.
Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Bernie Samuels Sean Scully

Bernie Samuels 2000
Marital Status: Brenda
Children: Joel
Family Tree: Samuels
Occupation: Marketing

Whilst in Melbourne on business, ladies’ man Bernie Samuels agreed to spend some time with his son, Joel. His first port of call in Erinsborough was local pub, Lou’s Place, where he met young nurse Dione Bliss and started to chat and flirt with her over the star signs in the newspaper, little realising that Dione was actually Joel’s girlfriend. Bernie barely flinched as Joel then arrived and introduced the two of them, but Dione was horrified, although she only confided the truth in Joel’s housemate Toadie Rebecchi. As time went on, Bernie grew more popular with the locals as he told jokes and stories, and gave the boys at number 30 a home brewing kit, and Dione realised how much Joel looked up to his dad, so she decided not to say anything. When Joel won a university award for designing a teaching aid, Bernie agreed to attend the ceremony, promising his son that he would be in the crowd on the big day. Joel was devastated when Bernie failed to turn up, though Dione was far from surprised.

The following day, Joel phoned home for a chat with his mum and realised that Bernie had told her that he’d been at the awards ceremony. Dione encouraged Joel to talk to his dad, hoping that the whole truth would finally come out, and it did, but not in the way she was expecting. When Joel made a casual comment about being honest with his father, Toadie mistakenly thought that Dione had owned up about the flirting and blurted it all out. Joel was horrified and confronted his dad, who claimed that Dione had simply misunderstood the conversation. Although Joel accepted this, he later spotted neighbour Drew Kirk in the Coffee Shop with his father, Ron, and realised that Bernie had really never been there for him as a father should.

Just before he left Erinsborough to return home to Tasmania, Bernie agreed to spend some time with Joel. When he finally arrived at number 30, a few hours late, Joel decided to sit him down and talk things through properly. Bernie didn’t want to know, and he stormed out of the house, accusing his son of dwelling on issues that really weren’t important. A quick phone call later and Joel found out that his dad had checked out of his hotel and left. However, on his way to the airport, Bernie turned up to see Joel and admitted that his son’s words had hit a nerve and that, deep down, he just didn’t want to grow up and face his responsibilities. After father and son both admitted that they might never have the perfect relationship, Bernie hugged his son and left Erinsborough.

Biography by Steve

Back