Stuart Parker (Neighbours)
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| Stuart Parker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First appearance | 2001 |
| Last appearance | 2006 |
| Cause/Reason | To continue life with his wife on his parents farm in Oakey |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Police Constable |
| Title | PC |
| Relationships | Sindi Watts |
| Relatives | Ned Parker (brother) |
| Portrayed by | Blair McDonough |
Stuart Richard Parker was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Blair McDonough. He first appeared on the show in late 2001, continuing until April 2006. As a policeman, he was often involved in any criminal incidents in Ramsey Street, sometimes have to choose between his job and his friends. He is also remebered for his four year tenure at number 30, along with Toadfish Rebecchi and Connor O'Neil during which time the house became known at "The House of Trouser".
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[edit] Arrival & Flick Scully
Stuart Parker first appeared at a rodeo in his hometown of Oakey which was being attended by Drew Kirk, a childhood friend of Stu's older brother Stevo, and his partner Libby in December 2001. Stu spent much of the day trying to convince fellow mechanic Drew to find him a job, but Drew was distracted and later the pair went looking for Libby, who had gone into labour whilst trapped in a barn.
Soon after the rodeo, Stuart arrived unexpectedly in Erinsborough. He was unwilling to reveal his reasons for leaving Oakey, but managed to talk Libby and Drew into letting him sleep on their sofa. He immediately took an interest in the local women, in particualar Flick Scully and Dione Bliss. Stu also found a job at Lou Carpenter's Carpenter Mechanics alongside Drew. After a few false starts, Stuart and Dione started dating. However, Stuart had outstayed his welcome at the flat, as Libby tried to adjust to baby Ben's arrival, and so he moved out. For a few weeks, Stuart tried to avoid giving out his address and inviting people over, until Dee discovered him sleeping on the floor of the garage. Feeling sorry for him, she offered him the couch at Number 30, an arrangement that became permanent when Matt Hancock moved out. Here Stu began to forge a close friendship with Toadfish Rebecchi.
With his relationship with Dee was already on shaky ground, Stu revealed the reason he had left Oakey - the night before his wedding, he had caught his fiancee in bed with his best friend. His fiancee Tracey Slattery turned up shortly after this revelation but Stuart gave her the cold shoulder and though she soon returned to Oakey it spelled the end of his relationship with Dee. To make matters worse, Stuart was then humiliated by Damian, Tracy's brother, when he came to Erinsborough to get revenge, leaving Stu naked and handcuffed to Toadie's car. Stu had further brushes with public nudity when he agreed to pose for Rosie Hoyland's Hunks of Erinsborough calendar, in aid of the church, and when he lost bet with Steph Scully, the forefit being that he had to streak in a tutu along Lassiter's Lake.
Not long after, Stuart proved himself to be a good friend to Flick when it emerged that she had been romantically involved with her sister, Steph's, fiancee on their wedding day. With everone else furious with Flick, Stuart followed her when she fled to Sydney, offering her a shoulder to cry on. During this period Stu was developing feelings for her, but he realised it would benefit nobody to reveal this, so he brought her back to Erinsborough to face up to things. Unfortunately, helping out Flick led to Stuart losing his job at the garage, as Drew strongly disapproved of what she had done. On top of this Flick, realising that Stu had feelings for her, tried to let him down gently, leaving Stuart embarassed and contemplating his future in Erinsborough.
Stuart had often thought about joining the army, and, having applied the year before, his time limit to accept a place was about to expire. He decided, with nothing left to lose, to move away and enrol. Whilst there he met Ray Milsome, who on his leave, went to Erinsborough and caused trouble for Dee and Toadie. Stu was unhappy in the army from the beginning, clashing with his sergeant. However, he proved very good at the assault courses. Nevetheless, when his time came to either sign up for five years or leave, Stuart decided to head back to Erinsborough, and soon began work at the hospital as a porter.
When Flick went to travel around the USA with Tad Reeves, Stuart began to develop a close friendship with her sister, Steph. The two of them found they had a lot in common and began hanging out. Stuart helped Steph when her ex-boyfriend, Mitch Foster, set her up as an accomplice to robbery. They shared one impulsive kiss, but both were quite embarassed and never spoke about it. Regardless, Flick's return caused tension as she had realised she had feelings for Stuart, but thought, like most people, that he was now more interested in Steph. In an attempt to get over both of them, Stuart began seeing Amanda Cooper, a girl who he had met in Lou's pub after recognising him from his calendar picture. However, Amanda lost interest when it became clear that Stuart was still infatuated with Flick.
