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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Allan Steiger Joe Clements

When Stuart Parker decided to join the police force and begin his training course, he quickly clashed with his instructor, Senior Constable Allan Steiger, who felt that Stu wasn’t taking it seriously enough. Having read Stu’s psych report, Steiger warned him that it simply looked like he had a problem sticking with any job, and struggled to cope with authority figures. When, during a team building exercise, Stuart then dived into the pool to help the other team, Steiger warned him that it was the final straw, he’d failed the exercise and he’d better buck up his ideas if he wanted to join the force. The following week, Stuart was assigned to assist with police security at a local football game, again observed by Allan Steiger. When Stu was then given the task of minding a streaker – Stingray Timmins, the young cousin of Stu’s housemate, Toadie Rebecchi – it ended badly once again as he struggled to control the hyperactive young boy and failed to impress Steiger. A couple of weeks later, during some self-defence classes, Stu finally snapped, having had enough of Steiger picking on him, and knocked his instructor to the ground, before walking out on the entire training programme. Later that day, Steiger visited Stuart at home and told him that he had a serious commitment problem, but also had a lot of potential and, if he showed up at training the next day, then they could forget all about the events from earlier that day.

Meanwhile, Steiger also started up some self-defence classes for the women of Erinsborough, attended by a few of Stuart’s neighbours, Lyn Scully, Susan Kennedy and Liljana Bishop. Lil soon started to enjoy the attention of her instructor rather too much, and was shocked when her husband, David, followed her the classes and started spying. After catching him, Lil insisted that she was just having fun and learning a new skill, and David had nothing to worry about. However, when he later saw her skimpy new outfit for the classes, his concerns only grew. Steiger, however, was impressed with her new outfit, particularly when her top rode up as he demonstrated a move on her, and he took it as a sign that she was genuinely interested in him. Later that day, Lil bumped into Steiger outside the local pub and he asked her to join him, before mentioning that he knew of a secluded spot down the coast where they could go and be alone together. Although Lil quickly turned him down, the exchange was witnessed by her daughter, Serena, and before long, David got himself a young, female personal trainer, Krystal, in the hope that he could get fit and stop Lil from looking elsewhere. Unfortunately, his plan backfired, when Lil saw him with Krystal and jumped to the wrong conclusion, just as David had done.

As Stuart passed his training and became a permanent member of the Erinsborough police force, Steiger’s career prospects were also improving as he was promoted to Senior Sergeant. In his new role, one of his first investigations surrounded the fire which destroyed much of the local Lassiter’s complex and the subsequent discovery of the body of Gus Cleary in the remains of the pub. Despite Steiger’s best efforts to prove that Gus had been murdered by young Boyd Hoyland, a lack of evidence led to the case being dropped. Meanwhile, Stu had problems of his own, as his injuries in the fire had left him blind. Not wanting to lose him from the police station, and sympathetic due to his own mother losing her sight, Steiger offered Stuart a desk job, answering calls. Stu was happy to take it, and quickly proved his worth when he came up with a plan to bring in some criminals with outstanding warrants. Taking his plan straight from an episode of The Simpsons, Stu phoned the criminals and told them that they’d won a jet-ski and to go to the community hall to collect it. The plan succeeded, and Steiger was duly impressed with Stu’s initiative.

Over the months that followed, Steiger investigated numerous crimes in the local area, including Dylan Timmins letting out the dogs at the local pound, and David Bishop being framed for fraud by Paul Robinson. He was also on hand to help Stuart – now back on the force thanks to an operation restoring his sight – who was struggling in his day-to-day life, always suspecting the worse in everyone and seeing a crime on every street corner. Although Steiger advised Stu to see the police counsellor, it turned out that he’d been right to be paranoid, as his own fiancée, Sindi Watts, was suffering from a mental illness and had been plotting to keep Stu in her life. Following the loss of his wife to a mental hospital, Stu struggled to cope and Steiger allowed him some time off as his behaviour became more and more reckless.

