Neighbours' Harold Bishop actor 'defying odds' after cancer treatment

Annabel Rackham

Culture reporter

‘I seem to be defying the odds’ – Neighbours actor

Neighbours star Ian Smith, who was diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer last year, has said his treatment “seems to be working”.

Smith first played Harold Bishop on the Australian TV soap in 1987 but left in December 2024 after revealing his diagnosis.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, the 86-year-old said he had originally been told “he was supposed to die in March” but seems “to be defying the odds”.

Smith has received immunotherapy treatment for a rare form of lung cancer called pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma, which he said had helped shrink his tumours significantly.

‘I took the second chance’

The actor, who has also worked as a screenwriter and television producer, said he now accepts the original timeframe for his survival “isn’t happening”.

“I’m now thinking of buying a new car. That’s not what you do if you’re going to die in March,” he told 5 Live’s Adrian Chiles.

“I’m determined to have an electric car before I die. And I was speaking to a salesman. I said, ‘Now, what about the delivery? Can you get to me before I’m dead?’ And he’s so shocked! I said, ‘Come on, let’s have a giggle’.”

Smith said he was grateful to have more time.

“I’m an atheist. I couldn’t say, ‘Thank you God’. I just had to say, ‘Thank you someone’ for giving me a second chance.

“And I took the second chance and I had to say to myself, what are you going to do with it?

“I’m still not sure I’ve worked out the answer to that, but I’m certainly not going to mope around.”

Smith’s wife Gail died in 2019 – the pair were married for more than 50 years

Getty Images Ian Smith with wife Gail, who died in 2019. He is wearing a black tuxedo, she has her blonde hair down and you can just see the top of her black collar. — Smith’s wife Gail died in 2019 – the pair were married for more than 50 years

When he first revealed his diagnosis in December, Smith said he wanted “be a guinea pig” for treatment options.

The actor, who made several returns to the Australian soap before finally leaving last year, said he was “leading the way” with his treatment.

Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to fight the disease.

He added that his oncologists were also “very happy” to say he was defying the odds… because I think they think they’re going to be famous!”

But despite the positive news, he said he was suffering “a lot from depression” because cancer had become “the elephant in the room”.

“I’m in this limbo of not knowing what to plan for… I’d love to go to Japan. I’ve never been to Japan, but I just don’t trust this body to get me there and I don’t want to be a bother to anyone else.”

Smith lost his wife Gail to cancer in 2019 after more than 50 years of marriage.

“People are saying that thing, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful what they can do these days'”, he told 5 Live.

“Yes, I know it’s wonderful. Of course, we are very clever human beings, we can do all of this, but it’s still there and from the time I wake up in the morning, cancer is there as a reminder all the time, you can’t get away from it.”

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