Stuart was devastated in mid-2002 when Drew was killed in a horse-riding incident, espeically since he had once witnessed a man die from a riding fall. They had grown up together and while in Oakey for the funeral, Stuart promised Libby that he would always be there for her. Returning to Erinsborough, Stuart decided to quit his job at the hospital and he and fellow mechanic Steph's worked to keep Carpenters Mechanics in business. After Stuart received the loan of a limousine as payment for some repairs, Flick saw a business opportunity. After persuading Chloe Lambert, Stu started a limo hire service to rival the existing one at Lassiter's. This led to Flick and Stu sharing a kiss after a night out in the limo, then sharing a night in it after running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere. After this they began a short relationship which ended when Flick applied for a job at the Lassiter's branch in New York with her sister Michelle. Stu was upset, but decided to make the most of their final few weeks together. The pair went away on a camping trip in the bush. However, Flick had only recently passed her driving test and was quite nervous on the roads. She lost concentration for a few seconds and the camper van came off the road and was left teetering precariously on the edge of a steep cliff. Flick managed to climb out the back, but the van tipped over with Stuart still inside and rolled down the hillside, smashing into pieces as it went.
Fortunately, Stuart escaped with only injuries after originally thinking his arm was broken. However, trapped in the bush and with rain setting in, Stu and Flick were forced to make a shelter and carry on searching for help in the morning. They eventually found a cabin, but Stuart was suffering from hypothermia and Flick was forced to perform first aid techniques to restore the blood flow. After a night in the cabin, a bush ranger found them and they were taken to hospital. Here, Flick learnt that Michelle had cancelled her trip to New York and resolved to stay in Erinsborough. Stuart was not happy as, while he wanted Flick to stay, he did not want to be responsible for her missing out on such a lucrative opportunity. And so, they spent their last few days together. On her final day in Erinsborough, Stuart surprised Flick by proposing, she accepted. The next day, Stu joined the Scully family at the airport to say goodbye, but at the last minute Flick realised she had left the ring at home. Stuart rushed back to Number 26 to get it, being stopped for speeding, but just making it back in time to say goodbye to Flick. Stuart then spent hours on the phone to Flick. However, when he received photographs from her, seeing her pictured with other men he decided to go to New York when money would allow this.
[edit] Libby Kennedy
Meanwhile he was spending more and more time with Libby Kennedy and baby Ben, in accordance with his promise to Drew. Libby's parents Susan and Karl noticed how much time Stuart was spending with their daughter and how reliant they were becoming on each other. They tried to discourage them from spending so much time together, suggesting that Libby had not truly dealt with the loss of Drew. When Stuart found out that Drew had visited a jeweller and put aside a ring for Libby, he went and paid off the final installment, although Susan and Karl told him not to tell Libby. However, after a moving speech about missing Drew on her birthday, Stu gave her the ring. Libby's parents were annoyed and Susan told Stuart to back off a bit. Libby was annoyed when she found out about this and told them that she would choose who she spent time with. However, one afternoon when he was looking after Ben, the baby called him "Dada", leaving Stuart in an embarassing situation. Stu chose not to tell Libby about the incident.
Later on that day, he got a phonecall from Flick. Afterwards, he realised they had grown apart and admitted to Libby that he thought he had made a mistake getting engaged. Soon after, he decided to write a letter to Flick, explaining his decision, but he found this diffcult. Then he recieved phone-call, with the mystery caller saying that they knew his "dirty little secret". Stuart quickly dismissed it, but was surprised when Max Hoyland brought his children Summer - who he had befriended since Drew's death - and Boyd around to apologise. Stuart quickly made sure that the Hoyland children had plenty of chores to do at number 30.
Meanwhile, Stuart found that Libby was beginning to distance herself slightly from him. The situation was further aggravated when Ben called Stuart "Dada" again, this time infront of Susan, Karl and Libby herself. This forced Libby to almost completely cut her ties with Stuart. During this time Stuart himself made the decision to phone Flick in New York and tell her that the engagement was off. Fortunately, Flick had also been having second thoughts and their split was amicable. Joe Scully, unaware of this, did not take the news well and was angry with Stuart. Stuart decided to take the opportunity, now that he was a free man, to tell Libby how he felt. Libby was horrified by Stuart's declaration of love and told him it was too soon after Drew's death for her even to consider seeing someone else. Stuart and Libby kept out of each other's way, until one evening at the pub when they were both in the same place at the same time. The atmosphere was tense between them and Stuart realised that the situation was not going to change for a while. Soon after, his mother rang from Oakey and his plans for a holiday in the sun were shattered when she announced that she wanted him to spend his holiday from work back home in the country.
