Robert Hughes (Australian actor)

Robert Lindsay Hughes (born 19 August 1948) is an Australian actor whose most well known roles include ABBA: The Movie and the television sitcom Hey Dad..!

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Hughes first worked as a copy boy for the Sydney Morning Herald in the late 1960s. Hughes then moved into acting, playing a bumbling radio journalist Ashley Wallace in the 1977 film ABBA: The Movie. Later appearing in a number of theatrical and film productions, Hughes is best known as the architect father Martin Kelly, in the long-running Australian television series Hey Dad..! (1987 - 1993). Hughes quit the series one year before the final episode (1994), after an on-set dispute with co-star Julie McGregor.

Despite being the star of the series, Hughes has consistently declined to participate in reunions of the Hey Dad..! cast, including the a television special Where Are They Now in 2006 and a radio reunion on Brisbane station B105 FM in 2009.

Hughes left Australia in 2005 to reside in Singapore, where he worked as a voice actor in advertising campaigns.

Alleged misconduct and extradition

In March 2010, former Hey Dad..! co-star Sarah Monahan alleged in Woman's Day that a member of the show's staff had inappropriately touched her on the set of the television sitcom. The allegations were picked up by the news media, and another co-star, Ben Oxenbould, told a current affairs programme on 24 March 2010, that he had witnessed Hughes involved in an 'incident' with a girl under the age of 10 on the set. A further three more actors have come forward with similar accusations.

On 19 September 2012, Hughes was extradited to Australia following a court hearing London. He was formerly charged after arriving in Sydney, on eleven counts of child sexual abuse, and faces trial on 10 February 2014.