Former Neighbours star Lisa Armytage on show axe, cancelled return and new audio soap
Do you remember the first Doctor Bev?
Lisa, best known for playing the original Beverly Robinson between 1987 and 1989, has been cast in 14-part audio soap Riverside.
The new drama has been adapted from the existing written Riverside serial, which has appeared weekly in the People's Friend magazine since 2016.
Digital Spy recently caught up with Lisa for a chat about working on Neighbours in the '80s, the show's cancellation and her new project.
How did you feel when you heard the news that Neighbours would be ending?
"I felt there was an element of inevitability. It had to happen at some time. In a sense, it's better that Neighbours goes out when it's still strong and still very popular, rather than just dribble away to become something that nobody talks about.
"Neighbours has gone out with strength and popularity. It means the people who were in the show can now look forward to doing further work on the basis of what they've done so far.
"There are some things you can't fight. I'm sure there were many attempts to make the show financially viable, but everything has to come to an end."
You were part of Neighbours in the '80s heyday, when millions of viewers were watching. How do you look back on that time?
"It was incredible. When I went into Neighbours, quite naively, I didn't really realise what kind of impact it was going to have on my life because of how popular it was.
"There were six weeks between when I started recording and when my first scenes went to air. As soon as it went to air, my life changed.
"Suddenly I couldn't walk down the street and look at people, which I always do because I observe people. Because as soon as I looked at people, they would do a double take: 'What are you doing here?' As if I didn't exist out of the television! (Laughs.) It was an extraordinary experience."
Did you have any crazy encounters with the fans?
"There was one occasion when my husband at the time was asked by his friend whether we could go to his children's school, because they had a school play on. We very naively went with our own kids and we were mobbed by all these teenagers and we had to escape! My husband put our children on his shoulders and we ran from the school.
"It was odd in some ways. You really felt that privacy had been taken away. For example, if I went swimming with my children, suddenly we'd be the centre of attention and it was hard to relax.
"I went shopping for clothes once after school time and I was followed! So I ended up having to go shopping with dark glasses on. And have you ever tried to buy clothes wearing dark glasses? All the clothes are radically different when you get home!"
What was it like to work with Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan?
"Kylie and Jason are lovely people and it was really nice to work with them. I saw very little of Kylie because we weren't in the same scenes. I saw her a little bit in the dressing room. She struck me as a very quiet person, incredibly hard-working and often very tired.
"Jason and Kylie were working flat-out. We had 10 episodes to work on every week. That would be five episodes of one week, which was the interiors, and five episodes of the following week, which was the exterior shots.
"On top of that, Kylie and Jason were also doing a lot of weekend appearances. I did some too, but they did a lot. They were really working hard to promote the show, as well as being two of the central characters.
"Jason was a lovely warm man – he always was. I was at a different age bracket because they were 18 or 19. I think I was 31 or something like that – an old lady of 31! (Laughs.) I was married and with kids, so I was in a different bracket. But I got on well with them and everyone in the cast."
Did you keep in touch with anyone when you left?
"Unfortunately, it's like any workplace where you do drift apart after you leave. There was one exception to that. Alan Dale [who played Beverly's husband Jim] was on a return visit to the UK from America and we got in touch. We met up and had dinner and it was great to see him.
"I think we both felt much more relaxed with each other then – when we were not working on the show. All the stresses and tensions of working on the show just disappeared and we could just be in touch as friends, which was really nice.
"Unfortunately, I haven't been in touch with anyone on a regular basis. I bumped into Jason Donovan once at the BBC in the lift, back when he was on Strictly Come Dancing and doing some follow-up interviews."
Was there ever the possibility of you returning to Neighbours?
"I was asked at one point if I would go back. I think it was a year or so ago. I said yes, but then they realised that I wasn't in Australia and they said: 'Sorry, it's not going to work'.
"I suppose financially they didn't want to have the responsibility of accommodating me and so on – over something that could have been for a number of weeks."
Is it true that you left Neighbours because of the schedule?
"Yes, I joined Neighbours a week before my second child turned one. By the time she was two-and-a-half and teething during the night, I was really exhausted. The schedule meant that I often had to be on set by 7am.
"I also felt a bit sad that I wasn't spending as much time as I wanted to have with her. I felt she was becoming more of the nanny's child than mine, which was really sad.
"Looking back, what I could have done is either asked for some time off, or asked for my hours to be cut back just for six months while I got through that really difficult phase. I think I was a very 'all or nothing' person at the time, so I resigned completely. It's a shame really, but that's the choice that I made."
Shaunna O'Grady took over the role of Beverly. Did you mind when they recast the part?
"I was slightly surprised and amused in a sense that Jim's wife goes off to a medical conference in Perth, then comes back totally transformed and he doesn't notice! I thought: 'Well, there's men for you!'
"It's understandable and I think I put them in a difficult position resigning at that time, so I can understand it."
How did your involvement in the new audio soap Riverside come about?
"I've known Ian Skillicorn for about 10 years. He has adapted the original Riverside stories, which were written by Glenda Young.
"I used to work narrating stories for a website Ian used to have. We've worked together on many short stories now and it's evolved into a friendship, so we kept in touch. It was natural, really, for Ian to consider me to be one of the voices on Riverside."
What can you tell us about your character Ruby?
"Ruby is very colourful. She reminds me of a parrot – very bright colours, a loud personality, romantic, somewhat naïve, but also feisty and she fights back. She's Northern, so she's a Northern parrot! She's a lot of fun to play."
Riverside runs for 14 episodes, but is there potential for it to continue beyond that?
"I think there is. Glenda Young, who created the short stories on which it's based, has been writing this for quite a few years. So there's a wealth of material which could be drawn on to create an ongoing series, if Ian and Glenda were prepared to do that. There isn't a cliffhanger at the end of the series, so it's complete within itself.
"The drama has a very warm community feel. There's no problems that are too big that people can't get over. They manage to create a community and fight things together, so it has a lot of warmth in it."
Do you hope Neighbours fans who need a new soap fix will check it out?
"I think they should! Especially to find out what happened to the first Dr Bev! She's grown a Northern accent!"
What else have you been up to?
"Quite recently I've done a couple of audio dramas – one was called From an Island, which is still available to listen to now. I was playing a very different character in that – a very authoritative MP in that dark little story, which was fun.
"I do a lot of audiobooks, commercials and e-learning as well. I especially enjoy doing the audiobooks when I can work closely with the authors. I'm in touch with them on a regular basis and we talk about the characters and how they would sound.
"I think what I enjoy most is whatever I'm doing at that particular time. The really good thing is that I have continued to work.
"I think what I would celebrate is the fact that my acting is ongoing and it's changing. Even though I'm in my mid-60s now, life continues to open up. I hope there will be a lot more in TV and film coming my way in the next few years, as well as the audiobooks.
"I'm letting my hair go silver now, so it's a new look. There's a new phase coming, so bring it on, I say!"
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