Neighbours favourite David Takana will find himself fighting for his life next week after a terrifying road accident...
Next week's Neighbours sees a huge stunt hit our screens as beloved character David Tanaka is caught up in a terrifying road accident that leaves him on death's door.
We caught up with the lovely Takaya Honda, who plays doctor David, to find out all the behind-the-scenes gossip from the Neighbours set.
Neighbours fans will be on the edge of their seats next week as David goes out for a late-night bike ride after a fight with husband Aaron, only to get hit by a speeding car.
Terese Willis is first on the scene after the accident, and David is in a bad way. Injured and unconscious, it is a race against time to get him to hospital before it's too late.
But when it is revealed that David has lost one of his kidneys it is a race to find him a donor, but as actor Takaya tells us, that's not as easy as it sounds... "David needs a kidney transplant, but no one around him is a match which apparently is quite common.
"There are three tests that you have to have done, I couldn't tell you what they are though, because I'm not a real doctor! It is a big waiting game and there are a lot of hurdles that need to be jumped over."
But while everyone is frantically trying to find David a new kidney, he is flatlining in his hospital bed... "This storyline was a lot of fun to play as an actor - someone being hit by a car and then having to deal with their own possible death is really interesting as it is not one that we usually have direct experience with."
But according to Takaya there is an upside of your character left fighting for their life in a hospital bed... "I loved it as I wasn't the one having to say the tricky medical words! But the bad thing for David is because he has his medical knowledge, he almost knows too much.
"Most people might be oblivious to how seriously ill they are, but he knows that his hopes are being shattered and needs to try and not lose his fight."
Takaya also admitted that the crash scenes are so hard to watch that he hasn't actually seen them himself yet... "I want to watch it at the same time as viewers and see it as they see it.
"Filming was really interesting... it was CGI and digital stuff, which often means you have to film it all in sections, but the small bits I have seen are brutal. The audience will be shocked, I was surprised I didn't have any broken bones from it!
"It's a brutal hit and it will be interesting to see how the audience react. There will be plenty of GIFs made of it! Lots gets watered down in Neighbours because of the time we are on, but this is a real measure of what the audience was willing to watch. It's not very Neighbours!"
Whether or not David's loved ones manage to find him a kidney remains to be seen, but things don't look good for the character in the lead up to Christmas. And Takaya has admitted that he would miss his character should he ever get written out... "It's hard not to love David," he jokes.
"But I will admit that he infuriates me with how easily he forgives people. It doesn't take long before he is the one apologising to them... he is just so nice!"
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 5.30pm on Channel 5
