Neighbours icon Ian Smith has revealed that he is "defying the odds" in his fight with terminal cancer.
The 86-year-old actor - Harold Bishop on the Aussie soap - revealed in December that he had terminal lung cancer and soon after filmed his final scenes with the show.
Talking on 5 Live, Smith revealed that he was "supposed to die in March" but volunteered for an experimental new immunotherapy treatment which appears to have shrunk his tumours significantly.
"I'm now thinking of buying a new car. That's not what you do if you're going to die in March," he said. "I'm determined to have an electric car before I die. And I was speaking to a salesman. I said, 'Now, what about the delivery? Can you get to me before I'm dead?' And he's so shocked! I said, 'Come on, let's have a giggle'."
Discussing his thoughts on the positive results of the treatment so far, he continued: "I'm an atheist. I couldn't say, 'Thank you God'. I just had to say, 'Thank you someone' for giving me a second chance. And I took the second chance and I had to say to myself, 'what are you going to do with it?'
"I'm still not sure I've worked out the answer to that, but I'm certainly not going to mope around."
Smith's Neighbours exit is due to play out on screen in the next few weeks.
New episodes of the soap stream Mondays to Thursdays from 7am on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland.
Neil Wilkes
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