Upon his return from Oakey, Stuart found that Connor O'Neil had moved in and that number 30 had dubbed it "The House Of Trouser". Fully embracing the blokey spirit, Stuart showed that he had become used to being waited on by his mother as used Connor as his personal waiter. Soon after, country boy Stu was surprised to find a horse wandering around the street. When he met the owner - Kat Riley - he became infatuated.
After a few dates, Stu began to find life difficult with the competative Kat, who was talented at sports and regularly beat him at darts and pool. On top of this, her close friendship woth other men made Stu jelous. After ending their relationship he proceeded to play "hard to get", hoping that he could reverse the roles in the relationship, with little success. Meanwhile, Stu was also finding it hard running the garage on his own, so he decided to advertise for an apprentice. Steph dropped many hints that she would love the job, but Stuart told her that he did not think he would get much work done with her around.
[edit] Dee's Death
Soon afterwards, Dee was lost at sea on the day of her wedding to Toadie after the breaks failed on their car and it went over a cliff. The memorial service made him think, and he decided to offer her Steph apprenticeship after all. Stu also proved a great support for Toadie, but was in for a huge shock when he found himself under suspicion as the police report revealed that the car Toadie was driving had not been roadworthy.
Toadie was quick to place blame on Stu and threw him out of number 30. After staying with friends for a while, he agreed to move into a flat with Libby and Ben. After Stu was found innocent of any wrongdoing at the hearing into Dee's death, Toadie decided to sue his former friend himself. Luckily, Toadie's mother Angie returned, having been told by Connor that Toadie was an emotional wreak, and convinced him that lashing out at his friends would not bring Dee back. Toadie apoligised to Stuart, and when Steph needed somewhere to stay, she moved into Libby's flat, so Stu returned to number 30.
[edit] Life Mechanics
After meeting hippy Kaveesha Jones, Stuart decided she was the girl for him and pretended to be interested in yoga and vegetarianism to win her over. After a few weeks of keeping up the pretence, she invited him along to the "One World" festival. However, Kaveesha overheard Stu talking to Connor about his fake interest in the environment and she promptly dumped him. Outside, Stuart met Jonathan Verne, who explained that he would be giving a talk later, about his "Life Mechanics" group. When Stu listened to his words, he found himself relating to the idea of getting back in control of his life and not letting people walk all over him. While several of his friends scoffed at the idea, claiming he had joined a cult, Stu was spending more and more time with Jonathan.
After dragging Taj Coppin along to several of the meetings, Stuart found himself getting in deeper, donating money and upset when his friend started asking questions. When Taj decided to leave the group, he tried to convince Stuart to go too, but Stu took one look at Jonathan and stayed put. As the weeks went on, Stuart’s involvement with "Life Mechanics" caused disagreements with his friends and neighbours. Harold Bishop in particular was not happy when Stu tried to hand out leaflets in the coffee shop, while Susan heard about the group from Taj and voiced her concerns to Stuart. He accused Susan of interfering in something she did not understand. Meanwhile, Stuart had been running his own meetings as a favour to Jonathan. When he learnt that people were being "planted" at the meetings to drum up donations, Stu was annoyed, but he continued his talks none-the-less, stating that he did not need any "plants" at his meetings. When Susan came along to one of his meetings, however, and started asking lots of awkward questions, Stuart was angry and upset that she would humiliate him like that. He went to the Kennedy house and accused her of attempting to ruin his happieness.
When concerned friends tried to get him out of the group, Stuart decided he had no other option but to move out of number 30. Jonathan was quick to offer him a room, which quickly turned into Stuart house-sitting while Jonathan went interstate for a while. Stuart agreed to become the state leader for the division of "Life Mechanics" and signed a contract. With Jonathan gone, Stu began to enjoy his new position of authority and struck up a relationship with Natasha, one of the girls from a "Life Mechanics" meeting. Meanwhile, Toadie sent his old friend Tony Simpson to interview Stuart for the newspaper he worked on. This was the beginning of the end as, a few days later, a group of journalists turned up on Stu's doorstep demanding answers about "Life Mechanics." It seemed that Jonathan had been conning money out of people all over the country, then vanishing. Stuart tried in vain to find Jonathan, but quickly realised he had been scammed. Embarassed, he retreated into himself for a while, before attempting to build bridges with his old friends. To begin with, only Taj would give Stu the time of day and tracked him down to Lassiter's carpark. With nowhere left to go, Stuart was now living by candlelight in his car.
