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Character Profiles > Malcolm Kennedy Benjamin McNair Also credited as Benjie, Benjii and Benji McNair

Malcolm 'Mal' George Kennedy 1994-1997, 2002, 2004, 2011, 2015, 2022, 2023
Lived: 28, 32 Ramsay Street
Born: 1977
Parents: Karl and Susan Kennedy
Marital Status: Catherine O'Brien (2001-2022, separated)
Siblings: Libby, Billy and Holly
Children: Susannah
Family Tree: Kennedy
Occupation: Erinsborough High Student, University Student, Surf Shop Assistant, The Coffee Shop Assistant, Handyman, Cuppa Diem Salesman

The lively and outgoing eldest of the Kennedy children, Malcolm was born in 1977, and followed by a sister, Libby a year later, and finally, a brother, Billy. Of all the Kennedy children, Mal was the one who clashed with his father the most. They had the same temperament, and would both refuse to back down when involved in an argument. At the age of 17, Mal and his siblings were stunned when Karl suddenly announced his plans to sell the family home and move into the suburbs, 28 Ramsay Street to be precise. Mal and Libby were particularly against their father's decision, and failed to feel in any way enthusiastic as the Kennedys arrived in Erinsborough in 1994. Mal instantly clashed with Danni Stark, the girl from across the street who came calling just as he was unpacking his bags. Danni had seen Mal from her living room window, and immediately found herself attracted to him. But Mal wasn't the slightest bit interested in her when she introduced herself, leaving her thinking he was rude and unfriendly. Mal's moody behaviour, however, was simply down to the fact that he was still in the dark about his father's sudden decision to up sticks and move to the city. When Mal eventually learnt that the real reason Karl had left the country suddenly was because he had caused a patient's death, he was furious with his father, and demanded a proper explanation.

Malcolm's history in Ramsay Street was to be a chequered one. He failed to ingratiate himself with the new neighbours after accidentally shooting Lou Carpenter in the leg. When runaway Bianca Zanotti was taken in by Marlene Kratz over at No. 24, Malcolm was instantly smitten, and set about trying to win her over. He invited Bianca over to the Kennedy house to watch a movie with him one night, failing to tell her beforehand that they would be alone. And when Mal started coming onto Bianca, she thumped him in the face, leaving him with a bad cut on his nose. The next day, Mal lied to everyone about how he got his cut, claiming he and Bianca had been mugged as they walked home from the movies. But Bianca told Brett and Danni what had really happened, and when Mal started bragging to his classmates about how he had stood up to the muggers, Danni told everyone the truth - making Mal the laughing stock of the school. His problems increased when Karl bumped into Bianca at the Coffee Shop and spoke of how proud he was of Malcolm for standing up to the thugs, causing Bianca to lose her temper and tell Karl she had actually punched Mal because he came on too strong with her. Karl was disgusted with Mal for his behaviour, and furiously confronted him about his actions.

Being the oldest child, Mal was always keen to incite rebellion amongst his siblings whenever his parents did something that he didn't agree with. When Susan announced her plans to start giving piano lessons at No. 28, Mal - having secured the support of Libby and Billy - called a family meeting to have a vote on whether or not the piano lessons should be allowed. Mal was delighted when Libby backed up his protests about how the lessons would interrupted their study. But he was furious when Billy backed out of voting against the lessons having realised Susan's first student would be Leanne Packington, who he had a massive crush on. And much to the disgust of Mal and Libby, Karl ultimately decreed that Susan could continue with her lessons.

