The 86-year-old first portrayed Harold Bishop on the Australian soap opera way back in 1987.

He quickly became a fan-favourite before stepping down from the show last year, suffering from ‘a very aggressive non-fixable cancer’.

Neighbours star Ian Smith announced in December that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer (YouTube/10 News First)

Smith says he has been ‘defying the odds’ after being told he would be dead by this month.

“I’ve got cancer, yes, I’m going to die soon but I seem to be defying the odds, which is good,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

His dying wish, however, is to buy a new electric car.

“I’m determined to have an electric car before I die,” the actor added.

“And I was speaking to a salesman. I said, ‘Now, what about the delivery? Can you get to me before I’m dead?’

The Neighbours actor first played Harold Bishop on the Australian TV soap in 1987 (Network 10)

“And he was so shocked! I said, ‘Come on, let’s have a giggle’.”

Smith’s wife Gail died from cancer in 2019 after over 50 years of marriage.

And the TV star admitted that he ‘almost gave in’ before he got some ‘good news’ on 13 December.

“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,” he said.

“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.

“People are saying that thing, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful what they can do these days’.

“Yes, I know it’s wonderful. Of course, we are very clever human beings, we can do all of this, but it’s still there and from the time I wake up in the morning, cancer is there as a reminder all the time, you can’t get away from it.”

In a previous interview with Australia’s 10 News First, Smith revealed he’s more than happy to be a ‘guinea pig’ for new treatment.

He added: “I’ve really put my hand up, I think, just to be a guinea pig, plus the fact I don’t want to die, I want to stay alive with quality as long as I can, and if they can do that I’m very happy.

“But I wake up every morning hoping there’s no pain because I know that’s the beginning of the bad part.”