Ex Summer Bay star Paul O'Brien to guest in Neighbours

Former Home and Away hunk Paul O’Brien is making a special guest appearance on Neighbours from next week.

Paul maneuvered his busy schedule to play Eric Edwards, a client of Toadie who is caught up in an ugly dispute, during some down-time on a film he is shooting in Jakarta, which required a beard he's been growing for eight months.

Paul said: “The beard was definitely non-negotiable as I needed it to finish the film, however the timing worked out well to do both projects and I hope the new look adds to the role."

He added he'd had some interesting reactions to his new look. “I’ve had a lot of double takes with people saying ‘Aren’t you...?’ and then they just walk on.”

Paul’s episodes in Neighbours start on November 7 in the UK.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.