Life according to... Alan Fletcher

Neighbours’ Dr Karl on the soap’s finale, his UK tour, and acting with a rooster

How does it feel now that Neighbours has finished?

It was a shock when the whole show was gone and everyone was out of a job, but we had to be professional until the end. When we wrapped the final scene, the tears and sadness set in.

You must be delighted with the final ratings?

I hoped people who watched in the past but no longer did would come back, and they did. It was brilliant.

Did you ever consider leaving?

I was only working 32 weeks a year on the show, so I had a solid amount of time to do other things – music, UK pantos, short films, a Shakespeare project. I also took artists’ portraits as a photographer for 20 years, so I always mixed it up. And Neighbours found interesting things for me and I loved working with the wonderful Jackie Woodburne, who played Susan, so it would have felt mad to work elsewhere when I enjoyed working with her so much.

Do you all keep in touch?

I had coffee last week with Jackie and Kym Valentine, who played Libby, and Benji McNair, who played my son Mal, was round at our house the other day. We have a group text chat among the final year cast and almost every day someone posts something, so we’ll stay close for a very long time, there’s no question about that.

You’re coming to the UK on tour with The Doctor Will See You Now – what can people expect?

It’s an overview of my 28 years on Neighbours, in conversation with my beautiful wife Jennifer, who is a journalist. There will be lots of scenes from the archives and we’ll sing some songs.

Weren’t you in the UK just last month?

Yes, I was playing some gigs. I recently released an EP, Dispatches, of Americana music, and I’ll have a full album out at the end of the year. The pandemic gave me a lot of time to work on music.

There was an ongoing joke about Dr Karl’s musical abilities. Weren’t you concerned it would reflect badly on your own music?

I encouraged the storylines about Karl’s music being terrible. When I first toured the UK, in 2005, with my band The Waiting Room, people thought it would be a train wreck and more like a comedy night, but I had a fantastic band and we did really well. We did 10 tours in eight years, as well as having a residency in Melbourne for 12 years. People have a clear differentiation between Dr Karl and Alan Fletcher, which

is great.

Did you take any props from Ramsay Street?

There was a photo taken in the 1970s when I was doing a play and I had a funny moustache. It sat on the mantelpiece in the Kennedy house, and everyone on the cast said they were going to steal it. After the very last take, I grabbed the photo and shoved it under my jacket so no one else could get it! Do you have a favourite moment? When Karl became a backyard farmer and got himself a rooster, which he called Springsteen. There was one scene where Karl was on a couch watching telly with Springsteen and they had a bowl of crisps, and Karl would eat one, then Springsteen would eat one. It was one of the most gorgeous vignettes I ever had. My favourite episode was when Karl had to look for a lost $7,000 winning lottery ticket. Toadie was having a naturist lunch in his house at the time, so Karl had to nude up, and he found it stuck to Toadie’s backside. It was the funniest thing we’ve ever done.

A farewell

tour will be

a beautiful

full stop to

Neighbours

Will Neighbours ever return?

I’m having dinner with some of the Fremantle Media people and will put the question to them. I’m interested in Neighbours-related things. We’re doing a farewell tour next year, which is sold out. That will be a beautiful full stop to Neighbours, which we’ll all enjoy.