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Character Profiles > Mark Brennan Scott McGregor

Mark Brennan 2010-2011
Lives: 30 Ramsay Street
Occupation: Police Detective

Erinsborough Police Detective Mark Brennan first encountered the residents of Ramsay Street following the attempt to kill local businessman Paul Robinson by pushing him from the mezzanine at Lassiter's Hotel. As Paul had made numerous enemies in the weeks leading up to the incident, Detective Brennan had his work cut out for him just narrowing down the list of suspects. Prime suspect was Diana Marshall, a business rival of Paul's who he'd crossed once too often. She, however, told Brennan that he should be speaking to Paul's wife, Rebecca, who, only hours before Paul was pushed, had found out, from the woman herself, that Diana and Paul had slept together. Another suspect emerged in the form of Paul's son, Andrew - Paul had threatened to cut him out of his will and Andrew had been heard wishing his father dead. In a misguided attempt to help her ex-boyfriend, Natasha Williams attempted to give Andrew an alibi, but was later forced to admit that she lied, only making things worse for Andrew. Meanwhile, Rebecca's son, Declan, who had been secretly working with Diana to destroy Paul, asked his ex, Paul's niece Kate Ramsay, to lie to the police and give Rebecca an alibi, a request which she reluctantly agreed to.

With the police left with so many leads to follow up, Andrew decided to do some investigating of his own. At first, he suspected that Sonya Mitchell may have had something to do with the crime. Sonya was the girlfriend of Ramsay Streeter Toadie Rebecchi, whose life had been turned upside-down when Paul revealed the truth about Toadie's sham marriage to Steph Scully. After it emerged that Sonya had a criminial conviction for assault in her past, she was taken in for questioning, but soon released to go. Andrew then turned his efforts to Diana and spotted her speaking to a strange man, who then dumped his phone in a bin. Having taken the phone, it later rang and Diana left a message warning the owner to leave town. Andrew gave this evidence to the police, and Diana was again taken in for questioning, but released after a few days as there was insufficient evidence to charge her. At the same time, Paul awoke from his coma and, barely able to speak, implied that Diana had pushed him from the mezzanine. The police headed to her hotel, but she had already been warned and had managed to get away.

Some weeks later, Brennan walked into Harold's Store just as Donna was trying to find a new man for Kate, and ended up caught in the crossfire. Though slightly confused, Brennan followed Kate outside and jokingly warned her not to ride off on her bike with her helmet strap still undone. Later, he caught up with her again, apologising for the helmet strap comment which she didn't take as a joke, and asked her out to dinner. Kate turned him down, but the next day they ran into each other again and she agreed to go for coffee. Kate explained to Brennan how she was a witness to an accident involving Steph Scully running down and killing Ringo on her motorbike, and the lawyers for both sides were hassling her. Brennan listened to her and told her to trust her instincts when giving her evidence, and she then asked him if the offer for dinner was still on. However, when she and Brennan were having dinner, Kate's ex, Declan, took her to one side and reminded her that she'd lied to the police, giving an alibi to Rebecca - who'd actually turned out to be the one who pushed Paul, though only a select few people knew about it. Realising how much trouble she could end up in, Kate took Declan's advice and quickly cut the date short, leaving Brennan confused as she rushed off home to look after her 'sick sister'.

Brennan wasn't about to give up on Kate that easily, though, and they had a coffee together, which was once again derailed by Declan, who insisted that he needed to take Kate out for a driving lesson. Brennan and Declan continued to fight over Kate, but it was Brennan that she was really interested in, and she tracked him down to the gym, boldly walking in on him in the changing rooms, only to get flustered at the sight of him in just a towel. As Kate and Brennan grew closer, Declan continued to try his best to keep them apart, lying to her that Brennan had warned him off. Then, after Lucas accidentally punched him instead of the punching bag, Declan lied that Brennan had hit him. When Kate confronted Brennan about this, he had no idea what she was talking about and decided that the whole thing was just becoming too complicated, so he ended things between them. When Kate found out the truth about Declan's black eye, she went to apologise to Brennan, but he told her that she had a lot of things she needed to sort out before she should think about dating again. But later, Kate went back to the police station and kissed him, in front of his colleagues and made him realise that she was worth the risk.

