With only a month left working at the pub before he’d have to find new employment, Connor was worried that he may even have to leave Erinsborough. Max realised that he didn’t want to lose such a talented employee and offered Connor the job of trainee manager. He also agreed to sponsor Connor so that he could stay on in the country. But when they found out the details of the sponsorship deal, it emerged that, unless Connor could prove that he had a special skill, he would not be able to apply for the job over all of the other Australian applicants. However, luck was on his side when his mother sent him an old family beer recipe. Having brewed some up, it was deemed enough of a special skill to qualify him for sponsorship.

Meanwhile, Connor’s love life was turned upside-down when he heard that Carmella had returned to town for a family wedding. She was soon on his doorstep and they were picking up where they left off last time. However, Connor was in for another huge shock when Michelle walked in the front door while they were kissing in the lounge room. Connor was unsure how to react to Michelle’s return, but soon found himself caught between the two women in his life. He admitted to Michelle that she was the one he truly wanted, but with her so far away, he’d been forced to move on with his life. Ultimately though, when Michelle came over to give Connor a book of Irish poems that she’d found, he realised she was the one for him and broke up with Carmella, who headed back to Italy. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the former couple, as Jack revealed to a shocked Michelle that there’d been an incident between Lori and Connor. Michelle confronted Connor and admitted that she was hurt by this news, so he explained everything about the baby and her abortion. With the air cleared, the couple decided to make another go of things and got back together.

Only a few days into their reunion, Michelle and Connor decided to escape all the prying eyes of their friends and family by booking a room for the night at Lassiter’s. Having fully commited to each other, Connor admitted that in his mind at least, he thought of Michelle as his fiancee. During their hotel stay, Michelle dared Connor to let her give him a makeover, and he grudgingly accepted, even with the condition that he continue his new look into the hotel lobby when they check out. However, the old adage that these things come in threes came true for Connor, when he and Michelle found Lori checking into the hotel. And she was not alone, as she introduced Connor to his baby daughter, Madeleine. Suddenly, everything was up in the air again, and Michelle was unsure of where she stood. Connor assured her that this wouldn’t change anything, while Lori explained that she had only returned to give Connor a chance to meet his daughter. She told him that she was going down to the Peninsula for a few days, but would be back so that they could discuss things further…

When Lori returned, Connor was uncomfortable around her and especially around Maddy. Michelle was also concerned that she would be forced to take a back seat in Connor’s life. Connor assured Michelle that this wasn’t the case, but Michelle’s family thought differently, and Valda made Michelle realise that she should take her education seriously, offering her money if she would return to New York. With Michelle gone, Connor began to take his role as a father more seriously. However, Jack wasn’t about to let his ex-girlfriend get herself into a family set-up with Connor. He jealously attempted to put down Connor at every opportunity, and then told Lori that he wanted them to get back together and set up a home. Lori happily accepted this offer, while Connor stepped aside and allowed it. However, Lori and Jack were not meant to be, as she decided to accept a job in Lorne. On the morning of her departure, Connor spent time with Maddy, telling her that he would always be there for her. He also provided regular maintenance cheques while she was gone, and he and Lou made sure to visit with some of Lolly’s old toys.

The next time Maddy came to visit, things went badly wrong when Toadie’s cousin, Stingray, decided to take it upon himself to babysit. Unfortunately, he managed to lose the baby at the skate park, and, although she turned up safe, Connor was furious. Things only got worse when Lori found out, and she made it clear that it was going to take a lot for her to trust Connor again. He got a welcome distraction from his problems when rivals from another pub challenged him in a robot competition. Never able to say no to a war, Connor, along with Toadie and Stingray, built the Caketaker. Although the machine managed to beat the rival, Killbot, it soon came between Toadie and Sindi, as she felt that she was being ignored. She decided to get her revenge by building Powder Puff, with Jack and Summer’s help. Connor’s dreams of having Caketaker as king of the robots quickly came to an end when Powder Puff obliterated it in the contest, and Toadie and Connor put what was left of the Caketaker on the barbeque. A new scheme followed soon afterwards, as Toadie and Connor found themselves being paid to pretend to be women for a new dating website. Under the guise of Carol, Connor soon found himself attracting the attentions of a user named Jaguar, who lavished Connor with plenty of gifts. However, what Connor didn’t realise was that the mysterious Jaguar was a little closer to home than he’d realised…