[edit] Jamie Clarke
Taj and Connor found their friend a home at Taj's uncle's caravan park. While staying there, Stuart found himself the victim of a young thief, who would steal food through the window. Stuart was not particularly bothered, until the boy stole his comic books. He then gave chase and they ended up having a drink and bite to eat together. The boy introduced himself as Clarkey and his dog as Scruffy. After a few more chats, Stuart realised that the boy was Jamie Clarke who the Kennedys had been searching for. He was a former resident of Ramsey Street and Susan and Karl, who had found share certificates under their kitchen lino which belonged to him, had been searching for the boy for some time. Jamie a visit the Kennedy house, but was reluctant when realised that as he was under 18, he needed the permission of his father, Des, to claim the shares. Stuart was confused by Jamie's refusal to get in contact with his father. The pair had a falling out when Jamie found newspaper stories about "Life Mechanics" and wondered if Stuart was simply using him to get to his money. The boys made up and Jamie confided that his father was in a psychiatric hospital after suffering from a mental breakdown. He explained that he had been sent to a home, where he had been the target of abuse by the older boys. With Christmas approaching, Stuart eventually convinced Jamie to get in contact with Des, and, with some help from Harold, Jamie returned to Adelaide, leaving Scruffy in the care of Stuart.
[edit] Officer Parker
Toadie - who had remained reluctant to make amends with Stuart after the "Life Mechanics" incident - was impressed with Stuart's behaviour. The two friends shared a few beers and Toadie invited Stu to spend Christmas with the Rebecchi family in Colac. Upon their return, they helped Taj to win a job on a film in Sydney, leaving an empty room at number 30 so Stu could move back in. Having finally quit in his job at the garage, Stuart resorted to fixing cars for friends in the driveway of number 30, leading to Lou reporting him for using a residential property for business. When a police officer arrived to investigate, Connor quickly saved Stuart from any further trouble by lying that his friend was in the process of applying to join the police. The officer took Stuart out for a drink and told him about life in the force, leading to Stuart seriously considering the idea. After visiting an open day, Stuart decided that he would apply and set about training for his medical.
However, Stuart did not have an easy ride and crossed paths with Senior Constable Allan Steiger. Steiger was unimpressed with Stuart's history of quitting his garage and hospital jobs, as well as the army, and his involvement with "Life Mechanics". It was soon obvious that Stuart would have to work hard to prove himself. As Steiger tried to show that Stu wasn’t a team player, it only made Stuart more determined to prove him wrong. When Stuart was then assigned to keep watch over a young streaker during a riot at a football game, he was annoyed to find out that the troublesome boy was actually Toadie's cousin, Scott Timmins. While awaiting trial for the incident, Scott stayed at number 30 and he and Stu were often at loggerheads. It seemed that things were improving when Stuart managed to complete a tough driving course, but the final straw came when Steiger humiliated Stuart during a self-defence class. Stuart snapped and punched Steiger before walking out. Luckily, Steiger visited him at home and managed to convince him not to give up.
When Toadie mysteriously vanished shortly afterwards, Stu was the only person who found it to be strange. Whilst everyone else thought he was probably just trying to clear his head, Stuart was convinced that Rocco Cammeniti was involved. His obsession with this led to problems at home and at work, as Stuart forced his suspicions on everyone around him, and tried to get the police to probe further into Rocco's affairs. Whilst Stuart was back on track with his training, and looked set to qualify as an officer, he began to risk it all in order to learn the truth about Toadie. Mysterious emails began arriving, apparently from Toadie, telling everyone not to worry about him, but Stuart, and also, gradually, Toadie's girlfriend, Sindi Watts, remained unconvinced. Eventually, the proof they needed came from Libby, when she returned to Erinsborough from Adelaide. She stopped at a small country hospital with Ben, where she bumped into Rocco, unaware of who he was. Seeing a photograph that Sindi had, Libby explained where she had met the man, and Stu and Sindi set off to the hospital, where they found both Toadie and Rocco. Toadie was in a coma, following a car accident, while Rocco attempted to make a run for it. Stuart managed to catch him and arrest him, which seemed to stop his seniors from completely throwing him off the course. Unfortunately, his trip to the country had meant that he missed his final exam, but Steiger, showing rare sympathy, allowed him to re-sit, and he passed.
Stuart's first day as a police officer saw him paired up with Senior Constable Olivia McPherson. They got well, and she helped him through his awkward first days, as he struggled to deal with informing relatives of accidents, and managed to pull over every car he saw for the smallest of reasons. Stuart was also beginning to develop a crush on Olivia, finding her easy to talk to, but realised that as colleagues, nothing could happen between them. Not long after starting work, Stuart saw Olivia accepting a package from a man in a car park, but wrote it off as nothing, not wanting to cause trouble in his first few weeks on the job. Stuart admitted to Jack Scully that he was falling for his boss at work, and Jack encouraged Stu to go for it. Stuart found this awkward, as Olivia avoided his invitations out to clubs as friends and was shocked when he asked if they could spend more time together "out of uniform". He then had to deal with the realisation that he had crossed the line with his colleague.
