Mark Halpin

Infobox soap character
name = Mark Halpin
series =Fair City
colour=#99CCCC;
first =
parents = Marty Halpin (father, deceased)
Tess Halpin (mother, deceased)
siblings = Damien Halpin (brother)
Laura Halpin (sister)
residence =
portrayer = Ryan O'Shaughnessy

Mark Halpin is a fictional character on the soap opera Fair City. The character is portrayed by Ryan O'Shaughnessy. [" [http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/mark.html] " "Fair City website". URL last accessed 2007-03-30]

Fictional character biography

Mark is Damien Halpin's brother. When his mother Tess moved to Carrigstown, he accompanied her, along with Laura and Damien. Tess had left England to escape the clutches of her abusive husband. Laura and Damien remembered the terrible times, but young Mark could only remember the good times. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for Tess' family, but then Marty turned up in Carrigstown. He explained that he was doing work there as part of his construction job. Marty eventually manipulated Tess, Mark and Laura into believing that he had changed, but Damien remained suspicious. His fears proved to be true, when Marty found himself arguing with Tess shortly after they remarried. Although Marty had been going to anger management classes, he lost control of his temper and knocked Tess out. Horrified that he had killed her, a devastated Marty told Damien that he was sorry and drove off in his car. The Gardaí chased after him, but he exited the car and jumped off a bridge where he committed suicide. In the aftermath of the two deaths, Damien and Laura decided not to tell Mark the truth about what happened. Mark soon discovered that Marty murdered Tess and became infuriated with his family. Damien allowed Mark to work in the Molloy garage business. It seemed that everything was going smoothly for Mark, but it soon became apparent that he was being intimidated by two bullies named Tom and Doug. When Mark was walking down a street, the bullies stole his mobile phone and took note of his number. Damien's friend Suzanne appeared on the scene, causing them to give the phone back to Mark. When Mark told Suzanne that the bullies were only "messing" with him, she realised that he was being bullied and informed Damien about the bullying. When Mark left his mobile phone in a room, Damien looked at it and was shocked to see a message on it. The bullies had texted Mark, claiming that he had a "gay haircut". Damien told Mark to stand up to the bullies, but Tom and Doug warned a terrified Mark that no one can stop the culture of bullying. They ordered him to do their homework for one night, making Mark's day a misery in the process. When Damien encouraged Mark to go to the local boxing club, he was intrigued by the boxers and was interested in doing some boxing exercises, but he found himself doing homework for hours due to the bullies' intervention. Unfortunately, although Mark managed to finish Tom and Doug's homework, he was unable to finish his own, drawing him into conflict with his teacher Sarah. Since he was sitting next to the bullies, a terrified Mark decided not to inform Sarah about the bullying and Sarah berated him for not doing his homework. Determined to teach Tom and Doug a lesson they would never forget, Mark began training at the boxing club to make himself stronger. Infuriated that the bullies set up a website to ridicule him, Mark told Suzanne about the website and revealed that he had no friends. Suzanne subsequently informed Damien about this. A worried Damien told Sarah about the bullying. The school principal, Kieran, warned Tom and Doug that he doesn't tolerate bullying. The website was banned from the school computers and the bullies were given detention. After finishing their detention, Tom and Doug confronted Mark and ridiculed him, claiming that he depends on his older brother to fight his own battles. Infuriated by the bullies' ignorance, Mark decided to continue his boxing exercises and use his newfound skills to ensure their demise. After learning the robes from his coach Gerry, Mark confronted Tom and Doug outside McCoys at night. Angered that they were preparing to bully him again, Mark punched Doug in the nose, just as Suzanne and Sarah approached the pub! Mark subsequently ran away. The next day, Kieran summoned Mark and Damien to his office. Kieran warned an unfazed Mark that he doesn't tolerate violence. Tom delivered Doug's death threat to Mark. Tom and Doug challenged Mark to a fight, declaring that they alone deserved the mantle of fighter in the school. With the help of his new friend Adam, Mark forced them to retreat, destroying the culture of bullying in the process. The students celebrated as peace returned to the school. However, scaring away Tom and Doug proved to be too intoxicating for Mark. A triumphant Mark quit his boxing exercises and began picking fights at every opportunity to demonstrate his authority. He knocked out a lad, Sean Cassidy, for kissing Roisin, a girl that he fancied, at a school disco, and he has engaged in "friendly" fights with Adam. The students were shocked to see the two "friends" fighting each other, but they dismissed the fight as a fun hobby. After challenging a gang of older brothers, an overpowered Mark employed a different tack, establishing his own fight club and choosing students his own age to fight with in a dip at school. When Kieran and Sarah became suspicious of fights being held at school, they sent letters to parents and guardians, warning them about the fights. With the teachers on patrol, Mark decided that the fights would be held at night instead of during school hours. When Mark defeated Vinny in a fight, he chose Gina's son Sean as his next opponent. Sean's friend Pat tried to persuade him to back out, but Sean refused to listen, maintaining that he would be able to avoid Mark's attacks. Convinced that his friend was making a terrible mistake, Pat told Sarah and Kieran about the arranged fight. As night fell, Mark and Sean fought each other, but tragedy stroke when Mark accidentally knocked Sean unconscious. Fearing that Sean was dead, Mark and the club members ran away as Sarah and Kieran arrived at the dip. Sarah saw Mark in the distance and recognized him. As the unconscious Sean was taken to hospital, a horrified Gina heard about the fight from Sarah and Kieran. Thinking that Sean had died, Mark decided to lay low for a few days to avoid being arrested by the Gardaí for murder. Damien became worried when he found Mark gone, and went to Kieran, who told him that Mark was probably involved in the fight. After Adam persuaded Mark to go home, Damien became frustrated with him, and was scolded by Suzanne because "it's not the way to act". Making matters worse, Sean told his mother and Niamh that the fight wasn't planned and Mark just hit him, but Damien was later told that Mark would not be charged, but would instead be assigned a juvenile liaison officer. Damien blew up at Mark about the fight, but Mark insisted it was an accident.

Becoming infuriated, Gina told Niamh that she was pressing charges against Mark, who was suspended from school for a month. Niamh urged her to talk to Sean first, who confessed that he had agreed to fight Mark. Suzanne becomes worried that Damien is too strict with Mark and confronts him, but is shocked when Damien takes Mark on holiday with him. Later, Mark agreed to drop out of the holiday so that Suzanne could go with Sarah. He later received his Junior Cert results, and was happy with them, as were Roisin and Adam. The gang arranged to go out and celebrate, but Mark had to sneak Roisin into his house afterwards, as she was too drunk to go home. Damien found out, but was impressed with Mark's maturity when he reassured him that he did not sleep with Roisin.

After Rita was admitted to hospital, Mark offered to help in Rainbows to give Damien and Suzanne some peace of mind. Soon after, the class was a project which Adam, and later Mark became involved in.

References