Jesse Spencer thought he'd made a bad career move by playing heart-throb Billy Kennedy in Neighbours but the Aussie soap proved to be a sprinboard for success.

The story goes that when Oscar-nominated Cate Blanchett was asked, as film writers always inquire of people from Down Under making a name for themselves in Hollywood, if she had ever appeared in Neighbours. "No, I'm an actress," she is claimed to have replied.

She may not have actually uttered those words - and I don't see the star of Elizabeth, Charlotte Gray and Veronica Guerin as one to be unkind about her fellow performers - but they do reflect how many regard the Aussie soap, which is shown on BBC1.

There's a snobbish feeling that sees it regarded as in a different league from our homegrown soaps like Coronation Street and EastEnders, and is often subjected to the same dismissive abuse as Crossroads. It's as if Neighbours is somehow inferior because (a) it's shown during the day and (b) it's Australian.

But the Ramsay Street soap has provided a springboard to fame for many a young Aussie performer since the now-familiar theme tune was first heard in 1986. Russell Crowe, an Oscar-winner for Gladiator, did a short stint in Neighbours but his LA Confidential co-star Guy Pearce was a regular for some time as clean-cut Mike Young back in the early days.

Mark Little (Joe Mangel) brought his stand-up comedy act over here, and now lives in this country. Craig McLachlan (Henry Mitchell) starred in Bugs on BBC1. Peter O'Brien (Shane Ramsay) has worked steadily on TV, including Queer As Folk, and Daniel MacPherson (Joel Samuels) is now a regular on ITV's The Bill.

Neighbours actors have also done rather well in the musical field. Some, like Kylie Minogue, have enjoyed longer pop lives than others (think Jason Donovan). Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Valance are others whose chart success followed residency in Ramsay Street. Eighteen-year-old Delta Goodrem is one of the latest to combine appearing in Ramsay Street with the music charts.

The latest Erinsborough exile to reach Hollywood is Jesse Spencer, who played heart-throb Billy Kennedy. He has a US movie, Uptown Girl, opposite Brittany Murphy, awaiting release. He also stars in the Australian film Swimming Upstream, alongside two of that country's most illustrious actors, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis.

Before those reach cinema screens, he'll be seen on BBC1 in the latest PD James Adam Dalgleish adaptation, Death In Holy Orders. The detective has not only changed channels but his face. In this two-parter Martin Shaw takes over the role of the poetry-writing sleuth from Roy Marsden.

Spencer joins an impressive cast - including Robert Hardy, Julia McKenzie and Alan Howard - in a murder mystery set in a theological college. He plays Raphael, a young ordinand whose mysterious past is connected to the series of murders most foul.

The actor, who previously appeared in the BBC production of Lorna Doone, didn't even flinch when he was required to swim naked in the North Sea in winter for scenes in the drama. "It really wasn't that bad," he says. "I didn't have a wet suit or anything. It was just me and the sea. I'd never done a nude scene before, but I found it completely liberating. I surf back home in Melbourne in the winter, and it's pretty cold. Not quite as cold as it was in the North Sea, but still decidedly chilly.

"In Australia, I always wear a wet suit. This, however, was an altogether different experience. When I first dived in, I thought it was going to be all right, but the waves and the temperatures absolutely whacked me. I just had to keep swimming, but I felt as though I'd been winded, breathing was a real struggle.

"The more I swam, the warmer I became. I went on to do it twice again. Once you're swimming, it's a wonderful feeling. The natural rush of it is fantastic."

The Norfolk coast is a long way from Ramsay Street, but Spencer admits to struggling to shake off the part of Billy Kennedy. He had a fantastic time during four years in Neighbours, despite having to be persuaded to take the part by his parents in the first place.

"I didn't think it was a sensible career move," he says. "But my parents convinced me to take it. At the end of the day, they were right. But it's taken me a few years to persuade people that I'm not really Billy Kennedy."

He could have ended up a doctor. He was offered a place to read medicine at Melbourne University, but decided to defer his place and pursue acting instead. He didn't go to drama school but, at 12, did some musical theatre, having been in the choir at school, and then came the Neighbours job offer.

He may not have found the nude swimming scene difficult in the murder mystery but the role presented other challenges. He found it harder to learn plainsong - the style of unaccompanied choral music used in the medieval church, especially in Gregorian chant - and sing in Latin than appearing naked. "Maybe the hardest thing of all was a scene in which my character reads aloud from Trollope's Barchester Towers," he says.

"I found the language and the stilted English almost impenetrable. Of course, it's nice and easy for the rest of the cast, the majority of whom have been practically brought up with Shakespeare, but I found it painfully tough. Swimming naked in the North Sea was a doddle by comparison."

* Death In Holy Orders will be shown on BBC1 later this month.