As the year continued, there were more crimes for Steiger to solve, including the sudden disappearance of Izzy Hoyland, and the involvement of Stingray and Dylan in the robbery of a local service station. When it became clear that Stuart firmly believed that the brothers were innocent, Steiger sent Stu undercover at the prison where Stingray and Dylan were serving their sentence, along with Roo Hausman, Dyl’s enemy who had set the brothers up. Fortunately, however, the plan worked, as Dylan managed to get a recording of Roo owning up the crime and the brothers, along with Stu, were allowed to go home. The following year, the Timmins family was once again at the centre of an investigation, when Steiger and his officers barged in on the re-wedding of Timmins parents, Janelle and Kim, with Kim suspected of running an illegal DVD pirating outfit. In the ensuing chaos, Kim managed to get away, evading arrest, but breaking the hearts of his family in the process.

Steiger’s next big investigation came when Paul Robinson found himself being targeted by a mysterious stalker, who blew up a plane, wiping out Liljana, David and Serena Bishop, but with the intent of getting rid of Paul. A few months later, that stalker was revealed to be Robert, one of Paul’s twin sons, who was masquerading as his nicer twin, Cameron, after putting Cam in a coma. When Robert’s twisted game was finally revealed, after he tried to blow up the car that his sister, Elle, was driving, Steiger turned to Katya Kinski, the girl Robert had been dating, for answers. Katya struggled to cope with the revelations and events took another sinister turn when Robert held his father hostage in an abandoned mine shaft, before disappearing. Paul survived and, desperate to track his son down, he arranged a fake wedding to ex-wife, Gail, Robert’s mother, knowing that the boy would hate it and would feel the need to stop it. With Steiger in the wedding party, the plan went ahead and Robert eventually showed his face, confronting, and shooting, Paul, who survived thanks to a bullet-proof vest. Robert was then taken away to a secure psychiatric unit.

With the innocent twin, Cameron, then staying in Erinsborough with Paul and Elle, it eventually led to a case of mistaken identity, and Max Hoyland ran down Cameron, believing that Robert had escaped and returned for revenge. Steiger subsequently investigated the accident and Max was arrested for manslaughter when Cameron died from his injuries. When it looked like Max might get away with it, a vengeful Elle decided to mess with his mind, making him believe that he was going insane and leading him to admit himself to the psychiatric ward at Erinsborough Hospital. Deciding that his family would be better off without him, Max walked out of the hospital and disappeared on a bus, with Steiger breaking the news to his wife, Steph, that it looked like he had consciously left and they might never find him.

Steiger’s interest in Ramsay Street then took a personal turn, when his daughter, Heidi, known as Pepper, moved into number 30. When he dropped in to visit her at the Scarlet Bar, he was surprised to be introduced to her new fiancé, Frazer Yeats, unaware that they were only pretending to be engaged so that they could share a room and pay less rent. Over-protective Steiger then completed a police background check on Frazer and, when the results came back showing that Frazer Yeats didn’t even exist, he left it to his ex-wife, local mechanic Christine Rodd, to break the news to their surprised daughter. Although Frazer explained that he’d changed his name when he was a teenager to make a new identity and get away from his family, Christine and Steiger still weren’t convinced that he could be trusted with their daughter. And when the truth about the fake engagement finally came out, Steiger made sure that Frazer didn’t get away scot-free by following him around and fining him for not crossing the road in the correct place.

There were more cases for Steiger to investigate when Kerry Mangel, the newborn baby of Ramsay Street resident Sky, went missing only hours after a mysterious fire had forced an entire wing of the hospital to be evacuated. The main suspects for the kidnapping were deranged Teresa Cammeniti, who had herself lost a baby and become fixated on Sky’s unborn child, and Stingray, who was battling an alcohol problem and believed that he was the father of the baby. Although it turned out that Stingray had been the one to take the baby, he’d collapsed close to the hospital, where his brother, Dylan, also a candidate for father of the child, had found her and taken her to a hotel. As the police investigation continued, Dylan’s girlfriend Elle tracked him down and, realising that he could go back to prison if found out, took Kerry and anonymously left her outside Sky’s house. Elsewhere in Erinsborough, apprentice mechanic Janae Hoyland accepted work with sleazy Rex Colt, but quickly realised that he was only interested in having a young girl in a skimpy outfit to look at. When she then confronted him, he locked her in his office, but her screams were heard by Steiger and Pepper, who happened to be passing, and he saved the day, before warning Rex off and preventing her mum, Janelle from making matters worse as he caught her about to burn down Rex’s garage.

