Joel Nash
Encyclopedia
Joel Nash is a fictional character
from the Australian soap opera
Home and Away
. Portrayed by actor David Woodley, he was a regular on the show from 1998 until 2000.
in 1998 after an absence of sixteen years with his wife Natalie
and teenaged children Tom and Gypsy
. He had an uncomfortable reunion with his younger brother Travis
, who had never understood why Joel had suddenly disappeared one day. Joel eventually explained to Travis that he had discovered their father had been sexually harassing Natalie while working as her swimming coach. The two brothers then began rebuilding their relationship.
Joel had been working as a police officer in Hong Kong
but on arriving in Summer Bay he took a job as a PE teacher at Summer Bay High. He wasn't entirely happy when Gypsy started seeing Will Smith and when the pair stayed out all night he attempted to ground Gypsy, even though he had no objection to Tom having a girlfriend. He eventually accepted his double standard and even took Will under his wing at school, encouraging him to join the school javelin
team. Despite having old-fashioned views at time, he found himself, much to his surprise, defending Travis and his wife Rebecca
when the town objected to them letting their foster daughter have her boyfriend stay over, saying that, although he wouldn't have done it, it was ultimately their decision. However, he wasn't comfortable as a schoolteacher and ended up handing in his resignation to Donald Fisher. He then applied to join the local police force.
Joel proved his credentials before he had even been accepted when he and Don teamed up to help Don's wife Marilyn after she began receiving letters and phone calls demanding money with menaces, eventually exposing her friend Chantel and her boyfriend as being behind everything. He had a less salubrious encounter with the police after going on a fishing trip with Don, Travis and Alf Stewart
. On discovering that an apparent prowler was actually Vinnie Patterson
, who had followed them, they managed to convince him there was a genuine prowler. However, Vinnie then called the police and the foursome were left answering some awkward questions.
After being accepted by the police, one of Joel's first actions was to book Alf for letting a blind woman, Catherine Clements, drive his car. His superior, Mike Carter, told him that although his actions were correct being a policeman in a small town sometimes meant being flexible.
When Natalie suggested having another baby, Joel agreed and a family vote on the subject saw Tom support them. However, when they failed to conceive, Natalie suggested they have tests and Joel learned he had a low sperm count, making it unlikely he would have more children.
Joel and Natalie employed one Robert Perez as a tutor for Gypsy, with Joel unaware that he was actually an old acquaintance, David DiAngelo. Joel had tried to pull DiAngelo over for a traffic violation in Hong Kong, unaware he was a wanted criminal. Thinking he'd been recognised, DiAngelo had instigated a police chase and crashed, leading to him being recognised and arrested. Wanting revenge on Joel, DiAngelo kidnapped Gypsy and although she was rescued DiAngelo was still at large. He tricked his girlfriend Rhonda into luring Joel away from the house then, after stranding him in the middle of the bush, set fire to the place. Joel arrived to find his family had survived the blaze but DiAngelo had abducted Natalie. Fortunately, he and Travis overheard a phone call she had made and managed to finally apprehend DiAngelo.
With their house gone, Joel and his family moved in with Travis and Rebecca at the caravan park. Their hopes of buying a new place were dashed when they learned DiAngelo had impersonated Joel and emptied their bank accounts. Joel showed signs of extreme stress in the aftermath of the incident, being too hard on a heckler at a cricket match and almost hitting Tom. He ended up being accused of deliberately breaking a young thief's arm and was suspended from work, although an enquiry soon showed the boy's injuries weren't consistent with his account of what happened, and Joel was cleared.
When Travis learned that their father had had another family, Joel didn't seem too interested in meeting his half-sister Claire and after she stole from Travis he insisted on calling the police. Travis however claimed he'd given the items to her and let her go.
Joel and Natalie finally gained a permanent home when Travis and Rebecca decided to leave the area and asked them to take over the caravan park. They also decided to become accredited foster parents and take responsibility for the couple's two foster daughters, Justine Welles
and Peta Janossi. Later, when Pippa Ross
decided to sell the caravan park, Joel and Natalie formed a partnership with Alf and Colleen Smart
to buy it.
Joel had another encounter with DiAngelo when he escaped from jail and returned to town, looking for the money he'd stolen from Joel. Ironically Joel ended up saving DiAngelo's life when he nearly fell to his death. DiAngelo thanked him by hitting himself with a rock and claiming Joel had assaulted him but his allegations were soon dismissed.
