Neighbours star Ian Smith opens up over “rare and severe” cancer

 "Very clever people are going to keep me alive."

Neighbours actor Ian Smith has opened up about his "rare and severe" cancer.

The Australian soap legend, who has played Harold Bishop since 1987, was diagnosed with an uncommon form of lung cancer called pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma last year.

He received some positive news recently, with doctors telling him that his life expectancy has been extended from Christmas 2025 to Christmas 2026.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain this week, he explained how his doctors told him that his cancer is a mostly unknown quantity and it would be difficult for them to give him definitive answers about his future, although things look like they're going well.

"It's a cruel, ugly, brutal place, and I don't know how, but it looks like I'm having the best luck in the world with defeating this cancer," he said. "Although the oncologist can't tell me that.

"They said because this cancer is so rare, so drastic, so severe, so awful, they don't know. They don't know what it's going to do."

He added that a doctor also told him "'We know so little about this cancer that we don't know that if you stop taking the treatments, it may roar back into life.'

"So I said: 'Look for an hour's treatment every three weeks I think I can put up with that.' And it looks like these very clever people are going to keep me alive."

Last week saw what seemed to be Ian's last episode, as Harold announced his permanent move back to Queensland.

However, executive producer Jason Herbison says he will appear in one more scene "in the coming weeks".