Mike Young gets testy with Newsifact.

Recently, Newsifact interviewed "Neighbours'" Mike Young (or "Guy Pearce" as he likes to be called - you know what these people are like!). Anyway, the interview didn't go too well.


Newsifact: Mike Young from "Neighbours" it is a real honour to have you here with us.

MY: My name is Guy Pearce.

Newsifact: Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. What is that? Some new publicity thing, like when Prince became a symbol?

MY: No, it is my name!

Newsifact: Of course it is! (laughter). Let's get to the questions. It has been a few years since you, Mike left Ramsay Street.

Mike abandoned Des after he lost wife Daphne.

MY: Yes, I left "Neighbours" twenty years ago - it was back in 1989. I don't really think about that much since I have been very busy as an actor since.

Newsifact: Yes, so let's take a look at where the character of Mike has gone since then.

MY: He didn't go anywhere. That was it for that character.

Newsifact: Well, that wasn't it. Because officially you left to look after your mother who had been hurt in a plane crash. So what happened?

Did Mike even know that Helen had died?

MY: I honestly can't remember. Mike wasn't really that great a character to play.

Newsifact: Well, that is very sad. But even before you had left Ramsay Street, you made an appearance in Home & Away. Why?

MY: The money. I don't know. These are stupid questions.

Mike in happier times.

Newsifact: Was it not really a stab in the back at Madge and Helen, who had been so kind to you?

MY: What?

Newsifact: And soon after, you appeared in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Was that a cry for help? I mean, what did it say about Mike to suddenly be hanging around with a bunch of transsexuals? How would that have made poor Daphne feel?

MY: It was a movie. It wasn't Mike - it was me as an actor!

Newsifact: Wasn't Mike? Come on, Mike. You used to be so masculine with that motorbike. Was this film an attempt to blame Des for Daphne's death? Were you not in fact dressing up as Daphne to torment Des?

In 1999, Mike Young starred in "A Slipping-Down Life" - a subtle dig at Madge?

MY: My name is Guy Pearce. I am an actor. That was a film role.

Newsifact: (Laughter) Of course! Then you decided to take Mike Young into 1930s Los Angeles in "L.A. Confidential". So I suppose Mike was a time traveller now?

MY: Is this a serious interview? I am not Mike!!!

Newsifact: Was this film not a way for Mike to symbolically break with the painful past of your breakup with Lucy Robinson? Were you not travelling back in time to escape the pain?

MY: It was a film role. It had nothing to do with "Neighbours".

Newsifact: What really impressed me was 2000's "Memento". In a way, it seemed that Mike had come full circle. He was no longer running away from Ramsay Street, but instead seeking an emotional memento of his times with Harold and Madge. Very moving!

MY: If you don't ask me, respected actor Guy Pearce, a serious question, this interview is over.

Mike Young today. What would Helen Daniels say?

Newsifact: But all that progress seemed to have been be lost in two films you, Mike Young, made in 2008. One was called "Trust" and the other was called "The Hurt Locker". So it seems that for Mike, the pain of the breakup with Jane was an emotional scar that didn't really go away. Or was it a reaction to the death of Helen Daniels. Did you feel ashamed that you had missed it, Mike? And did you want to hide in a hurt locker?

MY: Why are you calling me Mike? My name is Guy Pearce. Do you understand? "Neighbours" was something I did for two years twenty years ago and now I am a serious, respected actor.

Newsifact: Mike...Mike...sshhh. It is OK. Mummy's coming. Des forgives you for leaving him alone after Daphne died. Madge forgives you for not being there when she died too. It is OK. Why didn't you at least call when you heard that Charlene had breast cancer?

MY: Fuck off!

At this point, Mike stormed off (maybe back to Ramsay Street?) and the interview ended.