Meanwhile, the Paul Robinson case rumbled on, with the police no closer to finding the culprit and Paul managing to rule Diana out when he mentioned that he was certain that Diana had left, and hadn't come back, on the evening he was pushed. With Paul and Declan both desperate to keep Rebecca's name out of it, Paul asked Kate to try and find out the status of the case. At dinner that evening, Kate asked Brennan how the case was going and he could only tell her that they were planning to re-interview all of the suspects - and that Diana had now been ruled out. Faking a stomach upset, Kate ended the evening early and told Paul what she'd found out, but the next day, feeling terrible about the whole thing, she warned Paul and Declan that she wouldn't be doing the same thing again, and she wanted nothing more to do with the whole sorry mess. However, when Brennan started talking about interviewing Rebecca again, Paul once again asked Kate to try and find out how much Brennan knew, and whether Rebecca was a serious suspect. When Kate refused, Paul threatened to cut off her trust fund, and she responded by telling him that she wanted nothing more to do with him, removing a locket that he'd given her. Brennan later mentioned that he knew when Kate was being dishonest - such as when she lied about her stomach upset - as she fiddled with the locket and as Kate's behaviour became more and more odd, and she told Brennan that she was certain that Declan hadn't pushed Paul, he reviewed her interview and was shocked to see her fiddling with the locket.

Now certain that Kate had lied to him when giving her alibi for Rebecca, Brennan became a little more wary of her, but bought her a new necklace as a Christmas gift. After a few days of silence, Brennan asked to speak to Kate at the station, showing her the video footage of her interview and pointing out that he suspected she was lying. Kate angrily told him that she also fiddled with the locket when she was nervous and stressed, and the interview had been very stressful for her. Realising that he might have been wrong, Brennan told Kate that he really needed to solve this case to prove himself to his superiors, but he wasn't sure if it was worth sacrificing his relationship with Kate. Things then took an interesting turn when Kate was playing truth or dare at Charlie's, with her friends Donna and Jade and the girls ended up flashing just as Brennan walked in with his boss. He was forced to take the three of them down to the station and give them warnings, but he later caught Kate as she was returning home and told her that he'd made his decision - he was giving up the Robinson case to be with her.

Over the weeks that followed, Brennan grew closer to Kate, and became protective of her and younger sister Sophie when he found out that their housemate Lucas had been doing business with some known criminals at the garage he owned and had started drag racing. As a gambling addict, Lucas was once again struggling to keep on top of things and when he refused to throw the race he was taking part in, he ended up getting beaten up, further grabbing Brennan's attention. When Lucas admitted to Brennan that he'd been involved in illegal races, Brennan and his colleague Megan Phillips went undercover to catch the gang, using Lucas to get in. Wanting to bring down the ringleader of the dodgy car deal and illegal races, Garland Cole, Brennan managed to convince Lucas to wear a wire and arrange another deal, but Kate was growing suspicious and began to wonder if her boyfriend was arranging a surprise birthday present. She followed him to the garage but had to hide when Brennan, Lucas and Garland came back, only for her phone to alert them to her presence. Brennan managed to cover for Kate, but once all of the stolen goods were loaded into the van, Kate blew his cover and he had to arrest Garland, and explain to Kate that he'd been trying to get Lucas out of a tricky situation.

Just as things seemed to be settling down for Kate and Brennan, she found out that Rebecca had left town. Rebecca had given their neighbour Susan a signed statement of no complaint, signed by Paul, which meant that Rebecca could confess in writing but not be charged - however, it would also reveal that Kate had given her a false alibi, so she wanted Susan to persuade Kate to confess first. After thinking things over, and realising how much she stood to lose, Kate finally decided to make a statement, but Brennan was appalled, particularly as he'd given up so much for her, and admitted that he didn't think he could forgive her. After receiving a fine and a good behaviour bond in court, Kate tried her best to move on from Brennan, but then after seeing him in the bar with some work colleagues, she ended up calling him and confessing her love. Realising how stupid she'd been, she and Jade tried to get Brennan's phone from his jacket. After being caught, Kate confessed everything, and Brennan simply deleted her voicemail and walked away.