Although Mal and Libby had always enjoyed a close relationship due to their closeness in age, they still had their occasional bouts of sibling feuding, such as the time Mal embarrassed Libby in school by reading out excerpts of the steamy novel she was writing. Libby was disgusted with her brother for invading her privacy in the first place, and more so for publicly humiliating her. However, Mal was taught a lesson by Karl and Susan for his behaviour when he was forced to keep his bedroom door open for one week so that the rest of the family could go in and out of his room as they liked. Libby received little comfort from Mal's punishment, though, because the damage had been done at school, and she was the butt of many jokes amongst her fellow students for weeks. It was only when Billy snapped a photograph of Mal flexing his muscles in the mirror that Libby saw her chance for revenge. Libby threatened to show everyone the photo Billy had taken but Karl told Libby to give the photo to Mal and end the privacy war in the household. But Libby remained determined to get her revenge on Malcolm for the embarrassment he had caused her, and used the negative to develop another print of the photo, which she then hung up in the Coffee Shop for all to see. After half the neighbourhood had laughed at his expense, Mal discovered the picture on the Coffee Shop notice board and promptly ripped it down, before storming home to confront Libby. A bitter argument erupted between the two, infuriating Karl who demanded Libby hand over the negatives once and for all, and insisted that now she had gotten her revenge on Mal, the privacy war was well and truly over.

Mal and Danni Stark had started to get to know one another a lot better as they spent time together at school, and Mal started to find himself growing attracted to her. When the Kennedys held a barbecue for the neighbours one afternoon, Mal took advantage of being alone with Danni when they both went inside to get some refreshments. Once inside, Mal told Danni he had something important to talk to her about, but his nervousness got the better of him, and he kissed her. Danni was initially taken aback by Mal's kiss and told him she would need to think about what had happened. But she quickly realised that she liked Mal too, and they started going out together. Although he was thrilled that he and Danni had gotten together, Mal was terrified of stuffing things up between them like he had done with other girls in the past and asked Danni to keep their relationship under wraps for the time being because he was so afraid of things going wrong. But any fears Mal had about Danni's interest in him were quashed when she made him a special necklet, which he was thrilled with.

When Lou and Danni's mother, Cheryl, were out to dinner one evening, Danni invited Mal over to model her necklet designs for a catalogue she was planning to showcase the designs. Still shy and nervous around Danni, Mal reluctantly agreed to bare his chest for the photos. However, Danni wanted to make him look really sexy for the shots and rubbed baby oil on him, and when Lou and Cheryl arrived home they were surprised to find Danni taking photos of Mal with baby oil smeared all over his skin. Mal was hugely embarrassed when they walked in, and quickly put his top back on and ran home. Mal eventually grew more confident in the relationship as Danni's commitment to him showed no signs of wavering. So when the school found out about the relationship courtesy of Sassy Patterson-Smythe betraying Danni's trust, Mal didn't bother denying that he was seeing Danni and instead, stood up in the yard and confirmed to everyone that he and Danni were going out together.

When Danni decided that Mal needed some new, funkier clothes, Susan agreed with her, and foolishly gave Danni her store card to use at the mall. Susan was shocked when Mal returned that evening with a jacket costing $299.00, and several shirts costing $70.00 each. And since Mal was unable to return any of the items because they had been on sale, Susan forced him to work for nothing at the Coffee Shop - which she was briefly running - until he had the money paid back.

As their relationship became more serious, Danni began to pressure Mal into having sex with her. But Mal kept putting it off until Danni finally confronted him about why he was skirting the issue, and Mal revealed to her that he was a virgin. But much to Mal's relief, Danni assured him that she didn't think any less of him for being a virgin, and she promised him that she wouldn't push him into having sex with her, assuring him she was prepared to wait until he was ready. Mal felt ready to have sex a short time later, and when they had the chance of being alone at No. 22 for the night, the couple finally slept together. Mal was thrilled after losing his virginity to Danni, and became even more devoted to her.

But as Danni started mixing with top fashion designer Fabian Conte and his circle of friends in her quest to make it big in the world of fashion, Mal began to see a different, more selfish side to Danni's character. Jealousy also got the better of Malcolm because Danni was out nearly every night of the week at parties and nite clubs, and he followed her to The Pump Palace one night to spy on her. But when Karl discovered Mal had gone to a nite club on a school night, he was furious and went down to the club to bring him home. Cheryl had also gone down to the club with Karl because she was worried about the amount of time Danni was spending on the party circuit, fearing her studies would suffer. Mal and Danni were both mortified by their parents when they showed up at the club, but Danni was also furious with Mal for embarrassing her in front of Fabian and his mates. The final straw came for Mal when Danni, having failed to study for an exam at school due to her partying, looked at Mal's paper during the test. Susan caught the two, and mistakenly accused Mal of cheating. Disgusted by Danni's refusal to own up to her cheating, Mal told her afterwards that he was sick and tired of her using him, and promptly dumped her.

