Sad News: With heavy hearts we share the sadness that “Ian Smith” is facing a serious health condition
Actor Ian Smith, best known for playing Harold Bishop in the soap opera Neighbours, is still alive. However, he announced in December 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer (pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma), a rare and highly aggressive form of cancer. Ian Smith, who was born on June 19, 1938, is now 86 years old, and he left Neighbours to focus on his health after completing his final filming in late November 2024. His final episodes as Harold Bishop are expected to air in April 2026 in Australia and the UK. The most recent update in February 2025 said that although doctors initially predicted he would die in March 2025, after chemotherapy and immunotherapy, his condition had improved significantly. The tumors in his chest had shrunk, and his life expectancy had been extended to around Christmas 2026. Ian Smith expressed optimism about the time he had left, although he knew his cancer was not curable.
Neighbours’ Harold Bishop actor Ian Smith reveals shock health update after quitting soap amid terminal cancer diagnosis
NEIGHBOURS star Ian Smith has given a shock health update after quitting the soap following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
The 86-year-old actor, who plays lovable Harold Bishop, stepped down from the show last month to undergo life-extending treatment.
Now he’s been given a huge boost after doctors initially told him he could be dead by March.
He told TV Week: “I did a PET scan and the words, I believe, were ‘significant metabolic change, significant shrinkage of tumour’.
“I’ve gone from a threat of dying this coming March to maybe a few more months… and now, who knows?
“It’s not a cure and it won’t be a cure, but I certainly have got a year, maybe two. That’s amazing. It really is.”
