Neighbours legend Ian Smith says he is 'defying the odds' with cancer treatment after being told he'd be dead by March

Smith, who is best known for his portrayal of Harold Bishop on the iconic Aussie soap, has said that he is “defying the odds” after undergoing immunotherapy treatment for a rare form of lung cancer.

The 86-year-old said in December that he had been diagnosed with pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma and had been told that he had until March to live. At the same time, he also announced he would be stepping down from his role on Neighbours after almost four decades on screen to focus on his health battle.

Smith has now revealed that treatment for the terminal cancer has helped to shrink his tumours significantly. The actor told BBC Radio 5 Live host Adrian Chiles: "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, who lost Gail, his wife of 50 years, to cancer in 2019, said that he had been suffering “a lot from depression” following his diagnosis. He said: "I'm in this limbo of not knowing what to plan for... I'd love to go to Japan. I've never been to Japan, but I just don't trust this body to get me there and I don't want to be a bother to anyone else."

However, Smith also showed Chiles that he was looking on the bright side of the situation, saying: "I'm now thinking of buying a new car. That's not what you do if you're going to die in March.

"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'."