Meanwhile, Pepper was determined to bring her parents back together and, although Steiger was eager for a reunion with Chris, she seemed less open to the idea. It wasn’t until Pepper invited the pair round for dinner on Christmas Eve that Steiger decided that the moment was right and he was going to propose to Chris. Unfortunately, her reaction was less than positive and she was forced to finally tell Steiger and Pepper that she had been in a relationship for over a year now, with her ‘housemate’ Carol Sinclair. Although Pepper reacted badly, Steiger kept his emotions in check in front of his ex-wife, though later took it out on the dart board at the Scarlet Bar. He was soon joined there by Janelle, who had received a letter from Kim telling her that he wouldn’t be coming back. At a Christmas barbecue in Ramsay Street the next day, Janelle decided to bite the bullet and ask Steiger on a date, but he turned her down, telling her that things were happening too soon. Not one to take no for an answer, Janelle then proceeded to pester the police with reports of prowlers and deliberately get caught for speeding, until Steiger relented and agreed to take her out.

Their date proved to be an awkward affair, as Steiger spent most of the evening watching the rest of people in the bar, looking for any signs of trouble or any criminals who had evaded capture. In the end, he admitted to Janelle that he’d be more comfortable out in the bush, pig shooting. Janelle was delighted, as she had been involved in the sport back in Colac, and so the pair made plans for a camping trip. Only weeks earlier, fellow Ramsay Street resident Katya Kinski had been in police custody for her part in a crime ring, but had been released on bail. However, only days before she due to check in at the police station, she had disappeared and her younger brother, Zeke, boyfriend to Janelle’s youngest, Bree, realised that Steiger was going camping in Walker State Park, where Katya had often gone as a child. He and Bree stowed away in Steiger’s truck, but were caught soon after they all arrived at the campsite, and Zeke ran off, leaving Bree with some explaining to do. Although Zeke then found Katya, he was soon followed by Steiger who forced Katya to go back into police custody at the remand centre. Janelle and Steiger’s date continued but she was disgusted with his treatment of Katya and decided to find her own way out of the bush and to the road. Hours later, she returned, defeated and the pair settled down in the tent where, by morning, the relationship had moved to a whole new level and Steiger was even unable to concentrate on shooting the pigs as his new relationship began.

The relationship got off to a shaky start, however, as Janelle began to realise that her new boyfriend was embarrassed to be seen in public with her, particularly when he was on shift, and she decided to cool things. To prove that his feelings were genuine, Steiger made a huge statement during the police brass band’s appearance at the Australia Day celebrations and dedicated a performance of Waltzing Matilda to her, in front of the assembled crowd. Following this positive turn in his personal life, Steiger also made some progress at work, when Katya agreed to make statements against her former criminal accomplices and Steiger was finally able to apprehend notorious crime boss Frank Tompoli. And it wasn’t long before Steiger was making his presence felt in Ramsay Street, setting up his toy train set outside number 26 and leaving Pepper feeling left out as she watched her dad spending more and more time with his new girlfriend.

Steiger’s presence in Janelle’s life came at just the right time, as she was about to require his emotional support more than ever. When baby Kerry was diagnosed with leukaemia, it kicked off a series of events that would see Janelle lose two of her children. After being discovered as a bone marrow match, Stingray agreed to donate to his little niece, only to die shortly after the operation from an undiagnosed aneurysm. Steiger helped Janelle through her grief, and also supported Dylan who struggled to cope and started trying to find someone to blame for the whole mess. Steiger even agreed to turn a blind eye when Kim returned from up north for his son’s funeral, but warned that he would have to arrest the escaped criminal once the day was over. However, when Dylan lashed out again and trashed the bar, he started begging Steiger to arrest him, fearful of what he might do if left to his own devices. Steiger saw another option and asked Kim to take Dylan back up to Port Douglas with him and help him to get over things. Later that day, as Janelle found out that another of her sons had gone, she took her anger out on her boyfriend, throwing him out of the house and ending their relationship. But, everyone around her made her realise that Steiger’s actions had been for Dylan’s benefit and, suddenly aware that he was the first man in her life who’d truly cared for her and her family, she took him back and asked him to move in.

