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Guest Character Profiles > Sue Parker Kate Gorman

Sue 'Nosy Parker' Parker 1986-1987, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2023
Parents: Bill
Marital Status: Bill Warley (Separated)
Children: Jayden
Occupation: Student, Bank Teller, Councillor, Interim Mayor of Erinsborough

High school bitch Sue Parker managed to cause plenty of trouble for the teenagers of Ramsay Street. Only out for what she could get from people, Sue was impressed when Nikki Dennison won a date with ironman Grant Kenny, and, in order to impress Sue, Nikki then lied that they'd hit it off and were going on a second date, though her lies quickly caught up with her and boyfriend Mike Young. A few months later, Nikki had left town and Sue was causing more trouble for Mike, as he became interested in dating shy and mousy Jane Harris. After Jane had a makeover for the school dance, Sue was quick to tell her that she'd always be a dag underneath the fancy clothes and make-up, and Jane lost her confidence and decided that she wasn't good enough for Mike. A couple of weeks later, Sue asked Mike out on a date and he was quick to tell her that he was now dating Jane, and he didn't care what Sue thought of her.

Soon afterwards, Jane's grandmother Mrs Mangel received a poison pen letter, warning her about Mike's reputation with girls and making some shocking accusations against him. Already disapproving of her granddaughter having a boyfriend, Mrs Mangel was quick to use this as an excuse to ban them from seeing each other. Mike was confused about what he'd done in the past to warrant such an attack, as he'd only ever dated Nikki and had a short fling with a girl at a swimming gala. When Sue found out what had happened, she encouraged Jane to drop Mike, just in case the allegations were true - Jane, however, knew that it wasn't true and stood by Mike. After going to see Mike and offering her friendship, Sue then revealed herself as the letter writer as she posted another one under Mrs Mangel's door. Unfortunately for Sue, that time she was spotted by Daphne, Mike's guardian. Sue then tearfully admitted, in front of Mike, Jane and Mrs Mangel - that she'd made up the allegations, as she was upset and jealous that Mike was dating Jane instead of her. The next day at school, Mike and Jane, along with their friends Scott and Charlene, confronted Sue, who was unapologetic and suggested that everything she wrote about Mike was probably true. At this point, Jane snapped and punched Sue, but with no other witnesses, Sue claimed that the four of them had attacked her, whilst Charlene, Scott and Mike protected Jane by refusing to say who'd delivered the punch. Sue's father, Bill, then warned that he was going to sue the lot of them, and Jane realised that she had to own up. But when Bill found out just what his daughter had done to provoke the punch, he agreed to drop the case, realising that it would never stand up in court.

Sue quickly got her revenge when she found out that Mike and Scott were hoping to launch their music career by sending a song to producer Brian Hansen. Sue then phoned Scott, claiming to be the secretary to Molly Meldrum, who'd heard about Scott and Mike, and wanted to arrange a meeting with them. After recording a demo tape, Scott and Mike went along to Molly's house, where they were informed that he'd never heard of them, and someone must have been playing a joke, though he did agree to listen to their tape. As Sue gloated at a disappointed Mike and Scott, the last laugh was on her when Brian Hansen heard the tape and went to see Mike and Scott and explained that he was particularly interested in hearing more from Charlene, who'd provided vocals on the tape.

Sue's next troublemaking scheme involved trying to split up Scott and Charlene, telling Scott that Charlene had been seeing Warren Murphy in secret, managing to cause some serious problems in their relationship. After the young couple split up, Sue saw another chance to cause problems for Scott, when she overheard him talking to Nikki about writing the formulas on his arm before they went into a maths exam. She was quick to go and tell teacher Mr White, claiming that she was concerned that Scott was throwing away his future. Mr White saw her true intentions, but had to follow up on it and stopped Scott before he went into the exam, asking him to roll up his sleeves. Fortunately, Scott had decided against cheating at the last minute and so had nothing on his arms, but it caused further problems between him and Charlene, as he accused her of dobbing him in.

