Fresh from a run in Joseph, and about to go on tour, the actor and singer reflects on superstardom, drug addiction and the steadying joy of fatherhood
Despite insisting that he likes to look to the future, Jason Donovan is confronted with the past much of the time. He has just started a UK tour – one that has been postponed twice because of the pandemic – singing the songs that turned him into a huge star in the UK in the late 80s and early 90s, after his role in the Australian soap opera Neighbours (which people also always want to talk about).
“My catalogue of recent music is probably thin, so I tend to rely on my heritage a bit more,” he says. “This is a sort of moment of reflection.” But does he feel he is always being dragged back? Does it fill him with wistfulness? Does he think about time passing? “I do when I can’t sleep,” he says with a laugh. But the answer is no: “It’s just great to be able to sing those songs, still have a voice, still have an audience. I’m grateful. Those songs are going to live beyond me.”