Even after Danni had set the record straight with Susan about who was really cheating in the test, Mal continued to give her the cold shoulder. But the sexual tension between the two was evident to all around them as the weeks went by, and Mal's best mate, Stonie Rebecchi, finally got the two back together by locking them in the Kennedy's garage together so that they could sort out their problems. With the relationship back on track, Mal and Danni resumed sleeping together, but their parents were still unaware that they were sexually active. It was only when Cheryl caught Mal and Danni together on Danni's new futon that she realised they were sleeping together. However, Cheryl surprised the couple by reacting to the discovery in a calm and rational manner, eventually even agreeing to let Mal stay over at No. 22 some nights. Karl refused to entertain the idea of Mal sleeping over at Danni's on a regular basis, however, and he confronted Cheryl about the situation, accusing her of having no morals for letting them have sex under her roof. Thus, although Mal and Danni were able to sleep together at the Stark house, it was simply not tolerated in the Kennedy house. So when Karl said he had no problem with Danni staying over at the Kennedy house when Mal asked one evening, Mal was stunned at his father's surprisingly co-operative response. But Mal realised Karl wasn't giving him the go ahead to sleep with Danni when Karl produced a stretcher bed for Danni to sleep on in the living room.

With no signs of the matter being resolved, Karl organised a meeting between himself, Susan, Cheryl and Lou to discuss Mal and Danni's relationship. But Mal and Danni were disgusted that their private lives were being discussed without them even being present and organised their own meeting of the Kennedy and Stark children where the couple tried to drum up their siblings' support for the stand they wanted to take, warning them that they could encounter similar problems with their parents themselves. Brett, Libby and Billy agreed with Mal and Danni, and the five decided to gatecrash the meeting at the Kennedy house and have their say. Karl was furious when the kids marched in, but Susan, Cheryl and Lou were willing to listen to their side of things. But a bitter argument erupted between Karl and Malcolm, and Mal led the others out in a rage. Susan, Cheryl and Lou then outvoted Karl in favour of allowing Mal and Danni to sleep together, and he begrudgingly accepted their wishes. But he was shocked when Mal and Danni went on to announce that since their activities were causing so much fuss, they were moving out and getting a place of their own. Mal and Danni's plans to move in together initially disgusted Karl, but he quickly hatched a plan to teach the young couple a lesson. After talking to Philip Martin, he agreed to put up the bond for the kids and let them move in together at No. 32, owned by Philip. A stunned Mal and Danni accepted Karl's offer, beginning to think that perhaps he was finally seeing things from their side. But Karl was banking on the couple realising before too long that they missed their home comforts and would not be able to afford living on their own for very long.

However, Mal and Danni were determined to make a success of their endeavour, and to celebrate Mal's 18th birthday, they held a dinner party for the Kennedys. Mal and Danni were delighted when Marlene offered to cook a delicious four course meal and let Danni pass it off as her own work. And Karl was forced to swallow his pride and congratulate Mal and Danni on a lovely evening after the night passed successfully. But just as Danni was breathing a sigh of relief that the Kennedys hadn't realised Marlene was actually the cook, the make shift table Mal had erected in the living room collapsed and put a dampener on the end of the night. Ultimately, though, Karl commended Mal on the level of maturity and responsibility he had shown since moving into No. 32 with Danni, and he admitted he had misjudged the situation. Karl's nose was put out of joint by Mal soon after, however, when Mal bypassed Karl and asked Susan to give him driving lessons. But Karl couldn't contain his joy when Mal asked him to take over giving the lessons due to Susan's insistence on conducting most of the lessons in the living room of the Kennedy house as opposed to in an actual car.

