- Nick Parrish
-
Nick Parrish Home and Away character Portrayed by Bruce Roberts Introduced by Des Mongahan Duration 1991–94 First appearance 4 March 1991 Last appearance 10 June 1994 Classification Former; regular Profile Home Africa Occupation Police officer Family Father Philip Parrish Mother Ros Parrish Brothers Shane Parrish Nieces Shane Parrish Jr. Nicholas Jasper "Nick" Parrish is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Bruce Roberts.[1] He made his first appearance during the episode airing on 4 March 1991 and departed on 10 June 1994.
Storylines
Nick was a new member of the local police force who first moved to Summer Bay as Marilyn Chambers' lodger at the beach house. He was initially attracted to Marilyn but soon struck up a relationship with Julie Gibson, a young disabled woman. Julie was the sister of notorious local trouble maker Revhead, who was unhappy about his sister dating a police officer and tried to get Nick into trouble with his superiors. Nick and Julie made it through the incident but, despite supporting her when her father died, Nick realised he only saw Julie as a friend and broke up with her. Not long after, Julie left town to attend college.
Nick wasn't to remain single for long as Donald Fisher decided to play matchmaker between him and his niece Lucinda Croft, who was newly arrived in town. The pair soon started dating but, when Lou's brother David was killed in a car accident, she turned to her old boyfriend Ryan Lee, a friend of David's for comfort and broke up with Nick. Nick tried to bounce back by going out with another girl, Isabelle, but realised he still loved Lou. As she was about to leave town with Ryan, he went to the bus stop and asked her to marry him. Lou accepted and stayed with him.
Nick and Lou tried to find a place of their own but their plans fell through and they ended up having to stay in a caravan. Nick felt humiliated when Lou took a job on the council road gang to help support them but Donald eventually invited the couple to live with him when he moved house. When it was discovered that David's girlfriend, Sophie Simpson, was pregnant with his child, Nick helped advise her friend Simon Fitzgerald on how to handle things but was unhappy when Ryan also returned to town to support her.
Ryan began causing trouble for Nick and Lou, stealing a nude painting Lou had done of Nick and persuading Simon and his friend Blake Dean to display it in public. Nick received further complications when his teenage brother Shane arrived in town and began getting into trouble, including going for a joy ride in Donald's car. When someone started harrassing Ryan, stealing his car and breaking his window, Nick commented that if he caught the person responsible he'd shake their hand, but the remark got back to Ryan and he reported Nick. Nick found himself in an even more difficult position when it turned out Shane was responsible, having seen Ryan kissing Lou. When Lou admitted she'd slept with Ryan, Nick made an attempt to forgive her but was unable to contain his frustration when he missed out on a promotion at work because of the distractions. He and Lou broke up and Lou and Ryan left town separately.
The next person to attract his attention was Blake's sister Roxanne Miller. Blake was unhappy about the situation, thinking Nick was just on the rebound from Lou, but changed his mind when he saw Nick turn down a date with another girl. Nick again raced to a bus stop to talk Roxy into staying in town with him but ultimately the relationship only lasted a few weeks, as Nick was soon preoccupied when Shane was arrested for stealing from an old lady he had been helping for community service. Although initially uncertain, Nick soon realised his brother was innocent, having been set up by his classmate Tug O'Neale, and supported him in court. Shane was jailed but released when the truth came out.
Nick seemed to fade into the background somewhat after that, mainly serving as a parental figure for Shane and local policeman. He was Greg Marshall's confidante over his affair with Donald's housekeeper Fiona Harris and was involved in charging Adam Cameron over his role in the death of Greg's wife Bobby. He remained on good terms with Roxy, stepping in at the last minute to help her with a community play and to cover up some embarrassing photos an ex-boyfriend had had printed in a magazine.
Nick tried to get Shane on the straight and narrow by getting him work experience at the police station. However, the attempt backfired when Shane used Nick's password to access confidential police files and learned that his girlfriend Angel Brooks had a son.
Nick was involved in a minor car accident when Sam Marshall ran out in front of him. He was left needing physio and joined a yoga class where he became friendly with local teacher Beth Armstrong. The pair arranged a date but Nick was shocked when he was confronted by Tug, one of Beth's pupils, who revealed he and Beth were in love and would start a relationship once he left school. Nick spoke to Beth, who admitted there was some truth in the claim and ended up having to leave town. Nick himself followed suit, since his time off had led him to realise that he wanted to see more of the world. He took a posting in Africa and left town.
References
- ^ "Australian TV soap opera stars in UK pantomimes". National Library of Australia. http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/prompt/pantomim.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
External links
Categories:- Home and Away characters
- Fictional police officers
- Fictional characters introduced in 1991
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