When Lou started talking about a mysterious woman named Carol who he’d met online, Connor realised who he’d been chatting to. He attempted to tell Lou the truth when everyone was gathered at number 30 for a party to mark the end of the footie season. However, Lou fell asleep as Connor confessed. Connor then attempted to put Lou off by sending him a letter, pretending to be Carol, explaining that she was married and couldn’t take things any further. Unfortunately, Lou took this to mean that Carol was trapped in an unhappy marriage and needed his help. By complete coincidence, a wine rep named Carol turned up at the pub, and Lou mistook her for his internet companion. Carol mentioned that her husband would be coming to the pub next time, and Lou was ready to fight the man, so Connor had to confess.

Fortunately, as Lou chased him across Lassiter’s, Connor got the shock of his life when Carmella stepped out of a black limousine. It wasn’t long before she was manipulating Connor into becoming her driver, and constantly teasing him in order to get revenge for him dumping her several months ago. She continually found excuses to get changed in front of him, and claimed that she had a new Italian boyfriend, Giancarlo. Connor was suspicious when he saw photos of the man in a magazine, but Carmella soon covered for her lies. However, when he caught her supposedly chatting to Giancarlo, when it was actually the talking clock, he’d had enough. He told Carmella that he wanted nothing more to do with her little games, and she admitted that she had only wanted him to suffer in the same way she had. With the air cleared, the couple decided to start afresh – and Carmella wanted him to meet her mother, Lucia. Connor was terrified of this woman, without having even met her, as she had been the only person who could keep Rocco under control. When a woman sat next to him in the pub, he started pouring his heart out about his girlfriend and her frightening mother, little realising that he was talking to Lucia. When Carmella arrived, they managed to laugh it off and have a pleasant evening, but when Lucia heard that Connor had a baby girl, her reservations began to show…

Connor soon had other things to worry about when Lori found herself a new boyfriend, Nick Sullivan. Nick refused to hand Maddy over when Connor went to pick her up and soon, the two men were at war. Things only got worse when Lori announced that she and Maddy would be moving to Adelaide with her new man. Carmella’s suggestions that they “deal with” Nick only made matters worse, as he accused her of being like her father and she decided to split up with him. They quickly saw sense and got back together, but Connor grew more and more concerned that he would hardly ever get to see his child. In the end, following a little off-the-record advice from Toadie, Connor decided to grab his daughter and refuse to hand her back until Lori and Nick listened to him. Luckily, his foolish act had a positive outcome when Lori changed her mind about leaving and split up with Nick. She even started giving Connor more access to Maddy and allowed the little girl to spend Christmas Eve with her dad.

Connor’s efforts to keep Lucia sweet looked like they were about to come unstuck when she offered him a junior editor’s position at All Her magazine. After a few days of roping in various friends to help him, he was finally forced to admit to Carmella about his illiteracy. Although he’d made huge progress in the two years he’d been around, he didn’t think he was anywhere near the standard of a magazine editor. Rather than tell Lucia, Carmella agreed to help him out with the editing and even gave him some advanced reading and writing lessons. As the couple grew even closer and Carmella spent most of her time at the house, she shocked Connor by suggesting that she move in permanently. Connor tried every excuse in the book, but she finally won him over and Toadie agreed to a two-week trial. Lucia, however, wasn’t thrilled with the prospect and decided to test Connor’s worth by giving him challenges. These included doubling some money within 24 hours and getting a mysterious suitcase to the family solicitor without opening it. After passing all of her tests, Connor was pleased to receive the blessing of Mama Cammeniti.

