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Guest Character Profiles > Nick Petrides Damien Fotiou

Nick Petrides 2015
Parents: Estelle Petrides and Unknown
Siblings: Terese
Occupation: Oncologist

The ambitious and driven older brother of Lassiter's manager Terese Willis, Nick Petrides had always wanted the best for himself and those he loved, and would stop at nothing to achieve it. With parents who spent all of their time arguing, and showed little interest in their kids, Terese almost went off the rails and it was Nick who helped her to get her life back together. After a spell working in London, Nick made a surprise appearance in Erinsborough, where Terese lived with her family, to interview for a job at the local hospital. Whilst the hospital were very keen to employ him, and Terese was happy to have him back in her life - even if he hadn't called to let her know he was coming - her husband Brad was less impressed by Nick's arrival. As Nick pushed Terese and Brad's children, Josh and Imogen, to make more of themselves, Brad grew irritated with him, and revealed to Terese that Nick had arranged a meeting with his ex-wife Beth, the night before he was due to marry Terese.

Nick managed to persuade Terese that he'd only done it for her benefit, as he'd wanted to see if Brad was really as committed to her as he should be, wanting to save her the heartache if Brad was going to walk out on her further down the line. Brad was annoyed that Terese seemed to accept this, and further irritated when Nick decided to stick around, having accepted the job at the hospital, with a promise from Mayor Paul Robinson that he would give the funding to open a cancer research centre. Nick's blunt personality then managed to rub someone else up the wrong way, when he had a couple of run-ins with nurse Georgia Brooks, but soon realised that he actually liked the way she was treating him and he wanted to get to know her better. When Paul explained that she'd recently married Kyle Canning and was the last person who'd ever cheat, Nick made it his personal mission to seduce her, making a bet with Paul that he would win her before the new research centre opened. He then went on a charm offensive, helping her out with the flu jabs for the elderly and taking her for a drink afterwards. Next, he used her work as a hospital fundraiser as an excuse to spend time with her, picking her brains about ideas to raise money for the centre. He soon grabbed another opportunity when he found a list she'd written, of things she'd like to do before she and Kyle started a family, with a trip to the ballet being one of her priorities. Nick then presented her with two tickets to the ballet, explaining that he couldn't go himself and suggesting that she take Kyle instead.

As disaster struck the opening ceremony of the Erinsborough Festival - when Harold Bishop drove his campervan into the stalls and caused a water main to burst - it had a doubly positive outcome for Nick. Not only did he have an excuse to spend more time with Georgia as they helped the injured, but the water problem meant that Kyle was unable to attend the ballet, and so Nick, claiming that his conference call had been delayed, quickly stepped in, even tracked down a gown for Georgia to wear when she suddenly realised that she was underdressed for the opening night. As Kyle then arrived at the last minute, he saw how dressed up Nick and Georgia were, and told them to go together. The next day, Nick was happy to fill in again when Kyle, still busy with work, was unable to have brunch with Georgia, and he began to tell her about the problems he'd had in his love life and how he feared that he'd never find his perfect woman. The following week, Nick spent more time with Georgia as they ran the charity blood drive together, and grew closer as she opened up to him about her recent cancer scare and how it had left her with a fear of needles. Nick gently helped with her donation, and she was grateful for his understanding. When he then encouraged her to join him at an oncology conference in Hobart, Georgia was very tempted, particularly as he spoke about how it could advance her career, suggesting that she could eventually become Nursing Unit Manager at the new cancer clinic. When Kyle told her that he wouldn't be able to join her, Georgia decided against going, but Nick managed to persuade her that she needed to do this to make more of her potential. Excited about the trip, Georgia came crashing back down to earth when she overheard Paul and Nick discussing their bet, with Nick bragging that this would be the weekend when he managed to get her into bed.

Georgia was left devastated, refusing to listen to any of Nick's pathetic attempts to explain his behaviour, and she left him humiliated when she poured a drink over him in the middle of the hospital. Kyle was quick to defend his wife too, warning Nick to stay away from her. Nick's plans unravelled further when Paul told him that the plans for the cancer research centre had fallen through, as the council had gone with a better offer for the building. By now aware that Paul rarely did anything unless there was something in it for him, Nick came up with a cruel new plan. After doctoring the results of some tests done on Paul's blood - which he'd donated during the hospital's blood drive the previous week - Nick went to Paul and broke the news that he was suffering from leukaemia. Nick then made it clear that Paul's treatment would remain completely confidential and they would be the only two people who would know about it, so he was disturbed when he found out that Paul had confided in Naomi Canning and had employed her as his personal assistant. As Paul began his treatment, Georgia noticed that he was booking out rooms without listing which patient would be using them and, already angry at the way he'd treated her, she became suspicious that he was up to something illegal at work too. However, she then made the mistake of confiding in Naomi about her concerns and Naomi quickly went to Nick, telling him that Georgia was getting close to finding out Paul's secret. Nick told Naomi that there was nothing to worry about, and that he would deal with Georgia.

