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Guest Character Profiles > George Pappas Mark Andrew, Lliam Amor

George Pappas 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
Parent: Koula Pappas
Marital Status: Patricia
Children: Chris
Family Tree: Pappas

After he came out to them, Chris Pappas' parents, George and Patricia, were accepting, though his father particularly struggled to know how to talk to his son after that point, and did his best to try to stop Chris from pursuing a career as a mechanic. After learning that his son had skipped a study session at the uni, George headed down to Lucas Fitzgerald's garage, where Chris had been helping out, and dragged him home, determined that he would be getting a uni degree and not pursuing a career fixing cars. Lucas was annoyed, as Chris had led him to believe that he had his father's permission to be there, but agreed to a compromise - he would give Chris a part-time job helping him around the garage, if his dad would allow it. Chris decided that he was going to accept the offer, whether his dad liked it or not, and even quit his place on the school basketball team so he'd have time to work for Lucas. As the time approached for Chris to make his uni applications, George suggested that Chris could become a mechanical engineer, meaning that he could still work with cars but could get a degree at the same time. Feeling guilty that his dad had been putting money aside for his university fees, Chris couldn't bring himself to say no and, even after throwing the applications forms in the bin, he couldn't tell his dad that he'd decided to do a garage apprenticeship instead of a degree.

Some weeks later, Chris was struggling with his job at the garage, following an altercation with a homophobic customer, and George visited Lucas to warn him that he didn't want Chris's work there to interfere with his studies. However, he was in for a shock when Chris's TAFE application turned up at the house, and he confronted his son. Chris said that he was just trying to keep his options open, but George became angry, insisting that his son would be going to uni and would not be throwing his life away on a career as a mechanic. As the argument got worse, Lucas tried to step in and help, but as George's anger turned on him instead, Lucas ended up punching him. With George threatening legal action, Lucas arranged to meet with him for a chat - George admitted that he felt that his son was capable of achieving a lot in life, and he didn't want him to settle at being a mechanic, and complained that Chris had developed a stubborn streak in the last year. He agreed not to press charges, but refused to budge from his view that Chris should go to university - Lucas then took him to look at the garage, where Chris had organised everything and implemented new ways of doing things. Although impressed, George still felt that Chris could do better, and showed Lucas a photograph of his parents, explained that they'd come to Australia to make a better life, and that he'd worked in an office for years to do the same for Chris - and now Chris was the first person in the family who could get a real education and a good career.

Later in the year, Chris had finished school and was about to begin his apprenticeship at the garage, as he became caught up in the drama when some developers wanted to buy the land that the garage was on, in order to build a shopping centre. Lucas refused to sell, and the developers then employed some heavy-handed tactics and Chris found himself beaten up at work one evening. With Chris unable to identify his attackers, he and Lucas both suspected it had been a homophobic attack, but then Lucas started to wonder if it could have been related to the development, and George asked him to make sure he found the people responsible, and even showed how much he'd changed by asking Lucas if he'd like to spend Christmas with the Pappas family. Though Lucas turned down the offer, it marked a new beginning for the two men. Only days later, however, Chris's decision to play down his injuries and check himself out of hospital proved to be the wrong one, when he suddenly collapsed and almost died when a broken rib punctured his lung. The emergency finally led George to allow his son to go to TAFE and take on the apprenticeship, and he even helped Chris to move on from frightening flashbacks to the attack, and to get on with fixing cars.

During his time in hospital, Chris met nurse Aidan Foster, who then took his car to the garage and asked Chris out for a drink. It wasn't long before George turned up at the bar too, and, remembering Aidan from the hospital, he insisted on buying him a drink. When George learnt that Aidan was gay and made a quick exit, Chris was worried he was about to suffer more problems with his father not accepting his choices. Later that day, George arrived at the garage with his father's old car and asked for Chris's help in fixing it up. Delighted at the opportunity to spend time with his father, Chris then said no when Aidan asked him out for another drink. However, in the weeks that followed, Chris and Aidan started dating, with Chris keeping this information from his parents, worried about how they'd react. When Chris went to stay with his friend Tash at 32 Ramsay Street, and even started discussing renting the place together, George spoke to his son, pointing out that Chris's mother was distraught at the idea of him moving out - but he said that they wouldn't stand in the way of Chris's happiness again. George did, however, insist on inspecting the house, during which Aidan turned up and Chris was forced to pretend that he barely knew Aidan, and that he was actually close to Tash. Aidan was upset to find out what Chris had done, but things got worse when Chris then had to avoid inviting Aidan to his birthday party, and lied that it was for family only. Depressed about what he'd done, Chris was in the party mood and his parents soon noticed and forced him to be honest. Chris's mother, Patricia, made George see that the lack of honest and communication between father and son was becoming a real problem, and it was no wonder that Chris always felt that he had to lie. George then told Chris to go after Aidan and try to fix things.

A few months later, Chris and Aidan had finally worked through many of their issues, and Chris decided that it was time for a fresh start, which meant that Aidan would finally be properly introduced to George. Though everyone was on their best behaviour, it was an awkward affair for them all, with George and Aidan struggling to know how to greet each other, and finding little common ground in the conversation.

A couple of years later, following a trip to Greece to visit family, George returned home to find that both his wife and son had been keeping secrets from him. Chris had kept quiet about the fact that his boyfriend Hudson was in prison for manslaughter, whilst even more difficult for George to understand, Patricia had spent years hiding a gambling addiction. Upon learning that Patricia's problem, which had started before they were married, had flared up again recently and that she was about to go to court charged with shoplifting, George found himself unable to look at her and she packed a bag and went to stay with Chris. The following morning, Chris tried to get his parents to talk to each other, but all George could talk about was the shame and embarrassment he felt. Later that day, however, as Patricia and Chris prepared to leave for her court appearance, George arrived and apologised, admitting that he'd realised that he'd been behaving badly and that he had to stand by his wife during this difficult time.

Trivia Notes
• When Chris Pappas' father first appeared in episode 5995 he was named Ricardo 'Ric' Pappas and played by Mark Andrew, however when he returned in episode 6201 he had been renamed George, with Lliam Amor taking over the role
• Lliam Amor previously appeared as Adam Buxton in 2004 and Frank Romano in 2005
• Click here to read our 2007 interview with Lliam

Tenure
5995, 6200, 6201, 6218, 6219, 6247, 6263, 6264, 6307, 6308, 6318, 6323, 6395, 6402, 6403, 6502, 6850