It wasn’t long after she moved in that Connor became concerned when Carmella began to receive mysterious notes, flowers and a bottle of perfume dropped into her bag. Not wanting to appear hysterical, she simply employed the family’s private driver Frank Romano and went about her daily business. Things got stranger when another note arrived with a half-heart necklace, claiming that soon the two halves would be reunited. When Summer revealed that she’d been behind the perfume, everyone was relieved, until she went on to explain that she didn’t know where the other gifts had come from. Connor became more and more worried, refusing to let Carmella out of his sight, even when she went to a meeting at Lassiter’s. When Connor saw a man looking at Carmella, he pounced on him, but it turned out to be the magazine’s accountant, Barry Dundas. But when Connor found out that Carmella had turned Barry down for a date recently, he was convinced that they’d found their stalker and Barry was arrested.

Thinking that they were now safe, life went back to normal for Connor and Carmella. But when Connor’s brakes failed one day, he was forced to take the ute to Lou’s garage and then wait for a bus. It was as he sat at the bus-stop that Frank – the real stalker – crept up behind him and knocked him out, before kidnapping him and tying him up in a building that was due for demolition. Back in Ramsay Street, Frank showed his true colours and was arrested, but refused to reveal the whereabouts of Connor. With David Bishop set to press the button to demolish the building, Connor managed to smash a window and reveal himself just in time to save his own life. Although Carmella’s ordeal was over, it seemed that she just couldn’t move on and refused to sleep in the same bed as Connor. Things got worse when Toadie revealed that Frank had been granted bail and so the pair of them decided to get away for a while, at Toadie’s uncle’s farmhouse. Whilst there, Carmella spotted a gun and, in a moment of madness, she took it and drove off, planning to deal with Frank herself. Luckily, Connor found an old motorbike in the shed and managed to catch her and stop her. However, it made them realise that she was going to need a lot of time and support to get over what had happened.

However, when Carmella started having counselling sessions with Karl, she started to realise that maybe she needed time away from Connor and the whole relationship. When Toadie’s new girlfriend, Eva Doyle, announced her plans to go on a wrestling tour of Australia for several months, Carmella found her way out. Without saying anything, she packed her bags and shocked Connor by walking out on him. Eva explained that Carmella simply needed some time on her own, and she’d send her back when she was ready. A devastated Connor slowly managed to get over things and his mood picked up as the boys at number 30 started waging a prank war on each other. However, when the Scarlet Bar was held up one afternoon whilst Connor was working there, he realised that he too needed some time away from Erinsborough and decided to go and spend a few weeks with Lori and Maddy.

Upon his return to Erinsborough, Connor was disappointed to realise that best mate Toadie had given up his wrestling career as The Lawman, in the wake of Eva’s departure. Deciding upon some reserve psychology, Connor made plans to become a wrestler himself, The Shamrock. He got in touch with Myles Forbert, Toadie’s old coach, and made plans for his first match. Luckily, just as Connor was being killed by his opponent, Kev Karnage, Toadie stepped in as The Lawman and a new tag team was formed. The two of them were then asked to present Choke Hold, Myles’ cable tv series about wrestling. But as the pair started spending more time together, Connor was worried when he started having dreams about him and Toadie still living together like an old married couple. Although the others found this very amusing and proceeded to play practical jokes on Connor, he tried to distance himself from his housemate.

However, the friendship problems, and wrestling dramas, were quickly forgotten when Toadie inherited a bikini shop, Bounce, from one of his clients at work. Connor announced that it had always been his dream to run a bikini shop and, despite Toadie’s reservations about the amount of debt the shop was in, he allowed Connor a month to make some profit. On his first day, Connor quickly realised that he needed a gimmick to get customers in, so offered a prize draw for a fake tropical holiday. Although this worked, Toadie warned him that it was illegal and the pair had to come up with a new marketing idea. This time they decided on a Miss Erinsborough competition to boost business. At the same time, Toadie realised that they also needed a female employee and he hired Serena Bishop.

