DR JOHN FORREST played by ALAN DALE

From day one Dr John Forrest made it clear that he wasn't interested in "making friends and influencing people". He had his own working style, which involved doing things his own way and shouting at anyone he disagreed with. He made the lives of his secretaries unbearable, only fully trusting Helen Gordon with the job of working for him.

Forrest had only one true love, Liz Kennedy. The feisty and intelligent nurse was the one person who could run rings round him. After stopping her impending marriage to Dr Ben Fielding, Forrest whisked Liz away for a surprise wedding of their own. Tragedy struck that night. When they returned to Sydney, Forrest stopped off at the Albert while Liz headed back to his place, where she was electrocuted and killed turning on a faulty lamp. He never really got over her death, despite relationships with Tania Livingston, Dolly Davis and two terminally ill women (not at the same time), Diane and Judy.

Following his father's death, Forrest took over his Bush hospital, along with his own sister Pauline (a nun) and Dr Dan Wheatley. But, the trio all soon left the country for the Albert, where Pauline discovered men and Dan Wheatley broke up Raymond Shaw's flawed marriage to Kate Rhodes.

When the Albert closed down, Forrest opened a new clinic, employing many of the hospital staff. Among them was Dr Vicki Daniels; there was a hint that the future may have brought them closer together, but now we'll never know.

Alan Dale was born in New Zealand and began acting as a child with his parents' amateur theatrical group. He studied law for a while, as well as doing a variety of jobs from selling cars to delivering milk. He eventually found work as a radio DJ and from that moved to Australia.

After auditioning for a part in The Restless Years, Alan was instead offered the part of Dr John Forrest in The Young Doctors. While working on the show he also had a weekend radio show.

Of course, after The Young Doctors ended, Alan went on to even greater, international fame, as Neighbours patriarch Jim Robinson. He played the part for over a decade, during which time he saw his four screen children and his screen wife played by a total of ten different actors! In more recent years Alan has returned to radio, and guested on US TV shows such as Time Trax, X Files and ER.