Steiger was then in for another surprise when Pepper came to him and explained that she was being stalked. He was stunned to learn that, as a teenager, his daughter had fallen pregnant to her high school boyfriend, Kevin Casey, and suffered a miscarriage and now someone was taunting her with the details of that horrible episode in her life. Though shocked that she hadn’t turned to him before, Steiger helped Pepper as the stalker started leaving more and more clues. Unable to track Kevin down, Steiger and Pepper went to see his mother, Mary, who offered no clues as to her son’s whereabouts. It was down to Paul, who’d had a fling with Pepper and was feeling guilty about the way he’d treated her, to hire a private detective to trace Kevin. Steiger finally had him in custody and, although he denied any knowledge of stalking Pepper, they managed to keep him locked up on some burglary charges. Although Steiger believed the case was solved, the stalker was still on the loose. Mary was actually the person who’d been taunting Pepper with memories of her lost baby, believing that her grandchild had been aborted and determined to make her son’s ex-girlfriend suffer. But Steiger wouldn’t be around to help his daughter this time, as he was accepted for a two-month job in the Solomon Islands.

Upon hearing about her boyfriend’s job offer, Janelle was distraught, convinced that another man was about to walk out of her life and never come back. But, in order to prove that he loved her and would return to her, Steiger left his grandmother’s engagement ring in Janelle’s care, telling her that, upon his return, he would propose. When he did come back, Steiger found himself needing urgent medical attention, having contracted malaria thanks to the dodgy medication given to him before his departure by the fraudulent Charlotte Stone. Steiger was also left feeling guilty about Pepper, who’d endured a kidnapping at the hands of Mary Casey and had to get over it without him around. When he found out that she’d started seeing English builder Adam Rhodes, Steiger was immediately suspicious of the newcomer and, when Adam panicked upon seeing his girlfriend’s father in his police uniform, Steiger convinced Pepper that her new man was a criminal. Realising that Pepper didn’t trust him, Adam made plans to leave town, but first told her the truth about his past; he’d been in the UK police force when his partner had been murdered and, feeling guilty, he left both his career, and his home country, behind. But Pepper’s apologies weren’t enough to make him stay and, as Adam boarded the bus out of Erinsborough, Pepper angrily told her father that she could never forgive him.

Meanwhile, changes were afoot in the Timmins household when Janelle’s real daughter, Anne Baxter, who had been swapped at birth with her youngest, Bree, returned to town. Though Anne had previously tried to get to know her real mum and siblings, her parents, Greg and Brenda, had opted to leave Melbourne rather than meet their own biological daughter, Bree. Though the Baxters had settled in Cairns, Anne had made her way back to Erinsborough, closely followed by Greg, who was determined to take her back home with the minimum of fuss. But, whilst in town, he ended up chatting to Bree and realising that they had a lot in common and he finally came to his senses, but the two families quickly realised that, at opposite ends of the country, it was going to be difficult to spend any time together. It was then that Steiger suggested that the Timmins family move up north, for a trial period of six months, which would also allow Janelle to be closer to Dylan and Kim. Janelle agreed, and a week later, they were all ready to go, with a farewell street party being held in their honour. But Steiger had a surprise up his sleeve and, keeping his word about their engagement, he asked Janelle to marry him, before telling her that the ceremony would be taking place there and then. A celebrant then pronounced them man and wife and he then presented his new wife with a very special gift, as Daryl Braithwaite appeared to sing at their impromptu wedding reception, and Janelle promptly fainted upon meeting her idol. The occasion was made all the more special for Steiger when Adam returned for a happy reunion with Pepper, meaning that his precious daughter wouldn’t be left all alone on Ramsay Street, but, ever the overprotective father, he made sure to warn Adam to look after his little girl. Janelle, Steiger, Bree and Anne then made their departure from Erinsborough in style, as they took off in a helicopter, with the friends and family they were leaving behind waving them off.

Episodes Featured
4429, 4434, 4450, 4474, 4646, 4658, 4663, 4708, 4758, 4783, 4784, 4800, 4801, 4836, 4843, 4848, 4979, 4981, 4989, 5012, 5043, 5075, 5077, 5088, 5107, 5110, 5111, 5112, 5118, 5119, 5123, 5125, 5126, 5127, 5133, 5135, 5136, 5137, 5141, 5144, 5146, 5148, 5153, 5154, 5156, 5157, 5163, 5165, 5169, 5170, 5174, 5175, 5179, 5180, 5181, 5185, 5186, 5187, 5191, 5195, 5237, 5240, 5243, 5244, 5249, 5250, 5254, 5255

Biography by Steve

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