Neighbours star Alan Fletcher spills on truly ‘bizarre’ celebrity cameo

From a Spice Girl to Sir Michael Parkinson, Neighbours has had plenty of celeb cameos - but there’s one Alan Fletcher remembers as “the most bizarre”.

From the Spice Girls’ Emma Bunton to Hamish and Andy to British TV legend Sir Michael Parkinson – Neighbours has certainly played host to a wide range of celebrities during its 37-year TV reign.

But for Alan Fletcher – best known for playing Dr Karl Kennedy since 1994 – there’s one Ramsay Street guest role that was downright “bizarre”.

Speaking to news.com.au podcast I’ve Got News For You ahead of tonight’s series finale, Fletcher, 65, explained that Aussie writer and critic Clive James had a small and very weird role on the show in 1995.

“Clive James was one of my most interesting (cameos) because he came as a postie, and he had no interaction at all with any of the cast,” Fletcher told podcast host Andrew Bucklow.

“He just rode his bike around the court and then disappeared. And I don’t think anybody got to speak to him … And he just rode around and rode off! It was the most bizarre thing in the world.”

Late author, TV personality and critic Clive James.

Fletcher as Dr Karl Kennedy.

Here’s how that scene played out on TV:

Fletcher also weighed in on the controversy surrounding the lack of fanfare over Neighbours’ impending series finale at this year’s Logie Awards.

In an interview with 2DayFM’s Hughesy, Ed and Erin show last month, Ryan Moloney – who has played Jarrod “Toadie” Rebecchi on the series since 1995 – ripped into the organisers over the cast’s treatment during the ceremony.

Weighing in on the issue on IGNFY, Fletcher admitted he’d also thought the Neighbours tribute was a bit underwhelming.

“I wasn’t at the Logies, so I caught it later, I watched it and thought, ‘gee, that was a bit cursory’,” he admitted.

“You know, I felt like they might have given it a little bit more footage – I’d actually recognised all the footage from before, so I would have liked to see a different package.”

Fletcher added that he was particularly disappointed by its exclusion of a key cast member – Jackie Woodburne, who plays his on-screen wife, Susan.

“She’s almost considered to be the ‘Queen of Neighbours’ – she didn’t even appear in one stitch of that footage,” he pointed out.

“So I thought, ‘yeah, they probably could have done a bit better than that’.

“But for the (Neighbours cast) who were there, it was a lot more upsetting, because they were in the room watching that footage.”

Fletcher with his co-star and on-screen wife, Jackie Woodburne. Picture: Steve Tanner

Moloney, who was among those in attendance, certainly didn’t hold back during his stunning rant last month, during which he also slammed the decision to have former cast members Daniel MacPherson and Natalie Bassingthwaite represent the show on stage during the ceremony.

“Daniel and Nat are just absolutely gorgeous people and (I have) absolutely nothing against them, but we’ve got people who have been on TV for nearly 30 years each, and I think probably the least they could do is get us to say something … I mean we’re in the bloody Hall of Fame, that’s not how you treat a show that’s in the Hall of Fame. I mean good luck to the Logies really,” he fumed.

Neighbours’ special 90-minute finale will air on Channel 10 and 10 Peach from 7.30pm tonight.

Originally published as Neighbours star Alan Fletcher spills on truly ‘bizarre’ celebrity cameo