Between meeting the Queen Mum and the frenzy of the Kylie and Jason era, it’s been non-stop action, the actor tells Jackie Brygel.
For Stefan Dennis, his first visit to Ramsay Street in 1985 was supposed to be a brief one, six months at the most, as resident womaniser Paul Robinson. But 25 years and almost 6000 episodes later, he is the only original cast member left on Neighbours, Australia’s longest-running drama series.
“I was actually very reluctant to take the role,” Stefan admits. “I was waiting for a role in a film, which I was positive I was going to get. But it was the old story of ‘a bird in the hand’ from my agent that convinced me to do it.”
And he hasn’t looked back, happily reporting he’s still loving every minute of playing the bad boy fans love to hate.
Stefan has vivid memories of every stage of Neighbours’ evolution, but none more memorable than the Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan era in the late 1980s.
“Going to do shopping centre appearances with the cast was unbelievable,” he recalls. “They would expect maybe 1000 people, but anything between 5000 and 10,000 people would turn up and all it would be was a cacophony of noise – just squealing and screaming. It was the Kylie and Jason show back then.”
