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Guest Character Profiles > Eric Edwards Paul O'Brien

Eric Edwards 2013
Marital Status: Mandy
Siblings: Jacinta
Children: Mia

When one of the stepper machines at the Dingoes' Den Gym stopped working, manager Brad Willis put an 'out of order' sign on it, but it wasn't long before there was an accident involving gym member Eric Edwards. Eric injured his back using the machine, and pointed out that it should have had a warning on it; Brad realised that the sign had gone missing, and offered to take Eric to the nearby medical centre, though he insisted that he could just go to his own physiotherapist. Brad then arranged for taxi to come and collect Eric, asking him to fill in some paperwork before he left. Later, as Brad filled in the incident report, his son Josh found the missing 'out of order' sign stuffed underneath the machine, and began to wonder if it had been placed there deliberately.

The following week, Eric visited lawyer Toadie Rebecchi, explaining that he intended to sue the gym for $50,000, with Brad the one who'd be forced to pay. Toadie agreed to take the case on, despite the fact that Brad was a friend and neighbour, not to mention that his daughter Imogen was doing work experience with Toadie at the time. After doing a little bit of digging online, Imogen found out, through the Facebook page of Eric's sister Jacinta, that Eric had been injured during a skiing trip a couple of months earlier. Determined to clear her dad's name and prove that Eric had faked the gym injury for the compensation, and that his back was already injured, she told Brad about it, who passed the information on to his lawyer. Eric quickly agreed to drop the case, but Toadie was horrified at what Imogen had done and ended her work experience.

When Toadie's wife Sonya got chatting to a woman at a mothers' meeting the following week, it turned out to be Eric's wife, Mandy. As Mandy explained that Eric's skiing accident had badly affected their lives, Sonya felt bad and asked Toadie if there might be something he could do to help. Toadie then arranged to meet with Eric, who gave him the details of the accident - Toadie felt that there was a compensation case, but Eric failed to mention that he'd arrived for his lesson drunk, and had gone out on the course against the advice of the instructors. Toadie again cut ties with Eric, who then found out that Imogen, the work experience girl, was Brad's daughter. He turned up on Toadie's doorstep and pointed out the conflict of interests, explaining his intention to sue Toadie for negligence. Feeling awful about the situation she'd created, Sonya spoke to Mandy, who admitted that, following a terrible row with Eric, she'd moved into a motel, which might explain his increasing desperation. Sonya then invited Mandy over for lunch, and told Toadie to text Eric and get him to come over too. Sonya's plan to get them back together seemed to be failing, however, and it ended up causing a huge argument between her and Toadie too. Fortunately, however, the fight reminded Eric and Mandy of the passion that once existed in their marriage and, after a chat, they decided to give things another try, and Eric told Toadie that he would no longer be taking legal action against him.

Trivia Notes
• Paul O'Brien was also credited as playing Eric in episodes 6753 and 6754, though the character was only shown in photographs

Episodes Featured
6749, 6752, 6761, 6762

Biography by Steve

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