However, it was soon revaled that Olivia had been partying and taking drugs with Jack Scully, resulting in jock being in a car crash while still suffering the effects of drugs. Olivia stopped seeing Jack and moved on to Stuart. He was thrilled to have finally won her affections, despite the fact that it caused some problems at work. However, as their relation grew more and more intense, she found it difficult to deceive him, and told him that she’d been involved in some building site robberies. She explained to Stuart that she had started going out partying more and more to forget her work, but had gotten herself into so much debt that she had been forced to become corrupt. Stuart sat on this information for a few days, but in the end, he was unable to keep it from his bosses. He reported her, despite the advice of his seniors, and Olivia left the police force, and Stuart's life. During their last moments together, she told him that she still admired his integrity. Unfortunately, Stuart's colleagues frowned upon "dobbers", and morale began to suffer. In the end, despite his protests, Stuart was told by Allan Steiger to take a few weeks off and let the whole thing blow over.
Returning to work, Stuart found himself with a new partner, Peter Parthimos. Peter made it clear from the outset that although they were colleagues, they would never be friends. When Peter stepped outside of the law to threaten a criminal, he accused Stuart of running straight to their superiors, but Stu quickly made it clear that it wasn’t something he made a habit of. This proved to be a turning point in their relationship, and things finally began to settle down for Stu at work.
[edit] Sindi Watts
At home, however, relations were proving to be difficult. Stuart had never made a secret of his dislike for Toadie's girlfriend, Sindi, but their constant arguments were proving tiresome for everyone else. With Toadie and Sindi's relationship on the rocks, she found Stuart in the garage one night after they’d had a barbeque. As they found themselves having another fight which unexpectedly ended with a kiss. Stuart tried to put the whole thing behind him, so he was surprised when a guilty Sindi admitted everything to Toadie. Toadie was furious and took it all out on Stu, telling him to move out once more. However, since Toadie, Stu and Connor had bought the house from Lou, Stu announced that he was going to stay, despite the terrible atmosphere in the house. When Toadie and Sindi got back together and an uneasy truce was called, it seemed that things were finally getting back to normal – until Stu admitted to Connor that he had fallen for Sindi.
After Toadie then dumped Sindi during a weekend away, Stuart made sure that he was there for her. Before long, the three of them found themselves caught up in a siege at the local Pacific Bank. When the robber, Glen Richards, forced Sindi to choose one of the hostages – Toadie or Stu – to remain in the bank, she picked Stuart. He tried desperately to keep his identity as a cop a secret, but when Richards turned the radio on, he heard a report and his cover was blown. Luckily, Stuart managed to talk the man round and the siege ended peacefully, with Stu being hailed a local hero and receiving a cheque from the bank. In the meantime, Sindi and Stu could no longer resist each other and had begun a secret affair, hoping to wait a while before breaking the news to Toadie.
[edit] Blindness
They decided that they would have to tell Toadie eventually, but every opportunity seemed to be overshadowed by something else. Fate then stepped in, as a huge fire broke out at the pub and Stuart was forced to race in and rescue an unconscious Sindi. The pub collapsed with the two of them trapped inside, and Toadie forced the rescuers not to give up. Finally, Sindi managed to get her phone and she got in touch with Toadie. Sindi and Stu were rescued, but that was not the end of their problems, as Stuart had severe injuries to his eyes. Toadie saw them together, and realised that they had been seeing each other, but he didn’t stand in their way. When released from hospital, Stuart decided to move into number 28 with Sindi, where she could look after him as he waited to have the bandages removed from his eyes. Although the doctors warned him that there was only a 50% chance of his sight being fully recovered, Stu was determined to carry on as normally as possible. When he overheard a known criminal talking on his phone outside Grease Monkeys, he tried to get Sindi to help him follow the man. Unfortunately, the followed the wrong person and ended up assaulting a local barrister, but Stu's bosses were very understanding. This was little comfort to Stuart though, and served as a blow to his self-confidence.
