Alan Fletcher reveals major career change after Neighbours finale

He’s one of the longest-serving actors in Australian soap opera history, but Neighbours veteran Alan Fletcher is now considering a big career change.

Neighbours veteran Alan Fletcher is the third longest serving actor in Australian soap opera history, having starred on the iconic soap for almost three decades.

And after the long-running show’s emotional finale last week, which saw viewers say farewell to the residents of Ramsay Street after 37 years on-air, the 65-year-old actor is considering a major career change.

Fletcher, who had played Dr Karl Kennedy since 1994, told Magic Radio’s Breakfast Show: “Now that I’ve finished Neighbours, I’m thinking about actually going into medicine.”

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Viewers said goodbye to Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy on the Neighbours finale.

Fletcher had starred on Neighbours since 1994.

The Perth-born TV star added he had always tried to keep his personal life separate from his on-screen persona, but was now having a change of heart.

“While I’ve been on Neighbours, I religiously don’t give medical advice, because I’m really worried of the authorities tracking me down,” he joked.

Jackie Woodburne, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Alan Fletcher.

It comes after Fletcher’s co-star Ryan Moloney, who had played Jarrod “Toadie” Rebecchi on the show since 1995, revealed his own big career move away from the small screen.

The 42-year-old actor said he was planning to settle into post-Neighbours life as a humble tradie.

“I’m not ruling anything out,” Moloney told The Daily Telegraph. “I’m doing civil construction course which is about driving excavators and building roads.”

Toadie and Mel tied the knot in the Neighbours finale, with their wedding drawing well-wishes from a host of big name cast members who previously starred on the show.

Moloney added: “I like playing with those kinds of machines. I like doing earthworks, all that kind of manual labour stuff.

“That’s where I’m at, but who knows where it’s all going to end up?”

After 37 years and 8903 episodes, Neighbours finally drew to a close in a tear-jerking finale last week.

The nostalgia-filled episode saw the return of Australia’s brightest names who got their big break on the soap opera, including Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Holly Valance, Natalie Imbruglia, Delta Goodrem, and the show’s most famous alumna, Margot Robbie.

Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue and reprised their roles as Scott and Charlene for the Neighbours finale.

Margot Robbie appeared as Donna Freedman in a brief cameo during the finale, in which her character sent well wishes to Toadie before his wedding day.

Up to 3 million people tuned into the finale in the UK, while almost 900,000 viewers watched in Australia.

It was announced in March that Neighbours was being axed after Australian production company Fremantle media failed to find a new broadcast partner, following UK network Channel 5’s decision to withdraw its partnership.

Channel 5 had been covering the majority of the production bill.

Originally published as Alan Fletcher reveals major career change after Neighbours finale