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Guest Character Profiles > Angus Henderson Jonathan Wood

As she left the pool one day, 16-year-old Rachel Kinski accidentally bumped into an older, handsome stranger. They both apologised, and Rachel put it out of her mind until a few days later, when she and stepsister Libby had a drink together whilst waiting to collect their take-away at Charlie's bar. As Libby went to take a phone call, Rachel turned around to find a table when she bumped into the same man again, knocking the drinks all over herself. He apologised and later introduced himself to her as Angus Henderson, giving her his number and telling her to give him a call if she ever felt like bumping into him again. Though Rachel couldn't quite pluck up the courage to call, she bumped into Angus again and apologised and they arranged to go on a date, despite the misgivings of Rachel's best friend, Bridget Parker, who could already sense disaster looming. After lying that she was going to the cinema with friends, Rachel met with Angus at the General Store and the pair headed off to a club to see Magic Dirt perform. They quickly hit it off, with Rachel lying that she was studying Russian literature at uni in Canberra, and before the night was over, they had shared a passionate kiss. But the next morning, as Rachel sat down in English class, she was stunned to find that Angus was standing at the front of the room, as her new substitute teacher.

Unable to deal with what was happening, Angus lashed out at Rachel when she approached him after class, telling her that there was nothing to discuss, and to call him Mr Henderson. When Rachel then ran into him at the General Store, she tried to talk to him again, but he pointed out that she had lied to him and it had left him in a very difficult position. The next day at school, Angus struggled with his feelings, angrily sending Rachel out of the classroom for talking, and making snide remarks about women covering up their real identities in the novel they were studying. However, when Rachel later made a passionate speech about Price and Prejudice, Angus found himself remembering why he'd found her so attractive in the first place.

Things grew more complicated for Rachel and Angus when he spotted her struggling with her bag and offered her a lift home, careful to drop her by the park so they wouldn't be spotted. Unfortunately, school bitch Jessica Wallace, who happened to be out walking her dog, did see them and it wasn't long before she was telling everyone that she had some exciting gossip to tell them all. That night, a large group of Erinsborough High teens headed to an illegal rave, where Jessica's hints made Rachel realise what she knew. Rachel quickly got in touch with Angus, turning up at his apartment to explain what had happened. Angus apologised, feeling that it was his responsibility as the adult not to allow it to go any further, but Rachel tried to make him see that they were meant to be together. Angus told her to leave, but as Rachel walked home in tears, she decided that words weren't enough, and returned to his apartment, kissing him as he opened the door. As the dawn broke, Angus told her that, since he wasn't returning to Erinsborough High for the new school year, their only obstacle was her age, so they would have to keep the relationship quiet until she turned 18. As the secret union continued, Angus tried to listen to his common sense and end things, but Rachel convinced him that they should be together and even attempted to talk him into leaving his apartment and going out on a proper date, something that Angus managed to talk her out of, but told her that he would cook her a candle-lit dinner instead.

Rachel was soon professing her love for Angus, though he tried to get her to back off a little, telling her that she just thought she loved him, but when he then accepted a permanent position at Erinsborough High, the relationship began to unravel. When Rachel heard the news from one of the other teachers, Daniel Fitzgerald, she left a party being held in Ramsay Street and raced over to his apartment, while Bridget realised where she had gone and tried to raise the alarm when she found out the Daniel was heading over to Angus' apartment for a chat. With Rachel not answering her phone, Bridget managed to stall Daniel and head over there herself, only for him to arrive and catch Angus and Bridget together. When Daniel failed to believe a story about her returning a textbook, Bridget was forced to humiliate herself and cover for her friend by pretending that she had a crush on Mr Henderson. Back at school, Bridget continued her lie, leaving her father Steve adamant that she would have to change schools, but Bridget's ex, Declan knew that there was more to the situation, eventually guessing the truth about Rachel and Angus and blurting it out in the middle of a busy school corridor. Daniel called in Rachel's stepmum Susan and stepsister Libby, so that he could question Rachel about the allegations, but both she and Angus denied everything. Daniel then tried a different angle, unsettling Angus by placing Rachel's mobile phone on the desk, then making Rachel think that Angus had described her as 'emotionally immature'. Rachel burst into the corridor and screamed at Angus, asking how he could say those things about her when, only days earlier, she'd been his lover. Horrified, Angus told her that he'd said none of it, and she'd been tricked.

Angus was soon taken in for questioning by the police, and later released, pending trial. With his face splashed all over the local newspapers, his reputation in tatters and Rachel's life ruined, Angus received a visit from Susan, who begged him to end things with Rachel properly, and tell her that he never really cared about her, to stop her from wasting her life pining after him. Though it broke his heart to do so, Angus contacted Rachel and she went to his apartment, where he bluntly told her that he never had genuine feelings for her and she had just been another conquest to him. As Rachel tried to deal with this information, Angus made the decision to leave Erinsborough and stay with his parents, at least until the trial, hoping that putting some distance between them might help Rachel to move on.

Biography by Steve

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