As they spent most of their time working together, Connor and Serena’s relationship turned from one of resentment to love. Toadie was surprised as he realised that Connor was constantly distracted by thoughts of his new, young work-mate, but Connor knew that he couldn’t take things any further, as Serena’s parents would almost certainly disapprove. When Connor and Serena went to a holiday resort to take some publicity photos for the bikini shop, things ended up running late and they had to share a hotel room – and a bed. Although Serena wanted things to go further, Connor managed to resist her attempts to kiss him. Unable to work alongside Connor any more, Serena quit her job, but Connor realised that he wanted to be with her, despite the problems, and he walked into her house one day and announced his intentions, in front of Serena’s stunned parents. Although things went well in the beginning, the age difference started to make Serena paranoid and let to a lot of teasing from Connor’s housemates. Liljana and David were also concerned that Serena was about to give up her dreams of university for Connor, so they had a word with him and asked him to speak to her. Serena then decided to have a bit of fun and so, she and Connor met her parents for dinner and explained that Serena had certainly rethought her future – she was going to start having Connor’s children as soon as possible!

After admitting to Lil and David that they’d made the whole thing up, Connor soon had other family problems to contend with. Lori got in touch and explained that Maddy had a serious ear infection and needed a private operation, at the cost of $50,000 or she’d be waiting, in pain, for six months. A desperate Connor tried both Paul Robinson and the bank for a loan, with no success. It was then that Carmella made a sudden return, desperate to pick up where she left off with her ex. Although Connor turned her down, he pleaded with her to lend him the money he needed and she agreed, on the condition that he spend some time with her. Having paid for the operation, Connor made it clear to Carmella once again that he was Serena now. A jealous Carmella decided to get revenge by claiming that she’d received the money from some of her dad’s mob contacts and now they wanted it back. Connor desperately tried to find a solution, before believing that his only way out was to steal the takings from Bounce. After Carmella realised what he’d done, she anonymously left the money outside the shop, and admitted to Connor that she’d actually received the loan from her mum. However, the damage was done and, even with Carmella out of the way, a jealous Serena had seen them together and assumed the worst. Connor told her about the loan and she immediately dumped him.

Consumed with guilt, and with Stuart already suspicious of his housemate’s story about the robbery, Connor decided to own up to Toadie. On that same day, several Ramsay Street residents were due to take a joy flight to Tasmania as part of Lassiter’s hotel’s anniversary celebrations, Connor and Serena amongst them. After owning up to a disgusted Toadie, Connor was surprised when Serena called over, in the hope of patching things up between them. He decided to join her on the flight, then return the next day and go to the police about the robbery. During the flight, Connor told Serena what he’d done and she forgave him, but moments later an explosion rocked the plane and it crashed into Bass Strait. Trapped inside part of the wreckage, Connor and Serena removed their life jackets to swim out, but as they struggled to stay afloat, Serena finally gave up and disappeared beneath the surface. The following day, Connor was washed up on a deserted beach in Tasmania, with Dylan Timmins, another survivor. Believing that their girlfriends, Serena and Sky, were dead, and not wanting to return to Erinsborough, they agreed to stay dead for a few weeks, until the search was called off, then make a new life up north. Although Connor would miss Maddy, he realised that, with life insurance, he was worth more to her dead than alive.

It wasn’t until Connor and Dylan found their way out of the bush and onto a main road that they stumbled upon a newspaper which was reporting the plane crash. It revealed that Sky was alive, though Serena was still missing, and that Stingray was in prison. Realising that he could clear his brother’s name by returning to Erinsborough, Dylan decided to briefly go home, before resuming his plan to get a fake passport and disappear up north. Connor decided to go along with him as he had nowhere else to go, but was alarmed when they stumbled upon Dylan’s memorial service, and Dylan decided to give himself up. Connor quickly vanished but was found a few weeks later by Harold Bishop, living on the streets of Melbourne. Harold tried to convince a reluctant Connor to return to Ramsay Street and those who loved him, which Connor did the next day. Toadie was relieved to see his best mate again, but Connor decided to stay with Harold for a while, as he got himself together. After receiving a warning from the police, Connor started to move on with his life, shunning his old House of Trouser ways, and instead helping Harold with his Salvation Army work. Those around them became concerned at the behaviour of Harold and Connor, as neither seemed to be grieving. As he started dressing more conservatively, in David’s old clothes, it wasn’t until Connor was accidentally called ‘David’ by Harold that he began to wake up to what was happening. Caught between Toadie and Harold, Connor realised how unhealthy the situation was and disappeared for a few days. Upon his return, Harold was still in denial, and Connor decided that the best way to help his friend would be to move out.

