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> Love Thy Neighbour: Connor O'Neill
by David
Amiable Irishman Connor O'Neill came to live in Ramsay Street through a bizarre set of coincidences and left under deeply mysterious circumstances. Throughout his four years spent in Erinsborough, Connor had a surprisingly strong allure to the local ladies, while the rest of his storylines ranged from the fun to the ridiculous...
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In 2002, Belfast born Connor decided to invite himself over to Australia on the basis that his footballing brother had been mates with Jack Scully, who had said he could stay with his family if he was ever in the area. If that wasn't a strange enough way to join Neighbours, things got weirder when he happened to sit next to Mal Kennedy on the plane journey. Mal was doing one of his rare visits back home to Ramsay Street and yet his travelling companion happened to be heading for exactly the same street in Australia - what are the odds?! Oh and their bags just happened to look the same too; allowing for a mix up which would later be explained by Connor's illiteracy, but in the mean time would give viewers and residents a reason to be suspicious of the new arrival.
Connor's inability to read and write was kept secret for a long time with a succession of literary based scenarios landing him in hot water. Things came to a head when he nearly killed Michelle Scully by confusing floor cleaner for lemonade. Of course the moral of the tale was that honesty is the best policy, and once Connor had come clean his new friends were all very supportive and Libby Kennedy became his tutor.
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Although not one of Neighbours' most conventional male heart throbs, Connor had a considerable share of female attention. Initially he became involved with Michelle Scully, this relationship had a few problems, one of the biggest being the overprotective glare of Joe. Another being mutual friend Nina Tucker wanting to become more than friends with Connor. After nearly marrying Michelle to avoid getting deported, the couple split. Michelle went away to America and Connor had a fling with Jack Scully's ex, Lori Lee. This resulted in Lori falling pregnant and moving back home to New Zealand. Nina then decided to use Connor to make Jack jealous and kissed him at a charity ball. Connor began to fall for Nina, but before he could tell her, she moved away to Bombay to be with her father. It wasn't long before he had his heart set on someone else; Carmella Cammeniti. Her father, Rocco, was fiercely apposed to their romance, and so once again O'Neill's love life was on bumpy ground. Carmella got sent away to Italy for a time but when she returned Connor was waiting. However things got confusing when Michelle also returned to the street. Carmella got dumped and went back to Italy and Connor and Michelle tried to pick up where they left off. However Lori returned from New Zealand with baby Madeleine. Michelle was persuaded by her family that her future wouldn’t be with Connor and she went back to New York.
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Sometime later Carmella came back into his life and she even moved in to number 30 with him. Sadly the happiness didn’t last as Carmella got stalked by her driver Frank Romano, and even after he had been arrested, she struggled to feel comfortable with men, and so left Connor to take a trip and find herself. A new career loomed for O’Neill when Toadie inherited a bikini shop and he found himself working with Serena Bishop. Although they initially disliked each other, and Serena was several years younger, romance blossomed once again. And once again the romance was endangered by an ex; Carmella returned from her trip and wanted her man back. Connor turned her down but Serena dumped Connor when she suspected him of having an affair. They eventually got back together but the reunion was short lived as Serena seemingly perished in the Lassiter’s plane crash. After another change of career, this time into private detection, Connor was hired to track down Carmella and found she had joined a nunnery. Connor was unsure about her decision but after one final kiss, she was able to tell him honestly that her mind was made up. Thus ended Connor’s dizzying roller coaster ride of romance.
Although his love life provided a huge portion of his story, O’Neill was all too often involved in possibly some of Neighbours' most risible plots of all time. Whether it be robot wars, wrestling, dating Lou on the internet, becoming a private dick or just playing his penny whistle; nothing was deemed too silly for the Irish lad.
Ironically for such a comical character, his departure was unusually dark. Having come to the conclusion that his life lacked direction and focus, Connor had decided to take a trip around Australia, but on the day of his departure he was waylaid by the villainous Robert Robinson. Viewers were left with an ambiguous exit from Ramsay Street but it certainly looked like the end for O’Neill.
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