Needing some extra cash to support themselves, Mal and Danni reluctantly agreed to let Stonie move in with them and rent a room. Danni insisted on a trial period, however, because she wasn't entirely sure Stonie would be an ideal tenant. Mal, on the other hand, loved having Stonie around, and within a few days, told Stonie the trial period was over and he was welcome to stay on permanently. Danni was furious with the arrangement because it meant Mal was now regularly watching the footie with Stonie, or popping down to the pub with him for a drink. Mal started to have problems with Stonie, however, when his brash mother, Angie, came to stay while her husband was away working. The Rebecchi presence at No. 32 soon became too much for Mal and Danni, and after Mal noticed Stonie was wearing his good shirt without asking, and Angie sewed up the tears in Danni's jeans, Danni and Mal told Stonie that Angie would have to leave.

When Danni celebrated her 19th birthday she and Mal were thrilled when Cheryl gave them the use of No. 22 for a romantic dinner alone. However, unbeknown to Mal and Danni, the evening at No.22 was all part of Cheryl and Angie's birthday party plans for Danni, and they delivered invitations to all the residents of the street with to gather at Marlene's next door that night. So while Mal and Danni were enjoying a romantic evening at the Stark house, the rest of Ramsay Street had assembled next door, waiting to head over to No. 22 to surprise Danni and Mal. However, Danni had convinced Mal to go skinny-dipping with her out in the spa, and while the dinner was cooking, they undressed and went out. But at the same time, Cheryl brought everyone over from Marlene's, and when Danni and Mal heard the noise coming from inside, they grabbed their clothes and ran out of the garden as quickly as possible, running half naked across Ramsay Street in the process. Angie gave the couple a gift voucher to spend the night in a luxury hotel suite as an apology for what had happened, but the night proved troublesome for the couple when Mal failed to get condoms and they had unprotected sex. The next morning, Danni was furious with both herself and Mal for their foolishness, and made plans to get the morning after pill. The incident taught the couple a lesson about how easily Danni could fall pregnant, and they resolved to be more careful about using contraception in future. However, the tension the matter caused ultimately led to a decision to move back to their own homes, leaving the Rebecchis at No. 32.

Mal was delighted to land a part-time job at a local surf shop owned by Libby's new boyfriend, Sonny Hammond. But when Mal got caught in a riptide while surfing with Libby one afternoon and Sonny rescued him, Mal felt like a wimp around Sonny, and feared he would lose his job. But Sonny assured Mal that he didn't think of him as a wimp, and insisted he carry on working at the shop. But when Sonny left Mal in charge one afternoon while he tended to some business, Mal was disgusted when he witnessed Sonny getting into a car with a mysterious blonde and started kissing her. Both Libby and Sonny were puzzled by Mal's sudden hostility towards Sonny, and when Sonny confronted Mal about it, he was shocked when Mal told him he had seen him with another woman. Sonny explained that the girl Mal had seen him with, Dee Dee, was simply a friend who was over affectionate with him, and he assured him that he was fully committed to Libby.

After successfully completing his HSC, Mal was thrilled with his results, and - much to the delight of Karl - enrolled at Eden Hills University to study Human Movement. Danni, however, had failed her exams and had to repeat Year 12. Suddenly, the two were living different lives - Mal was meeting new people at uni and had also started working part-time at the Coffee Shop, while Danni was back at school, feeling depressed and down. The couple slowly started to drift apart, and after various arguments, they split up.

Tensions arose between Mal and Karl once again after Mal became suspicious of the relationship between Karl and Kate Cornwall, a terminal patient he had been treating. As Mal tried to piece together the full story behind the relationship, he got Libby and Billy to back him up as he broke open Karl's briefcase to look for evidence of an affair between Karl and Kate. Karl was furious with Malcolm when he walked in on him reading through his diaries, but Mal demanded to know what had gone on. Karl agreed to sit the kids down and he explained that he had got close to Kate in her final weeks, but assured them that their relationship had been strictly platonic. Libby and Billy accepted Karl's explanation, but Mal remained unconvinced there wasn't more to it. It wasn't until he and Karl were alone that they finally spoke about the matter between the two of them, where Mal realised he had been too harsh on Karl, and apologised for the way he had treated him.