As depression began to sink in, Stuart walked out one day with the intention of going to the beach. However, the bus driver did not tell him when it was his stop and he ended up lost and stranded. As he argued with Sindi on the phone, he wandered into the road and was clipped by a passing car. Although his injuries were minor, he ended up taking his frustrations out on Sindi, accusing her of being to blame for everything, since it was rescuing her that had caused his blindness. After briefly splitting up, with Stuart moving back to number 30, they patched things up. Stuart then showed Sindi a talking scanner that he’d received on loan and she was determined to raise the cash to buy him one. Soon after, Stuart became suspicious of Sindi's behaviour and noticed that she smelt of cigarettes and alcohol, forcing her to admit that she had returned to her old lap-dancing club to raise money. He forced her to quit, which she did, but he then found out that there was an operation available to him that could restore his sight – but it would cost $50,000.
Determined that Stu would see again, Sindi arranged to spend one night with an old client, Gary Evans, to raise a large chunk of the cash. Although she only told Carmella Cammeniti of her plans, it was not long before Stuart realised that something was going on and got the information. He and Toadie went there to find Sindi emerging from the room clutching a cheque. A disgusted Stuart promptly told her that he never wanted to see her again but, after a chat with Connor, had a change of heart. He found out that Sindi had actually flipped a coin with Gary to determine what would happen, and she had not slept with him after all. He also found out that Sindi had given the cheque to Harold for charity and that they had no chance of getting it back. Realising what had happened, Liljana Bishop suggested that the benevolent organisation she worked for, The Helen Daniels Trust, could donate the money. Her boss, Paul Robinson - who had purposely set the fire in the first place - agreed and Stuart was delighted to learn that the operation could go ahead. However, a chat with Karl Kennedy soon brought Stu and Sindi back down to earth, as he explained that the operation only had a 50% chance of success and Stuart could end up losing his sight completely, with no hope of it ever returning.
As the day of the operation arrived, Stuart was relieved when everything went well, but during the celebrations, he quickly picked up on the tension between Sindi and Susan's new boyfriend, Gary. Sindi was forced to admit that it was the same Gary who had wanted to sleep with her and Stu told her that she had to tell Susan. Gary, however, convinced Sindi that he had changed and so the relationship continued. However, one afternoon Stuart was telling Toadie and Connor about the whole sordid situation, when he said Susan's name, causing his voice-activated phone to dial her number and leave a message. Having heard the truth, Susan quickly dumped Gary and almost lost the friendship of Sindi, who started spending all of her time at number 30. In the end, though, they patched up their differences, but Stu soon had something new to worry about.
[edit] Sindi's madness
When Sindi scored a job at the new Scarlet Bar, she became upset one night to realise that her old school was having a reunion there and she hadn’t been invited. When Stuart arrived to comfort her, one of Sindi's ex-classmates, Sheena Wilson, told him to be careful, as Sindi was not to be trusted, mentioning someone called Kelly Weaver as one of her victims. Stu thought little of it, until one day when new neighbour Janae Timmins started flirting with him, witnessed by Sindi. Suddenly, Janae had been knocked off her bike by Sindi opening her car door and Stu began to worry that it wasn’t simply an accident. He managed to track Kelly down to the Erinsborough Hospice and was surprised to find that she was Sindi's best friend, and Sindi had been visiting her for years, following an accident which had left Kelly a paraplegic. When Sindi found out about Stu's digging into her past, she immediately dumped him, accusing him of no longer trusting her and he realised that he would have a fight on his hands to win her back.
As with most of Stu and Sindi's fights, it did not last long. However, when Stuart went over to number 28 for dinner soon after, as the pair attempted to patch things up, he was shocked to find Liljana Bishop - who had moved in with Sindi and Susan - unconscious on the floor. Sindi, meanwhile, was hiding behind the door and Stu told her to call an ambulance. Fortunately, it was not needed, as Lil came to and had a check-up at the surgery. Sindi admitted that she felt terrible as she had been cooking and had accidentally got butter on the ladder whilst Lil was cleaning, causing her to slip. Soon after, Sindi had another accident as she hit Susan in the head with a cupboard door, and she told Stu that she was worried that she was jinxed. She decided to have hypnotherapy to try and get to the bottom of her bad luck. Stuart was alarmed when Sindi became extremely distressed halfway through the session and began to remember a disturbing incident from her childhood. Stu stood by her as she struggled to remember things, but was relieved when she admitted that the incident was actually her being "attacked" by a fur coat when she got locked in her aunt's cupboard as a child.