With Connor gone, Harold plummeted into despair, finally cracking and attempting to strangle Paul Robinson, who he held accountable for his loss. Harold then disappeared from the area, as Connor gradually repaired his friendship with Toadie by helping him out at the law firm. Things were soon back to normal as Toadie and Connor started running the General Store in Harold and Lou’s absence. Upon Lou’s return, Connor found himself caught up in Harold’s troubles again. Lou found evidence to suggest that Harold had been the one who had strangled Paul, but with no witnesses, and Paul unsure who his attacker was, they tried to keep their suspicions quiet and desperately tried to track down Harold themselves. Upon his return, Harold owned up to Paul, who decided, rather than getting the police involved, he would get his revenge by stealing away their business.

Connor, following his stint working at the law firm, found a new opportunity working as a private investigator. After a brief university course, he was once again embroiled in Paul Robinson’s affairs as he began his first investigations. Paul was concerned that Ned Parker – Stuart’s younger brother and a recent addition to the House of Trouser – was having an affair with his girlfriend, Izzy, but Connor failed to uncover anything substantial. Connor’s next subject for investigation was Jenny McKenna, a budding politician who had been dating local doctor, Karl Kennedy. Connor followed Jenny and Karl to a pool party at a nudist resort, but was quickly sprung and forced to own up to Jenny, who learnt that some of her colleagues were trying to discredit her. Connor’s next assignment came about when Paul’s son, Cameron, came to Erinsborough. Cameron was actually his twin, Robert, who had mental problems and was determined to destroy Paul and everyone he cared about. Having been responsible for the plane bombing, Robert had put Cameron in a coma and come to town to pick off Paul’s loved ones one by one, his first victim being Paul’s protégé, Dylan. Having successfully got Dylan sacked from his job with Paul, Robert moved on to his next victim, Izzy, but Dylan was suspicious and asked Connor to follow “Cameron”. Unfortunately, Connor’s investigations brought up nothing untoward and Dylan was forced to move on with his life.

A few weeks later, Connor received a call from Lucia, explaining that Carmella had been missing since Christmas Day 2005, and asking him to track her down. After learning that she’d received a parking ticket and in a nearby town, Connor eventually found her residing in St Clare’s Convent, about to take her vows to become a novice nun. Carmella was stunned to be confronted with Connor, who she still believed had perished in the plane crash, and he set about trying to find out whether she was truly ready to devote her entire life to God. He eventually convinced her to come and stay with him in Ramsay Street, just to have a taste of her old life before she committed to anything. During a night out at a club, Connor and Carmella shared a kiss. Realising that she felt no emotion during it, Carmella’s mind was made up and she returned to the convent for her vestiture ceremony.

Connor, meanwhile, was beginning to wonder what direction his own life was heading in. With Toadie happy working as a lawyer, Carmella having found her vocation as a nun and even Ned enjoying a new career as nanny to young Oscar Sculy, he wondered whether there was more to life. The final straw came when he returned from visiting Maddy with news that Lori was returning to live in New Zealand. After being reminded that he first came to Australia to travel the country, he decided to take six months out and go on the journey of a lifetime. After attending Carmella’s ceremony and saying his goodbyes to her, he also gave Toadie his famous beer recipe. Back in Ramsay Street, he packed up and prepared to say goodbye. However, just as he was leaving, he received a call from Carmella, who’d been at a country hospice to say goodbye to her regular patients before leaving to work at a bush hospital for a month. She explained to Connor that one of the coma patients, Robert Robinson, looked exactly like Paul’s son, Cameron, who she’d met briefly whilst staying at number 30. Realising that Cameron had a twin, who the family believed was missing in England, Connor raced over to number 22 where he bumped into “Cameron” outside and told him the news. He was invited into the house, where Robert pretended to phone his father, before asking Connor to stay for a beer. As Connor insisted that he really needed to go, Robert grabbed him and told him he had to stay. Soon after, Robert emerged from the house, drove out of Ramsay Street in Connor’s ute and it seemed as if Connor, like the Bishop family, had become another victim of the evil Robert Robinson.

