Harold Bishop targeted by thugs

Whether you are a Neighbours fan or not, you would know of Harold Bishop. The long standing actor who has been in the Australian soap since forever. We love him here at Flecking, so we were upset when we found out that he had been tormented for years due to his fame.

Actor Ian Smith put up with abuse being hurled at home in Australia. He told The Sun, “You know it’s time to move on when you’re being hassled outside your home every night by drunk idiots screaming abuse.”

“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 got so fed up I ended up calling the police.” He added, “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.”

One of our favourite Neighbours characters also admitted, “I’m not what you’d call a soap fan – I did it for the money. I enjoyed it, but a soap is not something I would watch. Theatre is my first love and that’s something I’m keen to get back into.”

However, he has left Neighbours now, but we won’t get to see his final scenes over in the UK til next year on Five. Ian Smith spoke about his exit from the show, saying, “I got a very good send-off – a lot of the guys I’d worked with over the years were getting quite emotional. They were saying ‘we’ll miss you Smithy’.”

“One guy – who’s sort of a tough guy – actually broke down and started crying and I ended up blubbing along with him. I’ll certainly miss it all – especially my great mates Jackie Woodburn who plays Susan and Tom Oliver (Lou Carpenter).

“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.”

We hope you do Mr Bishop! The show just won’t be the same without you…