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Character Profiles > Daniel Fitzgerald Brett Tucker

When Erinsborough High teacher Daniel struck up a friendship with his new colleague Teresa Bell, he didn’t realise that it was about to get him involved in her messy personal life. He’d been teaching at the school for a while and had already had run ins with several Ramsay Street residents, including Lou, who sold him some flowers which made his mother ill, when he moved in with Tess. Having just returned from the year 9 camp, Daniel needed a place to crash for a few weeks, until he could move in with a mate and, when Tess’ housemate Anne Wilkinson heard about his problem, she offered him their spare room but quickly realised that Tess wasn’t comfortable about sharing her home with a colleague. Anne soon realised that Tess was also worried about how her abusive ex-husband Brendan would react if he found out she was sharing her home with a man, but Anne refused to accept her excuses, pointing out that Brendan was no longer a part of her life and shouldn’t have control over who she chose to live with. In the end, though, Daniel turned up on Tess’ doorstep and pleaded with her to allow him to move in, telling her that it wouldn’t be for long, and he promised not to talk about work at home, so Tess reluctantly agreed and, on the day Anne moved out, Daniel moved in.

Things were going well, and Tess and Daniel were getting on like a house on fire, until one of Brendan’s friend, Trevor Marshall, spotted the pair playing darts and laughing in Lou’s pub. He approached Tess and started making small talk, interested to hear that Daniel was her new housemate and telling her that he would mention this to Brendan when he next saw him. Meanwhile, the two teachers also found themselves struggling to keep their private lives private from their students, several of whom lived in the same street and, even during the holidays, called by for help with assignments or turned up during their attempts to escape to the beach. And further confusion arose from having their boss, Susan Kennedy, as a neighbour, particularly when she called by to ask Tess over for a movie night, only for Daniel to walk out of the bedroom with a bottle of massage oil and tell Tess that he was ready for her. Though it was all innocent – Tess was simply massaging Daniel’s shoulder after he pulled a muscle doing martial arts moves – Tess became concerned about the gossips, though easy-going Daniel refused to let it bother him and was more worried that his shoulder injury would prevent him from going surfing. When Brendan then turned up on the doorstep, assuring Tess that he’d changed and he wanted her back, Daniel realised that he didn’t want to get caught in the middle and, after assuring Brendan that he was nothing more than a friend to Tess, he found a floor to crash on elsewhere and moved out.

But his friendship with Tess would be the catalyst for a shocking accident a few months later, when Brendan once again came back into his ex-wife’s life and found out that she’d gone out clubbing with Daniel. In a jealous rage, Brendan sped out of Ramsay Street and crashed into the motorbike carrying Stephanie Scully and soon-to-be-married Libby Kennedy, Susan’s daughter. The accident left Brendan dead, and Libby facing great difficulties in her chances of ever becoming a mother. Several weeks later, Daniel called ‘round to see Tess, apologising for giving her the cold shoulder lately, and for his part in the accident that killed Brendan. Tess insisted that none of it was his fault and was happy when Daniel explained that his flat was being demolished and he again needed somewhere to stay. Grateful for the company, Tess agreed to him moving in for a second time, this time complete with his new pet lizard, Barney.

As Daniel started hitting it off with the men of Ramsay Street – inviting Drew Kirk and Paul McClain to train with his footy club, he also made friends with some of Tess’ female friends. But when Steph noticed that Daniel and Tess were getting along terribly well and pointed this out, an angry Tess snapped back that it was too soon after Brendan’s death for her to even contemplate a new relationship. When Tess then made it clear that she wouldn’t go on a date with Daniel to his footy club fundraiser auction, he started to turn his attentions elsewhere and, just as Tess was started to develop feelings for her housemate, particularly when he supported her over her controversial choice of Rainbow Alley for the VCE English class, he announced that he’d fallen for tomboy Steph. Though Steph didn’t quite share his feelings, she was desperately trying to move on from her unrequited love for Drew, who only had eyes for Libby, so she agreed to go out for dinner with Daniel. The evening went badly, as Steph clearly didn’t want to be there and ended up deliberately pouring water on her dress so that she’d have to go home. Though she turned Daniel down for a second date, seeing how upset he was she agreed to go out again, but was left wondering how she was going to let him down gently.

However, when Daniel tried to ask Steph out on more than one occasion on the days that followed, she turned him down, opting to go out with her biker mates instead. As Tess started badgering Steph, telling her what a great guy she was turning down, she finally admitted that she had fallen for Daniel, and felt guilty about having those feelings so soon after Brendan’s death. That night, when Barney was let loose in the house and ended up in bed with Tess, she angrily told Daniel to stop being so thoughtless, but, by the next morning, she had decided that she couldn’t tell him her true feelings and was moving out. Daniel was shocked and demanded to know what was behind her sudden decision, but their conversation was interrupted by a call about the footy team and he had to go out. Upon his return, Daniel explained that he should be the one to move out if there were problems and he’d already arranged things but still didn’t understand why they couldn’t remain as housemates. Tess finally blurted out the truth and Daniel thanked her for being honest and explained that he had liked her when they first met but had quickly backed off due to her problems with Brendan. They both agreed that perhaps in another place and time they could have worked as a couple but, for now, they’d be better off living apart.

By 2007, after a few years away, Daniel was back at Erinsborough High, working as a teacher and the school counsellor. When sport and health teacher Pepper Steiger accepted a job up in Cairns, to be closer to her sick father, she asked Fitzy to keep an eye on one of her students, Ringo Brown. Ringo had developed an eating disorder but Pepper had been trying to help him without bringing too much attention to it, and Fitzy agreed to her request, before putting his foot in it with Pepper's boyfriend Adam by mentioning her new job up north, when Adam had believed she was only going to visit her dad for a couple of weeks. It wasn't long before Fitzy realised what was wrong with Ringo when he passed out during a swimming trial, and he worked with his family to get the boy some help. After weeks of trying, and failing, to beat his problem, Ringo finally realised that he had to try, if not for his own sake, then for his mum's, as she had already seen one son die and couldn't cope with it happening again. Ringo agreed to counselling sessions with Fitzy and signed a contract, promising that he would do his best to start eating properly again.

Fitzy then started catching up with his old Erinsborough mates, including Steph, who was now running her own bar, Charlie's, and Libby, who had herself only recently returned to the area after some time away. At work, Fitzy had problems when humourless teacher Helen Carr found a cartoon of herself had been photocopied and plastered all over the walls. Fitzy had drawn it, and accidentally given it to Ringo with some leaflets about eating disorders and he, unhappy with his teacher constantly interfering in his life, had decided to copy it, changed his mind, and then accidentally left it in the photocopier for student Jess Wallace to find. Though Ringo and Jess both denied any involvement, Ringo had a change of heart when he realised that Fitzy might lose his job, and owned up to everything, even claiming to have drawn the cartoon in the first place.

Trivia Notes
• Brett Tucker previously appeared as Davo in 1992, a pub patron and a builder in 1994 and Ned Goodman in 1996

Biography by Steve

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