The following year, Sue was back at Erinsborough High to get a reference, as she applied for a job at Pacific Bank, and she couldn't resist a few more digs at Scott, who was there to repeat year 12, having failed his exams. When Sue saw Scott outside the coffee shop the following week, she offered to buy him a milkshake as an apology for the way she'd spoken to him - already feeling ostracised from his friends, and from the people of Ramsay Street after writing a series of nasty newspaper articles about them - Scott accepted her friendship, as she was one of the few people prepared to talk to him. Unfortunately, Scott's casual acceptance led to Sue constantly pestering him for a date and turning up at his house, but he refused to give in to her advances and, several weeks later, as Sue prepared to start a new job at the bank, she shocked everyone when she turned up on Ramsay Street as the new mystery girlfriend of Charlene's older brother, Henry. Though Charlene was disgusted, Henry told Sue that they should just forget about everything that had gone on in the past and concentrate on the present. Although most of Erinsborough remained wary of her, Sue found another friend in bank manager Des.

As Sue continued to date Henry, Charlene was unimpressed, but finally took pity on Sue when she found out that her landlord had been trying to make a move on her. With few friends, and desperate to leave her lodgings, Sue was surprised when Charlene asked if she'd like to come and stay in the caravan, where Charlene had been living since falling out with her family. Though things got off to a difficult start - when Sue knocked ice cream all over the floor - the girls soon grew used to living together. Soon after, there was a robbery at the ice cream factory where Henry had been working and, as a former criminal, he immediately came under suspicion. Sue considered giving him a false alibi, but backed out at the last minute, realising that ultimately it might make things worse for Henry. As all of this had been going on, Sue had been growing closer to Warren, much to the irritation of Charlene, who was worried that Warren was about to steal her brother's girlfriend. As Warren left her wondering if Henry was guilty, Sue grew confused about her feelings, realising that she preferred Warren, but wanting to support Henry in his time of need. Whilst having dinner together, Sue and Warren were shocked to hear that the caravan had blown up after some petrol stored underneath it had caught fire, and though nobody was badly injured, Sue's possessions had been lost. Warren offered for her to stay at his place and told her to seriously consider going out with him instead of Henry. When Henry found out, he asked Sue to move in with him instead, but she admitted that she was actually happier with Warren, and if Henry couldn't deal with that, then it was best if they ended things between them.

In 2014, Sue was working as an Erinsborough councillor, coming into regular contact with Scott's brother Paul, who by then was the mayor. She also had a son, Jayden, who, like her, was terrorising the other students at Erinsborough High and causing plenty of trouble for his mum - who failed to see that any of it was his fault. When Jayden bought a skateboard from Josh Willis, and then attempted to recreate a stunt he'd seen Josh performing on the internet, he ended up having a nasty accident. Josh was taken in for questioning by the police, as the videos featured illegal stunts, and Sue tracked him down and warned that she was going to sue for her son's injuries. However, also living in Erinsborough at the time was Daniel Robinson, Scott and Charlene's son. Feeling guilty that he'd been having a secret affair with Josh's girlfriend Amber, Daniel decided to help and spoke to Sue, reminding her of the poison pen letters and all the other bad things she'd done as a teenager. As Daniel pointed out that Sue might not have had the chance to better herself if someone had sued her, she agreed to drop the case.

Soon after, having been suspended from his role as mayor following a complaint, Paul was disappointed to learn that Sue had been voted in as interim mayor. However, when a tornado hit Erinsborough and Paul almost died, he came to realise how much his role as mayor had meant to him, and he became determined to get it back. When he arranged an event at Sonya's Nursery, planning to use it as a platform to get re-elected, Sue made it clear that she wasn't going to give up easily, and Paul and Sonya were horrified to find the nursery had been trashed. Though Sue was the prime suspect, it soon emerged that Jayden had been behind the vandalism, and Paul managed to set him up, forcing him into a confession. When Sue learnt what her son had done, Paul convinced Sonya not to press charges against Jayden, in return for Sue stepping down as interim mayor, allowing Paul to be voted back in.

