SOAP LEGEND CRAIG’S
EVERYBODY needs good Neighbours – or at least they have for the past 37 years.
So for soap legend Craig Mclachlan – dungaree-loving Henry Ramsay and a star from the very early days – there was an air of disbelief when an industry pal told him the show is being axed.
Speaking to the Sunday People and even singing the Neighbours theme tune down the phone, Craig says: “I texted back and said, ‘Are you sure?’
“These rumours have been circulating for years. I feel lots of emotion about it – for being lucky enough to be part of that golden era of the show.
“It really was a magic time for all of us, that this little show we all loved so much had become so popular.”
Craig, 56, harks back to the days when Princess Diana was a fan – and a fascinating chat with fellow royal viewer, the late Queen Mother.
He and screen sister Charlene – Kylie Minogue – met the Queen Mum after appearing at the Royal Variety Performance in the late 1980s.
Craig is speaking from the home he shares with long-term partner Vanessa Scammell – a pianist and conductor – in Victoria, Australia.
He says of the royal: “She had a gazillion questions. She asked, ‘Why does Henry call his car Bertha?’ I didn’t know. I had to think on my feet.
“She said, ‘Wasn’t it a disaster when Henry stuck all the plaster gnomes to Madge’s carpet!’
“She thought that was riotous! Then she said, ‘When Henry was pushed in a swimming pool was it actually you, or a stunt Henry?’ ‘A stunt Henry?’ I laughed. ‘That was me, Ma’am!’.”
Heartthrob
Neighbours was the breakthrough that catapulted Craig from 21-yearold plumber’s mate to global heartthrob.
In 1990 he won the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian TV – the first of many.
He jumped ship to appear in rival soap Home And Away – and pop stardom beckoned too in the 1990s, with hits like Mona.
But it was his three-year stint on Neighbours that made him a household name.
He and Kylie were the children of Madge
Bishop, played by
Anne Charleston, and stepkids of
Madge’s hubby Harold – actor Ian
Smith.
Craig was positively shaken when
Channel 5 announced it would not be renewing its contract with the show’s makers, Fremantle Australia.
After launching in 1985 – first appearing on BBC1 a year later – the soap became a fixture for workers on lunch breaks and kids racing home from school.
Some 19.6 million British viewers saw episode 523 in November 1988, when Charlene – given away by Henry – married Scott Robinson, played by Craig’s pal Jason Donovan.
Craig chuckles: “I remember
having possibly the most grand mullet in the history of Australian TV.
“There were lots of rumours I’d had a perm. But it was God’s own perm – all me. My suit jacket had such massive shoulder pads that military aircraft could land on it.”
Even the memory of his Neighbours audition – after a few bit parts on TV, most notably in Sons And Daughters – still raises a smile from Craig.
He explains: “I told my agent I’d never even heard of Neighbours.
“She said, ‘Are you kidding me? It’s only the most popular soap! Don’t you even know Kylie and Jason?’ I told her I didn’t even have time to watch the show because
I was working a sh***y double shift in a bar to pay for gigs in a band. The next day she dropped a letter under my door to explain all the characters. Who The Robinsons were, The Mitchells, that busybody Nell Mangel.
“I went along to meet the producers thinking, ‘This is going to be a disaster!’ I thought, ‘I’m just going to flirt but I won’t get this part in a million years’.”
Three days later he did land the part, playing Madge’s rogue son.
Craig says: “I can tell you Kylie was everything you’d expect from a real sister. We were filming on location in the cul-de-sac, which was Pin Oak Court, and we hit it off immediately.
“By the time we got to the studio scenes I was feeling very secure in the company of my TV kid sister. Kylie and