Ten Things You Never Knew About Jason Donovan

With his sunkissed blond locks and dreamy blue eyes, Jason Donovan captured the hearts of the nation - and one Kylie Minogue - as Neighbours' Scott Robinson back in the '80s. He went on to score no fewer than 16 hit singles in the UK and took the West End by storm before it all went pear-shaped and he turned to cocaine. But after years in the celebrity wilderness, he's now drug-free and ready to bounce back onto our tellies tomorrow with a role in new ITV soap Echo Beach. And to think, all it took was munching a few kangaroo balls on I'm A Celeb...! Read on to find out some tantalising titbits about the nation's favourite fallen teen idol.

1. Jason was born in 1968 to actor Terence Donovan and newsreader Sue McIntosh, who split when he was five. His dad and half-sister Stephanie later popped up on Ramsay Street, playing Doug Willis and Sky Mangle respectively.

2. Jason feels no shame about the impressive mullet he sported during his Neighbours heyday. He boasts: "I’m one of the proud, sentimental owners of the mullet haircut. I was one of the true mulletteers of this country." Jason, we salute you.

3. Jason was devastated when his trademark locks started to recede while he was starring in Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat in 1994. He recalls: "If you're blond-haired and blue-eyed, you think it's the death of your desirability. You don't see the big picture and think you might be Sean Connery in 40 years. All I had was the Jason Donovan look, and I thought, f***."

4. Jason has never been a fan of alcohol - cannabis and later cocaine were always his drugs of choice. He admits: "I was a binge drug-taker. I loved the drug." Or as his dad put it: "He's put the price of a decent house up his nose." Trust parents to tell it like it is!

5. A friend had to stop Jason choking on his tongue when he collapsed at a Sydney deli in 1995, just months after his cocaine-fueled seizure at Kate Moss's 21st birthday party in LA.

6. Jason turned down a whopping £65,000 a week to continue starring in Joseph at the height of his drug use. He says: "Joseph wasn’t cool in my mind. At the age of 23 I wanted to be out smoking cigarettes, playing in a rock band, not sitting on stage in a loin cloth looking like a deposed innocent character from the Bible.”

7. Jason believes he is now best known as "the guy who didn’t eat the anus on I’m A Celebrity... ". Oh well, there are worse claims to fame!

8. Jason would have pursued a career as a graphic artist if he had failed to make it as an actor. He says: "I would have done something in the area of art, painting, drawing or advertising. I did paint when I took drugs. I do not paint or take drugs now."

9. Jason met his wife Angela while she was working as an assistant stage manager on the 25th anniversary UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show in 1998. The couple now have two children - Jemma, 7, and Zac, 6.

10. Jason turned down a role in Aussie film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert because he didn't like the script. The movie went on to be a huge hit, which Jason said "depressed the f*** out of me". That sounds suspiciously like sour grapes, Mr Donovan!