Ahead of Neighbours’ return, veteran star Stefan Dennis said the popularity of the show was like “Beatlemania”. 

Nearly as soon as Irish fans finished mourning the soap, Neighbours announced a reboot of the show will be launched on Monday on Amazon Freevee featuring classic actors as well as new faces. 

Stefan Dennis, known for playing iconic villain Paul Robinson, told The Anton Savage Show the production value of the show has definitely improved since the Amazon reboot. 

“We do notice a bit more money thrown at things where it should be thrown,” he said. 

“It hasn’t trickled down to our level, but certainly, the production level is [higher], we’ve seen a bit of change there with the way it’s been shot.” 

Mr Dennis, who has played the longest-running character on Neighbours, said he initially wasn’t sold on the show at all. 

“I actually didn't want the job at the time - I was a young, aspiring, stupid actor who thought that working on a soap was a demeaning thing to do,” he said. 

A stamp printed featuring characters from Neighbours for the 50th anniversary of television in Australia.

He said he wanted to be in a film “that eventually became the biggest flop in Australian history”, but his agent convinced him to sign on for Neighbours for six months. 

“I thought it wouldn’t last much longer than that anyway,” he said. 

The Waterhole from Neighbours. Image: DWoollard / Stockimo / Alamy Stock Photo

After the show was launched on Channel 5 and then moved to Channel 10, Mr Dennis said Neighbours became a “phenomenon” - especially in the UK and Ireland. 

“It was completely and utterly unexpected,” he said. 

“We were dumped on the shores of Britain, and we were literally lambs to the slaughter, and it was just absolutely mind blowing. 

“It was like Beatlemania... none of us could walk down the street without being chased. It was ridiculous.” 

Mischa Barton arrives

The OC actor Mischa Barton will join the cast of the Neighbours reboot but wasn’t an avid fan of the show growing up. 

“I kind of blindly was sent into it at first,” she said. 

“But [the crew and actors] were lovely and very welcoming and very happy to be getting back together, so it was lovely.” 

Ms Barton is most known for her starring role as Marissa Cooper in The OC, where her character was killed off in season three. 

“I think that the creators and the writers have regrets,” she said. “They recently said about how they regretted how they handled it, because there were probably other ways to do it. 

“I mean, there are other characters and other things to go on to do.” 

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