Stuart was shocked when Sindi attempted to prove her devotion to him by proposing in front of a crowded Scarlet Bar. He happily accepted, but Toadie was not convinced that the engagement was a good idea and the two best friends soon fell out, with Stu asking Connor to be best man instead. Sindi quickly brought everyone together for a dinner party and they managed to work out their differences. However, it was not long before Stu once again had reason to be suspicious of his fiancee. When he went to pick her up from a visit to Kelly one afternoon, she had already left, but he found out that Sindi had been making up stories about the engagement and Stu's job. Sindi quickly explained to him that she often made things up to cheer up Kelly and make her visits more exciting. Stuart accepted her version of events and went on to explain that he was in line for a promotion and was up against his friend, Trent Hoffa. The following day, Stu found out that Trent had been knocked off his mountain bike by a car that matched Susan's. He later realised that Sindi had borrowed Susan's car and had spent a great deal of time cleaning it upon her return from her mysterious errand. After confronting a shocked Sindi, Stu was embarrassed when Trent woke up and described the driver as having dark hair and glasses. Beginning to think that he was going mad himself, Stu told Sindi that he would talk to the boss at work and would think about having some counselling.
With the wedding day fast approaching, Sindi moved her stuff into number 30 and Toadie's suspicions were suddenly raised when she dropped one of her boxes and a black wig fell out. The situation only got worse when Sindi killed number 30's pet spider, Yorick, and she then caught Toadie with a computer-created image of her with dark hair. Stuart was furious with Toadie and refused to listen to any of the allegations they were making. Soon after, the number 30 boys then snuck off to a nightclub for Stu's bucks' night, knowing that Sindi would disapprove of the strippers. However, when Toadie then claimed to have spotted Sindi watching them at the club, Stu had had enough and announced that he would only be having Connor as his best man and that Toadie was not welcome at the wedding. As Sindi denied the accusations and Toadie failed to come up with any evidence, he admitted defeat and patched things up with Stu.
On the morning of the wedding, Toadie was held up by some problems with a client, as Stu left for the church. As he got ready, Toadie suddenly had a brainwave and found an image from the video tape of the bucks’ night that proved that Sindi had been there. Unfortunately, he knocked himself out as he rushed to leave and, as he lay on the floor, Sindi returned and took the evidence. Nevertheless, when he awoke, Toadie rushed to the church and burst in, stopping the ceremony. Outside, Stu was furious and, as Toadie had no evidence to back up his claims, he refused to listen, punching his friend in the face instead. After Stuart and Sindi had been away at a holiday resort for a few days, Toadie suddenly turned up, having retrieved the evidence from the computer. With Stuart away booking a tennis court, Toadie confronted Sindi and, as he left the hotel room to find Stu, Sindi pushed him down the stairs. Stuart witnessed the incident and finally realised that Toadie had been right all along and Sindi really did have serious problems. She was taken to the psychiatric ward at Erinsborough Hospital, where Stuart visited her everyday and vowed to stand by her. It emerged that Sindi had previously suffered from paranoid delusions as a teenager and her relationship with Stuart had triggered them off again, leaving her to cause all of the recent accidents with Lil, Janae and Trent Hoffa, as well as setting up the fake hypnotherapy session to get sympathy. Stu was devastated when Sindi told him that she wanted an annulment, as he deserved to move on. Although Stu refused, Sindi then delivered a second blow – she needed to get away from him if she was ever to recover, and so was transferring to another clinic in New South Wales.
In the days following Sindi’s departure, Stu sank into a depression, which was only made worse when his younger brother, Ned, came to stay, clearly on a family spying mission. As Stuart refused to talk his anyone about his feelings, he ended up running into a gas-filled science lab to rescue Rachel and Zeke Kinski – the children of Susan's new boyfriend, Alex. Having managed to get the kids out, he went back inside to look for anyone else and collapsed in a hallway. Fortunately, he was rescued, but, as he recovered in hospital, he announced that he was giving up on the police force. Toadie, however, was horrified when Ned announced that he was taking Stu away on a fishing trip. As they sat by the lake, Ned jumped in and challenged his unwilling brother to a race. As they returned, Stu struggled to carry on and begged his brother to help him, but Ned simply sat and watched, telling his brother that he had to find the strength himself. Amazingly, Ned's strategy worked and Stu dragged himself back to the jetty and out of the water - the fact the he continued to swim shown he had something to live for. The incident made Stu realise that he should not give up and that he had friends and family who cared a lot about him.
