Alan Dale slams makers of Neighbours
Former Neighbours favourite Alan Dale says he hates the makers of the TV soap, saying he left feeling ripped off.
Dale, who played Jim Robinson in the glory years of the Ramsey Street soap from 1985 to 1993, has since become a success in the US where he has appeared in an array of high profile programs.
ADVERTISEMENT
But despite that success, 59-year-old Dale remains bitter over how he feels he was treated during his time on Neighbours. He says he snubbed the program's 20-year anniversary because he felt ripped off.
"I didn't like it there, they were not nice people," Britain's Daily Mirror quotes Dale as saying.
"They treated us badly, so I don't owe them anything.
"Like that 20-year thing - sounds wonderful, go back for the 20th anniversary, why not?
"And they're making a TV show out of it and there'll be a documentary of course, and they're making money out of that.
"They'll sell it all over the world, make millions, and still not a dollar for us."
Dale has accused the producers of trying to keep quiet international sales of the program for fear of having to pay the actors more.
"When we decided that we hated each other, the company and me, one of the things the company did was to market everything they could out of us and pay us nothing," Dale said.
"We didn't discover that the show was a hit in England until it was on the front page of the local paper.
"They didn't tell us because they didn't want us to know, because they might have to pay us more.
"All along the way, I fought with them about the fact they were ripping us off.
"It was just awful, so I didn't go back for the 20th anniversary thing, and I don't do any of the magazine articles or anything like that."
Dale says he regrets not moving to the US sooner - he's turned up in a slew of top programs: The OC, CSI Miami, ER, Lost, NCIS, The X-Files, The West Wing, 24 and now Ugly Betty.
He is married to former Miss Australia Tracey Pearson and based in Los Angeles.
