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Guest Character Profiles > Larry Woodhouse Andrew Curry

Laurence 'Larry' 'Woody' Steven Woodhouse 2000-2002, 2010
Parent: Eileen
Occupation: Carpenter's Mechanics Mechanic

After dating Stephanie Scully for a while, and getting to know her family very well, Larry, or Woody as his friends knew him, suddenly disappeared from all of their lives. In reality, Woody had been sent to prison for receiving stolen goods and Steph was aware of this, but chose to keep the information to herself. She decided to put Woody in the past, with her last contact explaining that she was moving to Erinsborough with her family.

More than a year later, Woody suddenly got back in touch with Steph, sending her a letter and asking her to come and visit. She was reluctant at first, but after speaking to him on the phone, she agreed to go. Woody was thrilled to see her and she began making regular visits to the prison at Warrinor. However, it soon became evident that Woody had been harbouring ulterior motives for getting back in touch with his ex-girlfriend. After a series of threats from the resident top dog, Kev Kelly, Woody was being blackmailed into helping out with a pick-up. After talking Steph into sponsoring him for a day release, Woody headed to Ramsay Street and asked to borrow Steph's motorbike. Although he told Steph he was heading across town to visit his mum, he actually went to pick up the stolen jewels for Kev. Once he got back to number 26, he showed Steph the jewels. She was amazed that he'd be so stupid and managed to convince him to go to the police and tell them everything.

After agreeing to testify against Kev Kelly, Woody found himself being victimised in prison and was beaten up and put in hospital. A few months later, he was paroled and went to stay with the Scully family. Lyn and Joe were particularly hesitant about having him around and so he was very grateful to them, especially as he was no longer on speaking terms with his mother. After only a few days at number 26, Woody began to regret getting Steph and her family involved as they received a brick through their window and Michelle was followed while out shopping. The police agreed to give them protection for a while but, after Kev made a public threat against Woody in court, it was decided that Woody should go into a witness protection programme. He asked Steph to go with him but, after a lot of deliberation, she realised she couldn't completely cut off contact with her family. However, this meant that she would have to say her final goodbyes to Woody and so they had a heartbreaking farewell before he was taken away.

Steph found it increasingly difficult to live without Woody and, after receiving a postcard from him, she began visiting him in secret, thus breaking the rules of the witness protection programme. After her family found out what she had been doing, neighbour Maggie Hancock, a trainee lawyer, told them that Steph could face a prison sentence for the violation. However, after her visits continued and she realised that she was putting her life in danger, she decided to admit all and was given one last chance to see Woody. However, it wasn't enough for either of them and Steph was shocked when Woody turned up in the middle of the night, telling her he had a plan. He explained to her that a cellmate had told him about a stash of money and that they could retrieve it and escape to start a new life. After getting the money, they made plans to leave, much to Lyn and Joe's horror.

After setting off, it quickly became evident that they were being followed. Stopping at a service station, Steph called her family to let them know she was okay. She was shocked when Woody suddenly asked her to marry him, but she accepted. She then went inside to get some supplies, but outside, Woody's car was ambushed and he was told to drive. Steph saw him driving off and at first thought it was a joke, but then she started to run after the car as she realised what was happening. As the car went over a hill, Steph was horrified to hear it crash and explode and she ran over to try and get Woody out. Steph was held back from the flames by a passing motorist and taken to hospital suffering from shock. She managed to get herself through a memorial service for Woody and was beginning to rebuild her life.

After a while, Steph began receiving mysterious deposits in her bank account and couldn't find out where they were coming from. She also struck up a friendship, and later romance, with Mitch Foster, a man Woody had known in prison. Things were finally beginning to work out for her, when, at the end of the year, she was amazed when Woody arrived on her doorstep. He explained that he'd been thrown clear of the crash and had made the decision to go into hiding, meaning that Steph could be safe. Now that Kev Kelly was dead, Woody and Steph could be together. Steph was astonished that Woody had put her through the worst few months of her life and found it difficult to listen to his forgiveness. Once again, Woody proposed to her but this time she gave no answer. He realised she'd been seeing Mitch and told her that Mitch had been in prison for murder. A confused Steph decided that she wanted neither man in her life any longer and asked them both to leave.

It was almost nine years before Steph and Woody came into contact again. Soon after their last meeting in early 2002, Steph had become involved with single dad, Max Hoyland, who she had later married, becoming stepmum to his two children Boyd and Summer. The marriage had failed after a few years but with Max away working on the rigs for much of the year, Summer had returned to town in 2010 to stay with Steph, and it was whilst she was collecting her step-daughter from an all-ages dance party that Steph bumped into Woody, working as a bouncer. Steph's life was in a mess after a terrible few months and her chance meeting with Woody gave her the opportunity to escape her problems and return to a time when she was young, free and living an uncomplicated existence. Steph mentioned that she was still living in Ramsay Street and Woody dropped by the next day to leave his new number in her letter box, but bumped into Steph and Lyn outside. Lyn was immediately concerned for her daughter, but Steph insisted that there was nothing to worry about and later went off for a bike ride with Woody.

Later at Charlie's bar, Steph turned up with Woody, upsetting Steph's on-off love interest Lucas Fitzgerald. After the two men almost got into a fight over spilt beer, Steph and Woody left, and Lucas phoned Lyn to tell her what had happened. Becoming worried for Steph, who had recently given up her newborn son to his father, Lucas' brother Dan, Lyn tried to organise an intervention, with her friends attempting to convince her to get help. Steph was horrified and stormed out, leaving her 4-year-old son Charlie with Lyn and heading to Woody's place. Unaware of just what she was running from, Woody reintroduced Steph to her old biker lifestyle, but when Summer turned up and shouted at Steph about how she had just given birth and wasn't thinking straight, plus she had another child at home, even Woody started to worry about her. By the time Lucas turned up at Woody's place to try and talk to Steph, she'd already run off again, this time to stay in a motel.

Notes: Andrew Curry previously appeared as a student in 1991. His brothers both appeared in Neighbours too - Bernard played Luke Handley from 1995-1996, while Stephen played Greg Bartlett in 1992 and Ted Long in 1998.

Biography by Steve