Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis reveals why he had ‘a bit of doubt’ about returning for reboot

Virgin Radio

16 Mar 2023, 12:27

Following the great news that Neighbours is set to return to our screens after it seemed as though it was finished for good, some of its stars have spoken to virginradio.co.uk about the exciting reboot. 

The long-running soap opera aired what was thought to be its final ever episode in July 2022 after 37 years on air, but it is now being revived by Amazon Freevee and Fremantle. 

Some of its biggest names - including Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne (Karl and Susan Kennedy), Ryan Moloney (Toadie Rebecchi), Annie Jones (Jane Harris) and Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) - are currently in the UK for Neighbours – The Celebration Tour, and virginradio.co.uk took the opportunity to speak to them about the return of the much-loved TV show.  

When we asked Stefan Dennis - who plays the iconic Paul Robinson - whether he’d had any doubts about coming back to the show, having said goodbye to it in 2022, he said: “Being absolutely honest, we had some days to think about it, and I had a good think about it for 24 hours. And I had a bit of doubt there for a minute, because we'd moved on. We were out-of-work actors for eight months at that stage, and I'd done a couple of other jobs. I did a film in New Zealand, I did a musical in Sydney.”

Speaking about how he considered semi-retirement, he told us: “I started to think, ‘You know what, maybe I can’. I'm at the age where I could have… actors don't retire, they die, but I was thinking of semi-retiring and just sort of doing a gig here and there.”

He added: “I suddenly thought, ‘Hmm, do I really want to go back to Neighbours, and I was like ‘Don’t be a d***head, Stef! Of course you do’."

Whilst there is no concrete return date for the soap at this stage, production is set to start soon, with the first new episodes expected to land sometime in the autumn on Amazon Freevee. The video-on-demand streaming service is also showing classic episodes of the Aussie soap now.

Stefan told us: “It's not just having our jobs back. It's continuing the journey. And being able to continue it, rather than talk about it as something from the past.”

Keep an eye on virginradio.co.uk for more exclusive interviews with the Neighbours cast.