‘The Young and the Restless’ Interview: Michael E Knight Talks Jill Farren Phelps, Dr. Neville Y&R Role and Staying Around

“All My Children” fans were elated when Tad Martin showed up recently in Genoa City. Only he isn’t Tad anymore; his name is Dr. Neville. Michael Fairman sat with the soap opera legend, Michael E Knight and talk with him about his newest home, “The Young and the Restless.”

After five years of absence in daytime, Knight is back with a vengeance. He has over thirty years of experience and has acted with many of the regular contract players on “Y&R” – like Melissa Claire Egan and Peter Bergman. He looks to the future, and he admits it looks a little brighter than it did a few months ago.

Michael said that he was just now getting in the acting groove again after being absent for five years. He said, “My day was filmed with Kristoff, which was great. He made me laugh the whole day. Y&R is truly the easiest place to work. I just did a scene with Steve Burton. I felt a little awestruck because I have been a fan of Steve Burton’s forever. It helps that he is the nicest man in the world.”

Michael Knight said the only reason he agreed to do the part was Jill Farren Phelps. He noted, “She has been a very dear friend for a very long time. She has done five soaps in her career; all were highly successful. The only thing I was told was, they needed an older character who was very eccentric. I knew I could do the role, based on that alone.

He also noted that the writing at “Y&R” is amazing. He said, “Over here on Y&R, it is a well-oiled machine. There isn’t a lot of meandering and not a lot of fats- it is all full of acting. The scripts are a FULL 12 pages shorter than they were at AMC. I might add a word here and there, but typically the script is perfect as is.”

Michael added that originally, he was cast for ten episodes only- and they extended it to an unknown amount of episodes, right now. He explained,” Originally, I was cast for ten episodes. When they asked if I was interested in sticking around longer, I didn’t hesitate to say, absolutely.”

Michael Knight added, “Dr. Neville is a doctor, who is a little off, but extremely brilliant. He has a lot of confidence in his work and doesn’t do well with people, exactly. And, he has no tolerance for fools. He has built his career working with coma patients, so for him Hilary’s [Mishael Morgan] case is intriguing. It’s not about the money, but about solving her case.”

Michael notes that he stepped into quite a mess with Hilary, Neil [Kristoff St. John [and Gwen [Nadine Nicole]. “He managed to wake her up, but there’s no telling how Neil’s sloppy medical care affected Hilary long-term,” he explains.

Michael Knight noted he was happy to be working in a daytime again and thrilled; he is working alongside Chuck Pratt. He also said that he would love for Dr. Neville to connect with other Genoa City residents and possibly even connect with a leading lady. “The Young and the Restless” fans, are you enjoying Dr. Neville? So you see him lasting long-term in Genoa City?

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