Neighbours royalty Anne Charleston is set to stage a Ramsay Street return as part of Harold Bishop’s exit storyline following news of actor Ian Smith’s terminal cancer diagnosis.
Ian, who has played Harold on and off since 1987, confirmed on Monday that he has been diagnosed with pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma, a rare form of liver cancer, and the prognosis is sadly terminal.
‘I found out a few months back that I have cancer,’ he told 10 News First. ‘That I have a very aggressive non-fixable cancer and they expect me to… they expect me to die.’
Following his health news, Ian has stepped down from Neighbours, with his final scenes as Harold Bishop – the lovable cafe owner who was always on hand to dish out advice – having already been completed.
It’s not yet known how Harold’s storyline will conclude but Neighbours has confirmed in a post on social media that Anne Charleston, who played the Erinsborough stalwart’s beloved wife Madge, will return for some of his final scenes.
Harold and Madge together one last time. Well, sort of.
This time around, Anne will not be portraying Madge. Instead, she will portray a new character, who befriends Harold.
The actress made her debut as Madge in the long-running soap in 1987 and departed in 1992. She staged a comeback in 1996 in line with Harold’s return ‘from the dead’ and subsequently left in 2001, with Madge tragically dying.
Anne reprised her role on a number of occasions since, once in 2015 and again as part of a fantasy sequence in 2022 when Neighbours was thought to have reached an end.
Ian, meanwhile, returned to Neighbours as a regular cast member earlier in the year at the age of 85, with Harold appearing in the opening titles for the first time in over a decade.
The soap legend told Metro that returning in a more regular capacity – following number of guest returns -‘took a bit of getting used to’, but credited the ‘intense niceness’ of his fellow cast and crew members in allowing him ample time to find Harold again.
‘If you don’t use that part of your brain, it gets rusty,’ he said. ‘And I was struggling with words, I have to be honest. But after a couple of weeks – bang – I was able to do it.’
