Darcy Tyler

Darcy Tyler
Mark Raffety as Darcy Tyler
Neighbours character
Portrayed by	Mark Raffety
Duration	2000–03, 2004, 2005
First appearance	15 November 2000
Last appearance	12 July 2005
Introduced by	Stanley Walsh (2000) Ric Pellizerri (2004, 2005)
Classification	Former, regular
Profile
Occupation	Doctor and Orderly at Erinsborough Hospital (2000–03, 2004) Doctor at Erinsborough Medical Centre (2001–03)
Family Father Robert Tyler Mother Carmel Tyler Grandmothers Grace Smith Aunts Susan Kennedy Liz Conway First cousins Malcolm Kennedy Libby Kennedy Billy Kennedy Elly Conway Other relatives Ben Fitzgerald Jackson Kennedy

Darcy Eammon Tyler is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Mark Raffety. He made his first on-screen appearance on 15 November 2000 in a recurring role and the character became a series regular in 2001. He departed in June 2003, but returned in both 2004 and 2005.

Casting

Raffety admitted to Inside Soap that he did not find Darcy "interesting at first", but he came up with a plan to change him and the writers helped transform the character.^[1] He added "Darcy has a childlike wish to be loved and nurtured, but at the same time he has a scheming side. At the end of the day he's both an angel and a devil, I suppose!"^[1]

Raffety left Neighbours in 2003. He said that he was sad to be going as he believed that "more [..] could be milked out of Darcy" and that he would like to see him return in the future.^[1]

Storylines

Backstory

Darcy was born to Robert and Carmel Tyler (Kirsty Child) in 1972. As he grew up, he became interested in medicine and became a doctor. Darcy ran his own practice with girlfriend, Alice Jamison (Pip Sallabank).

2000–03

Darcy arrives in Ramsay Street to stay with his aunt, Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) and her husband, Karl (Alan Fletcher) after accepting a post in Accident and Emergency at Erinsborough Hospital. Darcy immediately catches the eye of Dee Bliss (Madeleine West), a local nurse at the hospital who lives in the same street. There is an obvious attraction between the pair and they both begin to enjoy each other's company and attend the medical ball together. Alice, Darcy's partner turns up on the day of the ball and issues Dee a warning to stay away from him. Darcy returns home with Alice, but he comes back to Erinsborough several months later after having broken up with her and resumes his relationship with Dee. After Alice demands money from Darcy to buy her out of the practice, he borrows $1000 from Dee While working as a locum for Karl, Darcy causes friction by overcharging patients for medication and causing an audit at the surgery, almost causing closure. With things strained between Karl and Darcy at Number 28, Darcy decides to move out. After saving Louise Carpenter (Jiordan Anna Tolli) from drowning in the pool at Number 30, Louise's father, Lou (Tom Oliver) offers Darcy the spare room at Number 22 where he and Louise live.

Darcy begins an illicit affair with Dee's friend, schoolteacher Tess Bell (Krista Vendy) and it remains secret for a while until Lou arrives home to find them kissing. Darcy tries to convince Lou Tess pursued him, but he is not so quick to believe Darcy. The affair is eventually discovered by Dee when she spies Darcy and Tess kissing after winning a fishing competition. At the pub during the celebrations, Dee pours champagne over Darcy and promptly dumps him. Darcy and Tess remain a couple and become engaged, but on the day of the ceremony Tess backs out and jilts Darcy and subsequently flees to London. While arguing with Joel Samuels (Daniel MacPherson), Dee's other ex-boyfriend and housemate, Darcy learns that he fathered the child Dee miscarried and offers sympathy, but is rejected. Darcy tries to make a move on new receptionist, Serena Lucas (Ruth Callum), but she only has eyes for Karl. After learning that Karl is married, Serena turns her attentions to Darcy but this is only a cover to steal prescription pads and deal drugs at nightclub Hemisfear. After a young girl collapses at the club, Darcy is in hot water, but Serena confesses her deceit and is arrested. Darcy suffers a heart attack in the surgery one day and his teenage cousin, Elly Conway (Kendell Nunn) acts quickly to save his life. While in hospital, Darcy is cared for by Dee and they managed to heal their rift of sorts.

After a series of meaningless relationships, Darcy dates Lassiter's owener, Chloe Lambert (Stephanie Daniel). She offers him the chance to see a performance of The Graduate at a local theatre after Darcy saves her life during an asthma attack. This relationship does not sit well with Jordan Lambert, Chloe's daughter, who begins a hate campaign against Darcy, including having his car trashed and having him beaten up. While being hospitalised for the second time in a year Darcy overhears a conversation between Dee, and Martin Cook (Tony Bonner), a retiring surgeon and one of Chloe's friends. It emerges that Martin is sexually harassing Dee, but denies it when she makes a complaint. Darcy invents a plan to bring Martin to justice by befriending him and ultimately tricking him into confessing his misdeed, which is recorded on a hidden tape record. When Chloe finds out she is unimpressed and she and Darcy part.

Darcy begins working on a scheme to win Dee back. First, he rummages through her personal effects and discovers her marriage certificate which reveals that Dee was previously married to Darren Turner when they were eighteen. Darcy contacts Darren and invites him to Erinsborough to attend a charity ball along with Dee and her partner, Toadfish Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney). Throughout the evening, Darcy puts his plan to drive a wedge between Dee and Toadie into action and asks how she and Darren know each other. When Darren reveals his connection with Dee, Dee and Toadie split up and both come to Darcy for advice. Darcy then contacts Sindi Watts (Marisa Warrington), the sister of his ex-girlfriend Penny (Andrea McEwan), and enlists her in the final phase of his plan, he pays her to flirt with Toadie at the pub just as Dee walks in with Darcy's cousin, Libby Kennedy (Kym Valentine). Sindi falls for Toadie for real and Darcy is displeased, but is forced to comply when Sindi threatens to reveal his plan.