The following year, Sue and Paul's feud continued to rumble on, and when she spotted Josh, who was doing community service with the council, helping out Paul by clearing out an office at The Waterhole. She reminded him that it was inappropriate, but he pointed out that she'd been using council workers to maintain her lawns at home during her brief tenure as mayor, so she was really in no position to talk. Later that day, Sue and Paul had another run-in, when she found out that she hadn't been included on the list of VIPs for a party to launch the Erinsborough Festival, and Paul took great pleasure in telling her that she wasn't important enough. An event from the past then came back to haunt Paul and Sue when Josh found some old rolls of film, and he and Amber printed the photos. They found one picture of an unidentified couple kissing, with what appeared to a dead body lying in the bushes in the background. When Paul saw the photo on a poster in Harold's Store - with Josh and Amber trying to see if anyone knew anything about it - he was alarmed, and told them that 'body' was probably the town drunk Wally, who was always being found passed out in peculiar places. Paul's true reason for wanting the photo to be taken down was later revealed, however, when Sue's husband Bill turned up as his penthouse and punched him. Bill had seen the photograph online, after Josh had put it on a messageboard in an attempt to get to the truth, and had recognised both Paul's shirt and a distinctive bangle that Sue had been wearing, and it had confirmed his suspicions that she'd cheated on him with Paul when they were dating.

As Paul started to miss council meetings and appeared more tired than usual, Sue visited his penthouse, trying to find out what was going on. Sue suggested that Paul was spreading himself too thinly and was no longer up to the job, believing that Erinsborough would be better served with her as mayor. Paul refused to take her veiled threats seriously and told her to leave, but as she went, she spotted a packet of pills. After doing some research and learning that they were anti-nausea drugs, often taken by cancer patients, she tried to find out more from Dr Karl Kennedy. Karl refused to say too much, but Sue was more interested in something else, as she noticed that he was going through some council meeting minutes, and asked if he was planning to try and steal Paul's position as mayor. With Sue getting close to discovering the truth, Paul realised that he needed to take back control, and so he called a very public council meeting and announced to Sue and the rest of the shocked crowd that he was suffering from an aggressive form of leukaemia. Also in the crowd was Paul's oncologist, Nick Petrides, who was also shocked by the announcement, as he'd been hoping to keep the whole thing quiet - because he'd given Paul a fake diagnosis, a twisted plan to convince Paul to open a cancer research centre in Erinsborough.

Later that year, with her marriage now over, Sue attended a friend's 50th birthday party, where Josh and Aaron were performing as strippers. Afterwards, she found Josh alone and propositioned him, offering to pay him to spend the night with her. Though he was desperate for money, Josh declined the offer, after talking it over with Naomi, who was in a relationship with Paul. Naomi had just applied for an events planning job with the council, but Sue made sure that she didn't get the job as she was Paul's girlfriend, and she felt that it would be a conflict of interest. However, after learning about the offer Sue had made to Josh, Naomi quickly used it to her advantage, warning Sue that it wouldn't stay secret unless she was given a chance at the job - and Sue was quick to agree, telling Naomi that she could organise the upcoming party to launch Erinsborough's new childcare centre.

A couple of months later, Sue was dropping Jayden off at the high school for a Saturday detention, and was cornered by principal Susan Kennedy to discuss plans to save the school from its planned closure. Sue saw little point in saving, explaining that she'd be sending Jayden to a private school, where hopefully he wouldn't be victimised so much. Susan and teacher Brad were also annoyed to learn that Sue hadn't passed the 'Save our School' petition around at the recent parents and friends committee meeting as she'd agreed to, and they were left wondering why she seemed to be deliberately sabotaging their efforts. The following week, Sue seemingly had a change of heart, turning up with Jayden at a sleepover at the school and explaining that her son had decided that he wanted to stay at Erinsborough High, so it might as well stay open. Later, however, she met up with Paul, telling him that she'd fulfilled her side of the bargain - pushing the planning through council - and that he needed to keep his promise too and repay her with a new house, before the 'Freestyle' housing development became public knowledge.