With Ned around, Stu was soon able to distract himself from his own problems, as Toadie came up with the theory that the secretive country boy was gay. Stu was not convinced but began to see that all of the evidence fell into place and told his brother about their suspicions. He was surprised when Ned admitted that it was true, but Stu felt that something still was not right. As Toadie and Stu pushed Ned to open up, he finally admitted that he was not gay, but failed to tell them that his real secret was that he wanted to be an actor. Meanwhile, "the House of Trouser" was turned upside-down when Toadie's bikini shop, "Bounce", was robbed and Connor admitted to having taken the money to fund an ear operation for his daughter, Maddy. Although the money was returned, Toadie was disgusted with his housemates actions. Soon after owning up, Connor boarded a doomed flight to Tasmania, celebrating 20 years of Lassiter’s hotel, which crashed into Bass Strait, leaving Connor as one of several neighbours missing, presumed dead.
[edit] Stu and the Timmins brothers
Around the same time, Stuart was assigned to a case involving the Timmins brothers, who had been framed for armed robbery. Dylan and Scott - Stu's former housemate, now going by the name "Stingray" - had always been slightly hostile to the local police officer. Although Dylan was the prime suspect, he was one of the characters unaccounted for following the plane crash. Stingray claimed that he had been kidnapped by Dylan's enemy, Roo Hausman, giving Dylan no choice but to rob the service station. Although the story was true, Roo was nowhere to be found and Stingray was arrested for his involvement. As the court case came closer, Toadie, who was representing his cousin, tried to convince Stu that Stingray's story was true. Stu, still aprehensive of his friend's cousins, slowly began to see that most of the evidence backed the original claims but without Roo, who was on the run having escaped from prison, they had nothing to work with.
On the night before his court case was to begin, Stingray went to Colac with Dylan's girlfriend, Sky Mangel, and tried to find Roo. They slept in his deserted house, hoping that he would come back and they could finally clear Dylan's name. A concerned Stuart realised where Stingray had gone and went to find him, concerned that he would be in trouble if he missed his trial. As Stu walked through the door, Stingray attacked him, believing it was Roo. Stuart tried to get Stingray back to Erinsborough, but they were stopped by the police on the way and Stingray was taken into remand for breaking his bail conditions.
Things grew even more complicated when Dylan suddenly returned to Erinsborough, at his own memorial service, having been on the run along with Connor since the crash. After a trial, the Timmins brothers were both sent to prison for their crimes. Roo was later caught and he joined them, but Stuart was convinced that they were innocent and accepted an undercover operation to try and get a confession out of Roo. Stuart entered the prison as Roo's new cellmate "Mick Farrow" and proceeded to try and win his trust. Although the plan looked to be succeeding, until Roo remembered a few weeks earlier in Colac, when he had been spying on Sky and Stingray staking out his house, he had also seen Stuart. Having realised that he had been set up, Roo set him a challenge – to beat up Stingray. Just as he was about to do it, Stu backed out, and the prison went into lockdown, due to a riot in another wing, organised by Roo. In the fracas that followed, Roo and Dylan became locked in a cell together, and Roo started threatening Dylan with a knife, before admitting to many of his past crimes, not realising that the radio in the cell had been bugged and the police were listening in.
[edit] Return to Oakey
In the weeks that followed, Stuart found himself caught up in everyone else's problems. When a heavily pregnant Steph was diagnosed with breast cancer and refused treatment until the baby was born, a desperate Max decided to have her declared mentally incompetent. After his problems with Sindi, Stu agreed to help Max out and arrange for Steph to be sectioned, but when it almost cost the Hoylands their marriage, he realised that he had gone too far. Meanwhile, Ned's relationship with Paul Robinson's daughter, Elle had entered a rough patch. Stuart found Elle using him as a shoulder to cry on, and the pair started spending a lot of time together, but when she tried to seduce him in a hotel room at Lassiter's, he admitted that he could never cheat on Sindi. However, after a night out together, Stu and Elle ended up sharing a kiss, witnessed by Ned. Although the brothers briefly fell out, Stuart began to realise that he could not just sit around waiting for Sindi, and it looked like a decision had been made when she sent through divorce papers for him to sign.
When word came through from Oakey that their father had hurt his back and would be unable to work for several months, the Parker brothers argued over which of them would return home to help out. When Ned pointed out that he had worked there for several years while his older brother was in Erinsborough, Stuart put his plans to go for his sergeant's exam on hold and packed his bags. But the issues with Sindi were still waiting to be resolved, so he called her and reminded her of their shared dream to bring up a family in the country. He asked her to join him in Oakey and then nervously waited for her response. The following morning she called and agreed to give the marriage another try and so Stuart hitched a ride with Angie and "Big Kev" Rebecchi, who were headed up north for a holiday, and said a final farewell to Ramsay Street and the House of Trouser. Toadie went with him to help the couple settle in.
[edit] Family
- Brothers: Stevo and Ned Parker
- Aunt: Raylene Manson
- Wife: Sindi Watts