Mal's friendship with Stonie was jeopardised when they met Catherine O'Brien at uni. Stonie was mad about Catherine, but she fancied Mal, and told him so when they were all away at a retreat camp together. Mal had turned Catherine down, however, knowing how much Stonie liked her. When Stonie found out about Cath's feelings for Mal, he angrily confronted Malcolm - until Mal made him realise that nothing had happened between them because he would never step on his mate's toes. Their tensions resolved, the two mates then turned their attentions to restoring an old car they had bought off Sonny, and asked Libby to photograph them at work on it over the coming weeks. But the car ended up embroiling Mal and Stonie in various dramas, including a police stakeout when the car's former owners arrived on Ramsay Street wanting some drugs they had stashed in the car. The stakeout ended in tragedy when Cody Willis was killed following a police shootout. Mal and Stonie continued to work on the car, but their joy at finally completing it were ruined when Mal's grandfather, Tom, took it for a spin with Libby and her new boyfriend, Rupert, and it was stolen while they were in Luna Park. Mal and Stonie were furious when the news was broken to them, and they were forced to give up on the idea of getting the insurance off it to get another car because they never got it insured.

When Philip Martin's daughter, Debbie, returned to Ramsay Street after a year in New York, Mal was quickly attracted to her. He took her out a few times, but Debbie had just come out of a bad relationship and wasn't ready for another romance, meaning Mal never became more than good friends with her. It was around this time that Mal also started to feel disillusioned with his uni course, and much to the shock of Karl, he packed it in to work as a handyman for Sam Kratz's Handy Sam's business. When Sam left Erinsborough for London, he put Mal in charge of the business, and Mal eventually bought the business himself, in partnership with Danni's recently released ex-con brother, Darren.

While working at Erinsborough High for a few weeks, Mal found himself falling for Year 12 student, Shona Munro. They started dating, but the relationship was destined to failure due to the objections of her parents, and the conflict of interests involved on Mal's part. True love blossomed for Mal when Catherine - having split from Stonie, who had just moved up north - started showing interest in him again and they started seeing eachother. Catherine showed how much she cared for Mal when she rushed to his hospital bedside after Karl had saved his life by performing an emergency tracheotomy on him following an accident as they were renovating Chez Chez. But Mal's heart was broken when Catherine had an affair with Darren behind his back. When Mal found out, he punched Darren in the middle of Ramsay Street, and sunk into a deep depression for some time. The whole episode forced Mal to look at his life, and he decided the time was right for him to travel overseas, as he had long hoped to do. Karl and Susan were disappointed to see their son leave home, but they knew it was the right thing for him to do. Catherine offered to go with Mal just before he was due to leave, but he failed to give her any indication of wanting her to come with him. It was only after saying goodbye to his family and going through the departure gates that Mal realised he and Cath were meant to be together - she had booked a ticket on the same flight as him, and was going with him to Europe.

After travelling across Europe, Mal and Catherine eventually settled in London, where Mal landed a job working as a sales rep for a chain of coffee houses, Cuppa Diem. He and Catherine got engaged after a few years, and in 2001, the Kennedy family flew to England for their wedding.