The following week, as the police investigation continued, a jerry can was found at the scene with a Fitzgerald Motors sticker on it, making Steph Scully, a mechanic with a history of mental problems, the prime suspect. But when the can was examined, Jayden's fingerprints were found on it, and he was taken in for questioning, accompanied by his mum. As Jayden had also posted, then quickly deleted, a selfie of him smoking in Susan's office on the night of the fire, it looked like he might have been responsible, and he explained that, having convinced himself that he'd started the fire, he'd planted the can to shift the blame on to Steph. But as Jayden went off to explain his actions to Steph, Sue remained with the police and told Mark that her son couldn't possibly have started the fire, accidentally or otherwise, as she'd been in the office after him. Forced to confess everything, she admitted that she'd gone looking for the petitions to prevent the school's closure, and had tried unsuccessfully to log into Susan's computer. She later attempted a half-hearted apology to Susan, who saw straight through it, and told her that she'd have to step down as president of the school's P & F committee.

As Paul faced financial difficulties, cuts had to be made to the Freestyle development, and Sue was annoyed when she found out that the pool and recreational areas had been dropped. She turned up at the penthouse demanding to be given a bigger property, and Paul quickly agreed, aware of how much she'd put on the line for him, losing her place on the council in the process. However, it wasn't long before the police started asking questions, and Paul found himself under investigation by the anti-corruption commission, which ended with the bank seizing the penthouse and the hotel, and selling them out from under him, leaving him with nothing.

A couple of years later, when Sue heard that Paul - who had sued and regained his wealth after being wrongfully imprisoned in 2016 - was planning to take over a half-finished housing development, she saw an opportunity. She told Paul that the original owners of the development had needed to move along the home owners who were already there - mainly elderly residents. Sue explained that those residents had been grossly underpaid and were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements, and if that ever became public knowledge, then Paul's new development would be tainted from the start. She agreed not to say anything, but only if Paul gave Jayden a job on the project. Paul then had to persuade his daughter, Amy, who was managing the Robinson Heights project, and also ran local builders' yard, The Handywoman, to employ Jayden. After managing to get the truth out of Paul, Amy agreed to give Jayden an interview, and as he spoke about his struggles to find employment, she took pity and employed him, against her better judgement. When the truth about the previous homeowners being underpaid was leaked to the press, Paul immediately suspected Sue of being the culprit. He confronted her, and she denied everything, telling him to consider one of the many other people he'd wronged in life.

Sue's rants about Paul were overheard by Rafael Humphreys, an Englishman who'd been in town for a few weeks, believing that Paul was responsible for a factory fire in Brazil many years earlier, that had killed his mother. Rafael then teamed up with Sue to try and discredit Paul's new Robinson Heights worksite, and completely destroy his reputation. Sue managed to get Jayden to loosen the straps on a truck so that some concrete slabs would fall off, but making sure that the incident happened at the weekend when nobody was around. Unfortunately, Paul's son Leo was on the site and was trapped by the falling concrete - although he got away with only minor injuries, the incident led to the truth coming out about Rafael's real reasons for being in Erinsborough, as well as Sue and Jayden's involvement in Leo's accident, and all three were taken in for police questioning. In court a couple of weeks later, Rafael received a $10,000 fine, while Sue and Jayden each got six months in prison.

With Erinsborough High due to close at the end of 2023, a group gathered to protest, with former student Summer Hoyland broadcasting the event to her listeners. When Sue heard the broadcast, she headed down to the school to see if she could speak to Summer, though former principal Susan felt that Sue and Jayden's stints in jail might not be quite the material she wanted. Sue insisted that she wanted to share some stories about Jayden's time on the football team, and then offered to help the school's new principal, Sue's old schoolmate Jane Harris, if she wanted to try and derail the new project that was planned for the land - a retirement home owned by Terese Willis. Jane insisted that this wasn't her style, so Sue then decided to phone Terese and ask if she needed any help with getting anything 'dodgy' through the council, only to be met with resistance once again.

Trivia Notes
• Kate Gorman's father, Reg Gorman, played Wally Walters in 1985 and Jock Finch in 1999. Kate's mother, Judith Roberts played Mrs Cooper in 1985 and Frances Nagel in 2000 and 2001. Kate's sister, Charmaine played Josie Brown in 1985, Vicki Gibbons in 1986 and Rebecca Knotts in 1997
• For her appearance in episode 8949, Kate was credited as played Teresa 'Tess' Bell. Krista Vendy, who played Tess, was credited as playing Sue Parker
• To read our 2005 interview with Kate Gorman, click here