Joel found himself in a dangerous situation when he discovered Jesse McGregor
and an associate, Mick, involved in a stolen car racket. After a high speed chase left both cars trashed, Jesse pulled Joel from his burning car and handcuffed Mick, who had almost been responsible for a hit and run. Joel was unable to bring himself to shoot Jesse and had been too badly injured to chase him so was forced to let him go. Ironically he and Natalie ended up taking in Jesse's daughter Rachel. He was angry when he later learned Natalie had concealed information about Jesse's whereabouts, although he got a roasting himself from Tom, whose car he had been driving during the smash.
Joel seemed to have lost some of his by the book approach: when he saw Ken Smith
punch Brian Rodgers, who had been sexually harassing his daughter Hayley
, he quietly warned Brian that any complaint would reveal things he'd want hidden. When Natalie became pregnant, rumours began circulating that Joel wasn't the father because of his earlier problems. Joel defended her vigorously until he learned the rumours were true: Natalie had had an affair with an old friend, Glen Tanner, on a trip to see her mother in Queensland
. The couple tried to move past it but during an attempted reconciliation dinner, Natalie felt the baby kick and Joel reacted badly. Natalie decided Joel would never accept her or the baby and moved away to Queensland.
Joel began to feel increasingly isolated as Tom moved away as well and his relationship with Gypsy hit an all-time low. When she was involved in a car accident where her secret boyfriend Charlie Nicholas, who had been drinking, was killed, Joel blamed everyone else, including Justine and Peta who had known about Charlie, before Gypsy took responsibility since she'd known Charlie had had a drink problem. Joel found it difficult to relate to her and didn't even notice when Kieran Fletcher started harassing her. Needing to sell the caravan park because of his split with Natalie, he and Gypsy moved into his old family home, which Travis still owned and which Vinnie was renting.
Joel and Gypsy's relationship continued to deteriorate, partly because of his mistrust of her friendship with Harry Reynolds
, which proved correct when the pair started dating. Joel himself began seeing Judith Ackroyd and decided to move in with her to give Gypsy some space. Things went well between them until Judith suggested having a child together. Joel made it clear he didn't think unmarried couples should have children and was even more aghast when Judith offered to bring up the child alone. When someone started stalking Gypsy, he quickly used it as an excuse to move back in with her and Harry.
Immediately after helping catch the culprit (Kirsten, Charlie's old girlfriend), Joel was one of the first on the scene when it was learned Alf's house had been buried in a landslide and his wife Ailsa
and son Duncan
, together with Shauna Bradley and Jade Sutherland
, were trapped inside. Joel helped with the rescue but had his leg crushed during a partial collapse.
Joel was hospitalised, his police career seemingly over when he was told he would never gain full mobility. He asked Gypsy and Harry if he could stay with them when he came out, since the stairs at Judith's made it impractical. However, he then received a visit from Natalie, who offered to care for him in Queensland. Joel rejected her offer and made arrangements to stay with Judith instead. Judith picked him up from the hospital...and then drove him round to see Natalie, knowing that was where his heart really was. The pair reconciled and he moved back to Queensland with her.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Australian soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
. Portrayed by actor David Woodley, he was a regular on the show from 1998 until 2000.
Character's background
Joel returned to Summer BaySummer Bay
Summer Bay is the fictional town featured in the Australian soap opera, Home and Away. Palm Beach, north of Sydney, is used for the show's exterior scenes in order to depict the Bay. Lane Cove River Tourist Park at Macquarie Park is the current location for filming of scenes involving the Summer...
in 1998 after an absence of sixteen years with his wife Natalie
Natalie Nash
Natalie "Nat" Nash is a fictional character from the Australian Seven Network soap opera Home and Away, played by Antoinette Byron. She made her first on-screen appearance on 18 February 1998. Natalie was originally played by Angelica la Bozzetta until her departure in 1998...
and teenaged children Tom and Gypsy
Gypsy Nash
Gypsy Smith is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Kimberley Cooper. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 18 February 1998...
. He had an uncomfortable reunion with his younger brother Travis
Travis Nash
Travis Nash is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by actor Nic Testoni. He made his first on screen appearance on 10 April 1995 and departed on 11 August 1999.-Backstory:...
