'Neighbours' stars find recast "weird"

Neighbours star Margot Robbie has admitted that the soap's cast were "surprised" by the decision to recast Declan Napier.

In January, it was announced that Erin Mullally is taking over the Ramsay Street role after existing actor James Sorensen decided to bow out to join the army.

Robbie, better known as Erinsborough's Donna Freedman, has now confessed that Declan's transformation was difficult to adjust to when Mullally filmed his first scenes.

The actress told TV Soap: "It was weird! I think everyone was a little surprised that they chose to do it that way, but they had already written storylines for Declan without taking into consideration whether James was going to sign another contract."

Her co-star Sam Clark, who plays Ringo Brown, added: "[Erin is] good to work with, but it's very different from the old Declan. It's kind of weird though.

"Usually when you get a new cast member come in, they have the new cast member storyline where they're a bit antagonistic, where they cause some trouble. Some people don't like them and then they get accepted into the street.

"But here, we're doing scenes and there's none of that, so it's almost like we've known him forever just because the scenes are happening that way."