[Red Moon]

'I quit Neighbours over fat Harold taunts from cruel yobs,' reveals Ian Smith

Neighbours star Ian Smith quit the soap opera this year after tiring of being taunted by yobs yelling 'Fat Harold'.

His character Harold Bishop is being written out this year after 16 years on the series.

The 70-year-old actor admitted his decision to leave the soap was mainly due to the ongoing abuse he had received by locals near his Melbourne home.

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.

'I got so fed up I ended up calling the police. 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 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.'

Smith asked to leave the show after initially going part-time on the show last year.

His character will undergo a successful battle with prostate cancer before deciding to turn his back on Ramsay Street forever.

After only a few appearance on the soap earlier this year, Harold Bishop will remain on-screen until his exit next year.

He said: '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".'

Smith filmed his final episode last month, which will be screened in the UK on Channel 5 in May.

Smith's character joined Neighbours in 1987 - when Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were still in the cast - and fell in love with Madge Ramsay - played by Anne Charleston.

After five years on the show, Harold's character was 'lost at sea' for five years, but returned to Erinsborough in 1996 after suffering amnesia.

Smith is now planning to return to his theatre roots and travel Australia's outback with his wife Gail.

Source:Daily Mail

[Lauren]

Aw