When Sophie decided to try and reunite Kate and Brennan, and roped in Jade to help, things went slightly wrong when Kate ended up with the impression that Jade and Brennan were interested in each other. A jealous Kate then confronted Brennan, only to end up losing more of his respect, and Jade's friendship, in the process. When Lucas spoke to Brennan, to try and find out if there was any hope at all for Kate, he said that she'd lied to him and he didn't think that he could get past that. Kate accepted this and realised that she needed to move on with her life, but Brennan was less than impressed when she appeared to be moving on with Kyle Canning. Kyle and Kate were already friends, having gone to school together, but after finding work nearby, Kyle started hanging around more and Brennan struggled to contain his jealousy when he saw him with Kate. When Kyle was getting changed in his car one day and accidentally flashed Brennan, the detective used it as an excuse to give Kyle a warning and keep an eye on his behaviour. However, when he then called Kate to the station, just to tell her that Garland Cole had been given 18 months in prison, she and her friends began to realise that he might still be interested, and Lucas encouraged Brennan to do something before Kyle made a move of his own.

Meanwhile, when his flat became infested with insects, Brennan had to find somewhere else to live, and ended up accepting a room at Toadie's place, 30 Ramsay Street, for a few days. The mess and chaos of the house caused problems for neat freak Brennan, but eventually Toadie and Brennan found a way to live together, and Brennan became something of a role model for Toadie's adopted son Callum, who loved hearing about his police work. However, after finally asking Kate out for coffee, Brennan had to cancel when Toadie and Callum asked him to stay home and have nachos with them instead, and the next day, he saw Kate give Kyle a kiss on the cheek and decided to back off once again. Believing that Brennan wasn't interested, Kate went on a date with Kyle, but ended it early and she could only think about her ex. As Brennan's jealousy over Kyle only got worse, Kyle was forced to turn to his rival for help, when he found himself being blackmailed into giving protection money by a corrupt cop, Wes Holland. At first, Brennan couldn't believe that Holland would do something like that, but after seeing some security footage from across the lot, he realised that Kyle was being honest and they set up a meeting, with Brennan arriving and arresting Holland as Kyle handed over the protection money. Though the incident finally ended the feud between Kyle and Brennan, the detective's honesty would end up forcing him to leave Erinsborough.

Brennan soon found himself losing friends at work, and slowly being targeted with other small acts of revenge, such as his car tyres being let down. And after a night of flirting, he and Jade ended up having a one-night-stand, which they both agreed to keep a secret, though Jade failed to see what all the fuss was about. Kate was given fresh hope that she and Brennan could get back together when he made a permanent move to Ramsay Street, sharing number 26 with Kyle and Jade, but when she accidentally overheard them arguing about their night together, she was horrified. Although she quickly managed to patch things up with Jade, who admitted that she had always struggled to keep friends, Kate found it harder to forgive Brennan for his lies. At work, things were no better for Brennan, as he found himself being harassed more and more and, just as he and Kate were finally getting close again, his boss, Superintendent Duncan Hayes, told him that he'd have to go into witness protection until the trial. With only a few hours' warning, Brennan prepared himself to pack up his life in Erinsborough, but decided that he had to tell Kate, and asked her to go with him. She agreed to go, and tried to persuade Sophie to leave with them, as Brennan organised things and was forced to tell Kyle what was going on when he caught him with his bags packed. At the meeting spot, Brennan waited for Kate, who, with Sophie, was running to try and meet him, but she missed the deadline and Brennan was driven out of her life for good.

A few weeks later, in his capacity as a lawyer, Toadie was at the police station with Hayes, when he overheard a conversation which led him to believe that Brennan had been killed. Toadie was asked to keep the information to himself, and it was some months before a devastated Kate finally found out what had happened.

Trivia Notes
• Mark's passport (episode 6195) had Jack and Elaine Brennan listed as his emergency contacts. Kate telephoned one of them saying she was a friend of their son, but it has not been clarified if one or both are Mark's biological parents. Jack and Elaine's address was 56 Fidel Lane, Moonee Ponds. Their telephone number was 03 985556
• Kate dreamt about Mark shortly after his departure; the figure in the dream had his back to Kate. He was played by Mathieu Gonzalez and credited as "Brennan Lookalike"