, who had never understood why Joel had suddenly disappeared one day. Joel eventually explained to Travis that he had discovered their father had been sexually harassing Natalie while working as her swimming coach. The two brothers then began rebuilding their relationship.
Joel had been working as a police officer in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
but on arriving in Summer Bay he took a job as a PE teacher at Summer Bay High. He wasn't entirely happy when Gypsy started seeing Will Smith and when the pair stayed out all night he attempted to ground Gypsy, even though he had no objection to Tom having a girlfriend. He eventually accepted his double standard and even took Will under his wing at school, encouraging him to join the school javelin
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
team. Despite having old-fashioned views at time, he found himself, much to his surprise, defending Travis and his wife Rebecca
Rebecca Nash
Rebecca Nash is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. The character was played by actress Jane Hall in 1989, Danielle Carter in 1994, and Belinda Emmett from 1996 to 1999...
when the town objected to them letting their foster daughter have her boyfriend stay over, saying that, although he wouldn't have done it, it was ultimately their decision. However, he wasn't comfortable as a schoolteacher and ended up handing in his resignation to Donald Fisher. He then applied to join the local police force.
Joel proved his credentials before he had even been accepted when he and Don teamed up to help Don's wife Marilyn after she began receiving letters and phone calls demanding money with menaces, eventually exposing her friend Chantel and her boyfriend as being behind everything. He had a less salubrious encounter with the police after going on a fishing trip with Don, Travis and Alf Stewart
Alf Stewart
Alfred Douglas "Alf" Stewart is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Ray Meagher. The character debuted on-screen during the serial's pilot episode on 17 January 1988...
. On discovering that an apparent prowler was actually Vinnie Patterson
Vinnie Patterson
Vincent 'Vinnie' Patterson is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. He made his first on-screen appearence on 14 July 1997 and departed on 1 March 2002...
, who had followed them, they managed to convince him there was a genuine prowler. However, Vinnie then called the police and the foursome were left answering some awkward questions.
After being accepted by the police, one of Joel's first actions was to book Alf for letting a blind woman, Catherine Clements, drive his car. His superior, Mike Carter, told him that although his actions were correct being a policeman in a small town sometimes meant being flexible.
When Natalie suggested having another baby, Joel agreed and a family vote on the subject saw Tom support them. However, when they failed to conceive, Natalie suggested they have tests and Joel learned he had a low sperm count, making it unlikely he would have more children.
Joel and Natalie employed one Robert Perez as a tutor for Gypsy, with Joel unaware that he was actually an old acquaintance, David DiAngelo. Joel had tried to pull DiAngelo over for a traffic violation in Hong Kong, unaware he was a wanted criminal. Thinking he'd been recognised, DiAngelo had instigated a police chase and crashed, leading to him being recognised and arrested. Wanting revenge on Joel, DiAngelo kidnapped Gypsy and although she was rescued DiAngelo was still at large. He tricked his girlfriend Rhonda into luring Joel away from the house then, after stranding him in the middle of the bush, set fire to the place. Joel arrived to find his family had survived the blaze but DiAngelo had abducted Natalie. Fortunately, he and Travis overheard a phone call she had made and managed to finally apprehend DiAngelo.
With their house gone, Joel and his family moved in with Travis and Rebecca at the caravan park. Their hopes of buying a new place were dashed when they learned DiAngelo had impersonated Joel and emptied their bank accounts. Joel showed signs of extreme stress in the aftermath of the incident, being too hard on a heckler at a cricket match and almost hitting Tom. He ended up being accused of deliberately breaking a young thief's arm and was suspended from work, although an enquiry soon showed the boy's injuries weren't consistent with his account of what happened, and Joel was cleared.
When Travis learned that their father had had another family, Joel didn't seem too interested in meeting his half-sister Claire and after she stole from Travis he insisted on calling the police. Travis however claimed he'd given the items to her and let her go.
Joel and Natalie finally gained a permanent home when Travis and Rebecca decided to leave the area and asked them to take over the caravan park. They also decided to become accredited foster parents and take responsibility for the couple's two foster daughters, Justine Welles
Justine Welles
Justine Welles is a fictional character on the Australian soap opera Home and Away. The character was played by actress Bree Desborough.Her biggest storyline was in 1999 when she began babysitting a baby girl, Ruby Collins. One night while looking after her, she noticed bruises on Ruby's body...
and Peta Janossi. Later, when Pippa Ross
Pippa Ross
Phillipa "Pippa" Routledge OAM is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Actress Vanessa Downing originated the role from 1988 to 1990, then Debra Lawrance took over from 1990 to 1998. The character has made guest returns in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and...
decided to sell the caravan park, Joel and Natalie formed a partnership with Alf and Colleen Smart
Colleen Smart
Colleen Smart is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Lyn Collingwood. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 7 March 1988. She was introduced as a recurring character by producer Alan Bateman. She served as comic relief...
to buy it.