Mal returned to Erinsborough the following year to visit his family, and meet his new nephew - Libby's baby, Ben. But it soon transpired that it was more than just a surprise visit he had come for. Cuppa Diem wanted to expand into the Australian market, and had sent Mal to Erinsborough to find a suitable location for their first Australian branch. Mal immediately set his eyes on the Coffee Shop, which was now run by Harold Bishop. However, Harold had no interest in selling the shop to Cuppa Diem, despite Mal's repeated promises of a healthy price for the business. Running out of luck persuading Harold to sell, Mal demonstrated more of the new ruthless side to his character by going straight to the owner of the lease, Dorothy Stevens and making her an offer which would be impossible to turn down. Karl noticed his first taste of Mal's new ruthless streak when he overheard him giving orders to sack an employee, Glenn Sachi, over the phone, while Libby was hugely surprised that her once unambitious older brother was now such a wheeler dealer businessman. Karl angrily expressed his disgust at Mal for selling out an old family friend in such a cruel and heartless way, prompting Mal to accuse Karl of just being unable to accept his son was making a success of himself now. The disagreement between father and son provoked Mal to move out and into a hotel, and it was left to Libby to try and mediate between them. Mal tried to explain his side of the story to Libby, but she, too, failed to understand Mal's motives. Mal finally relented and told Libby he would try to work out a way for Harold to hold onto the Coffee Shop lease. But when Mal spoke to his boss in London, he was unable to persuade him to consider approaching another coffee shop in a different area, and Mal was forced to press on with his plans to buy the Coffee Shop. But Mal finally realised that he was acting in a completely unreasonable manner after Cuppa Diem took him off the takeover job because of his failure to secure the deal sooner. After realising how selfish and cruel he had been to Harold, Mal apologised to him for his behaviour, and resigned from Cuppa Diem. And Mal patched things up with Karl after they had a heart to heart, in which Karl admitted to Mal that in a sense, he now envied Mal for all the opportunities he had.

Before returning to London, Mal announced his plans to sue Cuppa Diem for the way they had treated him, but Karl and Susan tried to persuade him that he would have serious difficulties in trying to fight a huge company like Cuppa Diem. But Mal insisted that his principles were at stake and he was determined to fight them all the way. And just as he was pulling off in his taxi en route to the airport, Mal dropped one final bombshell on Karl - he had bought No. 32 while he was in town, and wanted Karl to act as landlord for him.

Christmas 2003 saw the entire Kennedy family reunite in Adelaide, where Libby and Ben were now living. But Mal immediately suspected something was up when Karl stayed behind in Erinsborough at the last minute, claiming he had a terminally ill patient to tend to. With Susan visibly preoccupied with something throughout the holidays, Mal decided to stop off in Erinsborough for a few days en route back to London to see what was really happening at home with Karl. It seemed his suspicions were well founded - because Mal was greeted by a messy house and slobby Karl, and not a dying patient in sight. And when new Ramsay Street resident Izzy Hoyland barged in on Karl and Mal at No.28 unannounced, Mal realised there was a familiarity between his father and Izzy, and suspected they were having an affair. Mal confirmed his suspicions by following the pair out to a bar where they intimately chatted over drinks all evening, and the following morning, Mal gave Karl the cold shoulder, rebuking Karl’s attempts at spending time with him. Instead, Mal confronted Izzy about her relationship with Karl, and she strongly denied that there was anything other than friendship between them. Karl happened across the angry exchange between the pair and demanded to know what was going on. But Mal stormed off home and began packing his things to leave town. Karl pleaded with Mal to give him a chance to explain what was going wrong and Mal listened as Karl poured his heart out - and revealed that while there was nothing going on between him and Izzy, he was having serious marital problems with Susan and was starting to think he would never love her the same way again.

A desperate Mal tried to push his parents closer together when Susan got back from Adelaide, but Karl resisted all attempts at sorting things out with her. Mal finally lost his cool with the situation, and when Susan - who had found out about the argument between Mal and Izzy - asked Mal what he knew, he stormed out of the house, telling Karl to tell Susan what he was feeling once and for all. However, in his rage, Mal ran over Libby’s dog, Audrey as he reversed the car out of the driveway, and the family was forced to rush to the veterinary clinic with the dog. After Audrey was allowed home the next morning, Mal was delighted that the incident appeared to have brought Susan and Karl closer again, and he watched in delight as they joked with each other and tenderly cared for Audrey throughout the morning. Before leaving for London, Mal had a moment alone with Karl in which he told him he could only dream of having as good a marriage with Cath as Karl did with Susan. But Karl remained unenthusiastic about the future of his marriage, and Mal left Erinsborough unsure of whether or not his parents would still be together next time he saw them.

Before leaving, Mal also announced his plans to put No.32 on the market and he called over to tell Max Hoyland personally. Max expressed interest straight away in buying the house himself. But after Mal realised Izzy also lived there, he insisted they let the auctioneers handle the sale - it seemed that Mal held Izzy very much responsible for his parents’ recent troubles.