After gaining acceptance to the Aurora Club, Darcy begins playing poker regularly and ends up $10,000 in debt to James Atkinson (Jeff Keogh). Darcy's gambling gets the better of him and the next time he loses, he owes $60,000. Desperate to pay James, Darcy resorts to burgling the pub and stealing $2,000 from the takings but it is not nearly enough. Upon learning of Karl and Susan inheriting some valuable jewellery from an elderly relative, Darcy stages a break-in at Number 28, but is discovered by Lyn Scully (Janet Andrewartha). Upon fleeing the scene, he knocks a pregnant Lyn down. Darcy is able to pay off James. Darcy treats Lyn after she is admitted to hospital. Lyn cannot remember at first, but after hypnotherapy, she remembers Darcy being at the Kennedys on the day of the robbery. Susan is outraged and refuses to believe it. However, Dee finds Susan's ring in a plant pot at Darcy's place and contacts the police. Darcy tries to sneak the ring back into the house during dinner with Karl and Susan but when Karl spills some wine and Darcy offers a handkerchief, the ring falls out onto the kitchen table. Darcy is forced to confess. After being told to leave by Susan, Darcy walks away and notices police cars arriving on Ramsay Street. He makes a run for it but his escape is blocked and he is arrested for burglary. While on remand, Darcy summons Dee and Toadie to visit him and reveals his plan to split them up, garnering disgust from them both. Darcy is later given an eighteen-month prison sentence for his crimes.

2004–05

Darcy is seen again the following year when, Lou is sentenced to three years imprisonment for being involved in Rocco Cammeniti's (Robert Forza) horse fixing scam. Lou, fearing the worst, is a little relieved when Darcy is revealed to be his cellmate at Warrinor. Lou agrees to sponsor Darcy for day release but is unable to after being in prison himself. Susan reluctantly agrees and Darcy works as an orderly at Erinsborough Hospital.

After learning of Karl and Susan's separation, Darcy antagonizes Izzy Hoyland (Natalie Bassingthwaighte), the woman Karl had left Susan for. On the day of Izzy's maternity appointment, Darcy sneaks a look at her records and sees that the father of her baby is listed as "Unknown". Darcy confronts Izzy and she offers him money to keep quiet but he won't listen. As Darcy turns to leave, he falls down the stairs, hits his head on the wall and loses consciousness. Izzy is quick to frame him by planting jewellery on him. After lapsing into a coma, Darcy is transferred to a hospital near his mother Carmel. Darcy, albeit comatose, begins appearing in Izzy's nightmares for a while. At Christmas, Karl reveals Darcy has suffered a small stroke that finished off the little brain function he had.

When Darcy is transferred back to Erinsborough Hospital in a private room, he wakes up but keeps up the pretence of being comatose when crooked nurse Gareth Peters (Philip McInnes) walks in. Gareth taunts Darcy about being him being kept alive being a waste of taxpayers' money and steals the flowers left for Darcy by Susan, to give to his girlfriend. The following morning, Gareth continues taunting Darcy but receives a punch in the testicles. After being wheeled down the corridor, Darcy locks eyes on Izzy who faints in Karl's arms.

Darcy passes a polygraph test set by the police after claiming to have no memory of the supposed robbery Izzy alleged. Darcy soon begins blackmailing Izzy as he remembers her secret and demands $70, 000. Izzy pays up but Darcy demands $200 plus sexual favors. Izzy then contacts Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) out of desperation to get rid of Darcy by asking him for the number of a hitman. Paul, also in hospital with Darcy, only gives Izzy a number for a local linen supplier. Darcy and Paul share a joke about this.

Darcy stands trial and Izzy testifies with a glowing reference, resulting in Darcy escaping with a 12-month good behaviour bond. Darcy immediately considers the debt repaid. Before leaving, Darcy gives Susan a letter revealing the truth about Karl not being the father of Izzy's baby. As Darcy's bus is about to depart, he meets Karl who is frosty with him and tells him that he is not the evil person in his life and will one day be thankful that Susan is there for him. In a sensational storyline, Darcy embarked on a tempestuous and sordid affair with fallen ballerina and karaoke offender Leeanne Holroyd, Holroyd 46 from Cheet Creek, Adelaide who was formerly engaged to both TV's Darren Day and gay icon John Barrowman. Holroyd is renowned throughout South Australia for her very own flamboyant style of tromboning and her aggressive and inspirational Irish dance moves.

Reception

For his portrayal of Darcy, Raffety earned a nomination for Best Newcomer at the 2001 Inside Soap Awards.^[2] The following year, Raffety was nominated for the Best Bad Boy award.^[3] In 2003, Darcy came joint thirteenth in a BBC poll to find the Best Villain.^[4] A writer for the BBC's Neighbours website said that Darcy's most notable moment was "Cheating on Dee with Tess, then discovering that Dee was pregnant and had lost the baby."^[5] Molly Blake from the Birmingham Mail called Darcy "dastardly" and "a bad'un".^[6]

An Ausculture reporter placed Darcy at number six on their "Top Ten Aussie Soap Villains" list.^[7] The reporter called him "one of Neighbours' truly great cads" and a womaniser, despite him starting off "rather nicely".^[7] They added "he began trying to steal Uncle Karl's surgery from under his feet. Tut tut! Selling prescription drugs in night clubs soon followed, as did his attempt to break up Dee and Toadie, who at this stage were blissfully in love. Finally, Darcy stole from his own family – Karl and Susan – and when running from the burglary, managed to knock over a heavily pregnant Lynn Scully!"^[7] On his return, Ausculture said that he was looking shady and sporting an evil goatee.^[7]

References