proposing, with what I was locked into (at Doctor Blake) was just never going to happen.”

But McLachlan still found a way to show his gratitude to the show that ignited his TV career. He will appear in the Special with former and current cast members.

“Before a gazillion Neighbours and Henry fans abuse me and start sending horrendous ‘trolly’ tweets, we did manage to shoot something for the special,” he teased.

So a video message then?

“No, it’s more than that. I took a precious weekend out and we grabbed a camera crew and went and did some fun stuff.

“I said in an email ‘Is there anything else?’ then 40 hours later they said, ‘Hey, what if…?’

“So it all came together.”

The special will air next March on TEN.