After an attempt to charm Georgia, by buying her a coffee, was thrown back in his face, Nick decided that he would once again have to play dirty to get his own way. After Georgia made a formal complaint against him for not following hospital procedure properly, he got his revenge and Georgia found herself suspended from work when she apparently made a comment on social media about mining magnate Janine Morgan being a patient at the hospital. Georgia was adamant that she hadn't made the comment and became increasingly convinced that Nick was behind it. When an attempt to talk to Trish from the hospital's IT department failed, Georgia turned to Karl and her cousin, lawyer Toadie for help. When Karl tried to talk to Nick about the matter, he was shocked to find that Nick found Georgia to be a terrible nurse and wouldn't have put it past her to break patient confidentiality. Now feeling that Georgia might be right, and there was more to the matter than first appearances would suggest, Karl agreed to help Toadie by investigating Nick's previous job in London, and learnt that his lack of personal skills had possibly cost him his own cancer research centre once before. And when Georgia then learnt that the only way she could avoid legal charges - and a permanent mark on her record - was to resign from the hospital voluntarily, she announced that she wouldn't be backing down from this, and that she was going to involve the police.

Meanwhile, Nick's lies about Paul seemed to be under threat again, when Paul collapsed at home and, unable to contact Nick or Naomi, he phoned Karl and told him everything. Though very upset for Paul, Karl was also interested in learning more about the experimental treatments that Nick had been using, and Nick had to later take Karl to one side and explain that he should keep his distance, as keeping Paul's diagnosis a secret was still a priority. When word came through that the council were about to vote on whether to turn a local building into a housing development or a cancer research centre, Nick realised that he had to force Paul's hand, and told him that the chemotherapy was no longer working, but that he didn't have the facilities at the hospital to give Paul the other treatments he'd been trialling. The plan seemed to work as Paul spoke to some of his colleagues, managing to persuade some of the fence-sitters to vote on the side of the research centre, before reporting back to a delighted Nick that the vote was almost certain to go his way.

With the council announcing the new Nick Petrides Cancer Research Centre, and Georgia's work hearing postponed indefinitely, things seemed to be going Nick's way, but Georgia remained determined to prove that he was dodgy. Having convinced the Lassiter's receptionist Glen that she was Nick's girlfriend and had lost her room card - then reminding him that Nick's sister Terese was the hotel manager - she got access to his suite and managed to transfer the contents of his laptop onto a memory stick, before he returned and caught her. As she was escorted away by the police, Georgia managed to slip the memory stick to Kyle, so when she was searched, there was no evidence that she'd stolen anything from the room. She did, however, find herself sacked by the hospital for her actions, but Nick was still unsettled, wondering what she'd seen on the computer. Things slipped further out of Nick's control when Paul decided to make a public announcement about his leukaemia, worried that one of his council colleagues was getting close to the truth and would use it against him. Though Nick immediately started to panic, it looked like Paul's announcement might turn out to be a positive, when support and donations for the research centre came flooding in. As Imogen helped him to come up with a brochure design for the clinic, Nick was positive about the future, but suddenly it all looked like it might come unstuck again, when Paul passed out in The Waterhole and struggled for breath. Georgia and Karl, who had been in the bar at the time, were helping, and an ambulance was on its way, when Nick arrived and attempted to take over the treatment, but was warned off by Karl. At the hospital, however, Nick insisted that, as he had Paul on experimental treatments, he would be the one looking after him and checking all of his results.

With Karl growing slightly suspicious, and Georgia now also edging closer to the truth, Nick told his boldest lie so far, as the blood tests came back and showed that Paul didn't have cancer, Nick claimed that his treatment much have cured it. Though sceptical, Karl could see no other explanation, and joined Nick as he broke the news to a stunned and emotional Paul, who had almost resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die. Unfortunately for Nick, Georgia's digging in his files finally uncovered something substantial, when she realised that Paul's initial test results were an exact match for some others, from one of Nick's previous patients. The match would almost have been impossible, and Georgia quickly realised the truth - that Paul never had cancer at all - and went to the hospital to confront him. Though everyone was shocked by her outburst at first, Karl and Naomi both began to wonder if it could be true, as Georgia was many things, but she wasn't a liar, and Paul's cancer had been incredibly good timing for Nick's research centre. Though the evidence would have been inadmissible in court, as Georgia had stolen the documents, she went to the police, and Nick found himself suspended from work, pending a full investigation. He fled from the hospital, running into Terese outside, who was worried about her brother having heard about Georgia's allegations, but was still stunned as Nick admitted to poisoning Paul with chemotherapy, but that it had all been with the ultimate aim of curing cancer. Knowing that Nick was planning to flee the country, Terese struggled with her conscience, so Brad was forced to call the police, who arrested Nick outside Lassiter's Hotel as he was preparing to get in a taxi, with Terese begging him to reconsider. He then asked to see Paul, and was accompanied by the police to the hospital, where Paul told him that, after his lengthy stay in prison, he would never work as a doctor again, and - although he would probably give a large donation to a cancer charity - he would make sure that Nick's research centre never saw the light of day either. At the police station, Terese and the rest of the family waited to see Nick as he was taken off to prison - Terese told him that she'd make sure he got the help that he needed, but he threw it back at her, accusing her of marrying beneath herself, and calling Imogen a mediocre student and Josh a failed athlete. As he was led away, he angrily announced that he didn't need help from any of them.