When the Australian Embassy in China got in touch, having found Connor's wallet, it seemed that he might be alive after all. But it was some months before he contacted Ramsay Street again, this time sending his friends a package, again from China, with some gifts for them all on St Patrick's Day, little realising how much worry he'd been causing everyone back home.

When Connor eventually returned to Ramsay Street in late 2012, he made a grand entrance at number 30, hoping to surprise Toadie, little realising that he was about to gatecrash the baby shower for Toadie's pregnant partner Sonya. Sonya was horrified as Connor burst in with a crate of beer and wearing no trousers, and proceeded to cause trouble all day as they waited for Toadie to get back. When he did finally return, Toadie was shocked to see Connor again, but they quickly settled back into their old blokey routine, and Connor was shocked to hear that everyone thought he had died when he disappeared. He told Toadie about his travels, and Toadie agreed that he could stay, until he realised how uncomfortable Sonya was with the idea. With many new residents on Ramsay Street since Connor had lived there, Toadie helped him to find a place to stay at number 26, formerly the Scully house and Connor's old home, now resident to Kyle Canning and his grumpy housemate Dr. Rhys Lawson. Though Kyle enjoyed Connor's company, Rhys wasn't quite so sure, but Toadie was upset to realise that Kyle and Connor were having fun together whilst he had to attend to grown-up activities like work and pre-natal classes. Seeing how upset Toadie was, Sonya decided to let Connor stay for a while, booking herself into a retreat for pregnant women for the week to give the old friends some time together.

In the days that followed, Connor and Toadie, along with Kyle, enjoyed recreating the old carefree House of Trouser lifestyle, but Toadie quickly began to realise that he couldn't keep it going for long, as he had a family to support. Connor, however, seemed reluctant to stop hanging around in his boxer shorts, playing computer games and ordering pizza, and Toadie started to question his reasons for hanging around. The truth came out when he was getting some money from Connor's wallet to pay for the beers, and he found a photo of 7-year-old Maddy, with a note on the back, telling her dad that it was the dress she would be wearing to her mum's wedding. Connor was forced to explain that Lori was getting married to an engineer named Cameron, but he had no intention of going to the wedding, not even to support Maddy. Toadie forced the issue, telling Connor that he had to start growing up and taking more responsibility, but Connor snapped and claimed that, underneath the family man facade, Toadie wanted to go back to his old student sharehouse days too, and that was why he had never married Sonya. The whole incident made both men think about their actions, and Toadie proposed to a delighted Sonya, while Connor decided to go to the wedding, and the friends patched things up, with Toadie asking Connor to come back and spend a few more weeks in Erinsborough afterwards.

A few days later, Connor was back with news that he was going to rent a house and move to Lorne permanently, and he managed to convince Sonya that Toadie should get a Buck's Party, as one final farewell to his old life and the House of Trouser. As Connor produced mullet wigs and novelty t-shirts, Toadie was worried about what fate would befall him, particularly as he now had a serious job and a more positive reputation in the community. When the day of the party dawned, Connor was being secretive, leaving Toadie worried that a stripped was about to turn up, but instead Ramsay Street was overtaken by a giant inflatable boxing ring, which the men of the street greatly enjoyed. Connor's final prank before leaving town saw him putting glue in Toadie's gloves, forcing him to use Connor and Lucas's arms during a video conference with work, but Toadie got his own back by putting a bag of prawns in Connor's backpack before he went.

Trivia Notes
• Belfast native Patrick Harvey initially auditioned for Neighbours affecting an Australian accent, and was subsequently asked to read with his own dialect. The producers approved and the character's nationality was decided accordingly
• In 2003, Patrick's role of Connor won him a Logie award for Most Popular Male Newcomer

Tenure
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