We’ve become Joe Mangel’s ‘good neighbours’

Former Australian soap star and The Big Breakfast presenter Mark Little has opted for the rural life and has told his Twitter followers that he has moved to Montgomeryshire.

Until 1991, Mark played Joe Mangel in Neighbours, an afternoon soap that is still running but was watched by over 10 million people in its heyday and also launched the careers of his co-stars Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Jason Donovan.

He then moved to Britain where he took over from Chris Evans to host The Big Breakfast with Zoe Ball.

Now 61, Mark has become outspoken on Twitter for his political views and is a fierce anti-fascism campaigner.

Since revealing his new life, scores of local people have started following him on Twitter and last night he tweeted that he was “proud to be Welsh” and in one previous reply to a follower he said “diolch heaps”.

“To all new followers… welcome to The Random Express… we have fun here,” he posted using the @themarklittle handle.

He announced his new location, which is believed to be a remote farmhouse between Llanfyllin and Lake Vyrnwy, with the Tweet: “Hey team… I have been way out of the loop. And what a loopy loop it is. We have moved HQ and have been finessing a magic acre in the wilderness.”

He has also tweeted “I have been as busy as a farmer. No time for the rebellion. Until today”. Another tweet that we can all sympathise with shortly after he moved here said: “No signal. No internet. No patience left.”

We wish Mark well in settling here and it is good to see that he has embraced the local way of life.

“Helping to lay 63 metres of hedge as a living fence and preparing my faggots for next Autumn. Also, invented by the Celts in Wales around 1180, I am currently fashioning myself a long bow from yew,” he has also recently tweeted.

Following his high profile roles in the early 1990s, Mark has worked on a number of stage and screen projects with his West End one-man show, Defending the Caveman, winning the Laurence Olivier Award in 2000.

More recently he appeared on Dancing on Ice in 2019.

PICTURE TOP (@themarklittle/Twitter): Mark enjoying life in Montgomeryshire

PICTURE BOTTOM (publicity shot): The cast of Neighbours in its heyday, with Mark front left.