A life in technicolour

But guess what? When I arrive at ES's photo shoot, it is to find that Jason has turned back into Scott. He's older, of course, and the mullet has been exchanged for a rather more fashionable floppy fringe, but he's entirely recognisable.

And when, after throwing a few camp shapes, he leaves to change into his own khaki shorts and Havaianas, returning half-dressed to give me an eyeful of his toned and hirsute pecs, the illusion is complete. The change clearly goes deeper than mere externals, since we are here to discuss Jason's first pop album since his pin-up heyday 15 years ago. Let It Be Me is a collection of mostly Fifties and Sixties pop classics and love songs, including 'Halfway to Paradise', a reprise of his own hit 'Sealed with a Kiss' and... well, you get the idea.

'This album isn't trying to be overly cool,' he says unnecessarily. 'I've always had a love affair with the three-and-a-half-minute pop song. I do think music can stimulate something in human beings. It speaks a language that I don't think any other entertainment form does. And I do think my voice has matured somewhat. I'm now in a position where I can walk into a room and feel pretty confident about singing as Jason Donovan.'

More importantly, for those of us who still cherish a soft spot for the man, the release of Let It Be Me symbolises Jason's own belated acceptance of his status as familyfriendly light entertainer (rather than, say, crazed rock god or edgy thesp). 'Look,' he says dryly, 'I'm 40.

You'd never guess that, until quite recently, Jason was a sad addition to the lengthy roll call of child stars whose adult careers had disintegrated into a welter of lurid headlines and artificial stimulants.

Jason's genes are pure showbiz. His father, Terry Donovan, is a respected Australian actor who himself starred in Neighbours for years as hapless builder Doug Willis. His mother, Sue McIntosh, was a former Benny Hill Angel who read the news for the ABC channel. Jason was their only child, and when he was four, his mother left the family home. There was a tug-of-war over Jason's custody which was won by Terry. It was a bitter split: the parents didn't speak for decades, and even Jason lost touch with his mother, who remarried and had another family. (Unbelievably, Jason's half-sister, Stephanie McIntosh, also got a role in Neighbours. 'My grandchildren will probably do it, too,' says Jason, laughing heartily.) For years, he only saw his mother's face if he switched on the television for the news. He says he's not sure how her departure affected him. 'Maybe there are certain elements - people might say, "You didn't get married too soon" - but it's something I can't really judge. I don't go home at night crying because my mother wasn't there.'

These days they have what he calls, sarcastically, 'an interesting relationship. But I don't feel bitter or resentful - life's too short. The wonderful thing about having children is that you begin to understand your parents' lives a bit more.'

Jason spent hours as a child hanging around on the set of various cop shows waiting for his father to finish work. So it can't have been a surprise when he announced that he, too, wanted to act. He won his first role aged 11, in an airline drama, Skyways, playing the brother of a young blonde moppet called Kylie Minogue. Seven years later, they were paired up again for the first series of Neighbours, to play hunky Scott and his dungaree-clad car mechanic girlfriend Charlene, their off-screen romance running in parallel. Jason is wary of talking about Kylie these days, doubtless fearing he will be accused of cashing in on her fame. He claims he doesn't really remember when they got together, but says she always had something special. 'She has a natural aptitude for performing; some people are born with it,' he says. 'Her star would have risen anyway but Neighbourswas her opportunity to develop.'

Anyway, their on-screen chemistry garnered them millions of fans worldwide, and when Kylie was snapped up by the pop factory of Stock Aitken and Waterman, Jason was their logical next signing: handsome, clean-cut, level-headed about fame and fortune. (To such a degree that, aged 18, he invested most of his $1,000-a-week pay packet in Melbourne property.) The pair were given a slushy joint hit, 'Especially For You', which Jason says 'took both of our careers into a different stratosphere' and also paved the way for future Neighbours graduates such as Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Valance. 'I don't necessarily think my days at Stock Aitken and Waterman were brilliant musically, but you can't mess with success,' he says. Jason's first album, Ten Good Reasons (1988), went platinum. In 1989, he was the biggest-selling artist in Britain and Europe.

But then Kylie shot out of Jason's league entirely, dumping him for INXS's Michael Hutchence, the authentic Aussie rock god that Jason longed to be. And, to add insult to injury, Jason was hired by Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Joseph in his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1991. Rock'n'roll it wasn't.