In 2011, Mal returned to town, after conversations with Libby and Bill revealed that there were problems in Susan and Karl's marriage. Mal came back to stay with his parents for a while, and to try to get to the bottom of the problem, but it wasn't long before his own marriage was in jeopardy too, as he quickly developed an attraction to neighbour Jade Mitchell.

Four years later, Mal made another surprise visit to his parents, as he returned to Australia for work. He used the opportunity to break the news that Catherine was expecting a baby, and then asked Karl and Susan if they'd consider retiring and making a permanent move to London to help out with the new baby. Though they were tempted, Karl and Susan decided that Ramsay Street was their home and that neither of them wanted to leave. Though disappointed, a nervous Mal found himself getting some parenting tips from Toadie and Sonya, helping out with their daughter Nell, and began to believe that he might be cut out to be a dad after all.

As Mal and Catherine started to grow apart in the years that followed, they decided to end the marriage, having one last Christmas together at the end of 2021, for Susannah's sake, before splitting up. By this time, Izzy was living in London with her daughter Holly - Mal's half-sister and the result of a one-night stand between Karl and Izzy - and Mal started to spend more time with them. This led to Mal and Izzy developing feelings for each other and they began a relationship, though it was another six months before they decided to fly out to Australia to tell Mal's parents.

Karl and Susan were thrilled to find Mal on their doorstep, though it quickly turned to concern as he explained that his marriage was over. With Izzy attempting to keep a low profile, Mal went to break the news to Karl and Susan, only for Izzy to turn up with a bottle of Champagne just before he got the chance to explain. The Kennedys were horrified at the whole idea, particularly Susan, and the tension only increased when it looked like Izzy and Mal might be buying 24 Ramsay Street, which had recently gone on the market. Though Mal had explained that he'd been missing Australia a great deal - which had been part of the reason why his marriage had ended - Susan felt that having Izzy living two doors down was something that could never be allowed to happen again. She approached former Ramsay Street resident Paige, who was handling the sale of the house, and asked her to make sure that Izzy didn't buy it. When word got back to Izzy and Mal, Susan issued an ultimatum - Mal had to choose between his girlfriend and his mother, but was left stunned when Mal chose Izzy.

Just as it was looking like Izzy had destroyed the Kennedy family once again, she went to Mal and confessed that she'd kissed another man. Having met wealthy Shane Ramsay, and helped him to choose a new car, Izzy had come to a realisation - that if she'd cheated so easily, then she didn't really love Mal in the way she thought she did. When Karl and Susan heard about Izzy's cheating - from Kyle Canning, who'd seen Izzy and Shane together - they went to tell Mal, quickly finding out that he already knew. Izzy then explained how she'd been looking through Harold's Ramsay Street History Book, and it had made her realise how so many of her actions in recent years had just been excuses to try and be a part of Karl and Susan's lives, and to win their approval.

Having finally seen Izzy's true colours, and with the relationship over, Mal was comforted by his parents, and joined them at a party on Ramsay Street to celebrate Toadie and Melanie's marriage.

The day after the wedding, Mal was walking through the Lassiters complex and was surprised to bump into Holly. She explained that she’d come back to see her mum, worried about how Karl and Susan would be taking the news of Mal and Izzy’s relationship. Having seen her mum cheating on Mal with Shane Ramsay, then bragging about him on social media, a disgusted Holly had decided to lay low, spending time with new boyfriend Eden Shaw, who’d flown out from London with her, instead. When Mal found out the full story, he agreed to keep quiet and even offered to lend Holly some money so that she and Eden could go travelling.

Trivia Notes
• When Susan was giving birth to Malcolm, Karl let a whole team of medical students watch the birth
• In 2011, when Kym Valentine left the cast suddenly, due to illness, Benjie McNair returned to the cast for 5 months, with Mal taking Libby's place as the go-between Kennedy kid, as Susan and Karl's marriage fell apart
• In 2005, Mal made a cameo appearance in Annalise's 20th Anniversary Documentary