Joel had another encounter with DiAngelo when he escaped from jail and returned to town, looking for the money he'd stolen from Joel. Ironically Joel ended up saving DiAngelo's life when he nearly fell to his death. DiAngelo thanked him by hitting himself with a rock and claiming Joel had assaulted him but his allegations were soon dismissed.
Joel found himself in a dangerous situation when he discovered Jesse McGregor
Jesse McGregor
Jesse McGregor is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. The character was played by actor Ben Unwin between 1996 and 2000 and again between 2002 and 2005.-1996-2000:...
and an associate, Mick, involved in a stolen car racket. After a high speed chase left both cars trashed, Jesse pulled Joel from his burning car and handcuffed Mick, who had almost been responsible for a hit and run. Joel was unable to bring himself to shoot Jesse and had been too badly injured to chase him so was forced to let him go. Ironically he and Natalie ended up taking in Jesse's daughter Rachel. He was angry when he later learned Natalie had concealed information about Jesse's whereabouts, although he got a roasting himself from Tom, whose car he had been driving during the smash.
Joel seemed to have lost some of his by the book approach: when he saw Ken Smith
Ken Smith (Home and Away)
Ken Smith is a fictional character on the Australian soap opera Home and Away as a regular from 1999 to 2000 but made returns as a ghost in 2001, 2003 and 2004. The character was played by actor Anthony Phelan....
punch Brian Rodgers, who had been sexually harassing his daughter Hayley
Hayley Smith (Home and Away)
Hayley Rose Hunter is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. She was portrayed from September 1998 to September 2005 by actress Bec Cartwright and from September to November 2005 by Ella Scott Lynch, after Cartwright left the show for personal...
, he quietly warned Brian that any complaint would reveal things he'd want hidden. When Natalie became pregnant, rumours began circulating that Joel wasn't the father because of his earlier problems. Joel defended her vigorously until he learned the rumours were true: Natalie had had an affair with an old friend, Glen Tanner, on a trip to see her mother in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. The couple tried to move past it but during an attempted reconciliation dinner, Natalie felt the baby kick and Joel reacted badly. Natalie decided Joel would never accept her or the baby and moved away to Queensland.
Joel began to feel increasingly isolated as Tom moved away as well and his relationship with Gypsy hit an all-time low. When she was involved in a car accident where her secret boyfriend Charlie Nicholas, who had been drinking, was killed, Joel blamed everyone else, including Justine and Peta who had known about Charlie, before Gypsy took responsibility since she'd known Charlie had had a drink problem. Joel found it difficult to relate to her and didn't even notice when Kieran Fletcher started harassing her. Needing to sell the caravan park because of his split with Natalie, he and Gypsy moved into his old family home, which Travis still owned and which Vinnie was renting.
Joel and Gypsy's relationship continued to deteriorate, partly because of his mistrust of her friendship with Harry Reynolds
Harry Reynolds (Home and Away)
Harry Reynolds is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Justin Melvey. He made his first on-screen appearance on 13 September 1999.-Casting:...
, which proved correct when the pair started dating. Joel himself began seeing Judith Ackroyd and decided to move in with her to give Gypsy some space. Things went well between them until Judith suggested having a child together. Joel made it clear he didn't think unmarried couples should have children and was even more aghast when Judith offered to bring up the child alone. When someone started stalking Gypsy, he quickly used it as an excuse to move back in with her and Harry.
Immediately after helping catch the culprit (Kirsten, Charlie's old girlfriend), Joel was one of the first on the scene when it was learned Alf's house had been buried in a landslide and his wife Ailsa
Ailsa Stewart
Ailsa Stewart is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away. She was married to Alf Stewart and had a son Duncan. She was played by actress Judy Nunn for 13 and a half years...
and son Duncan
Duncan Stewart (Home and Away)
Duncan Stewart is a fictional character on the Australian soap opera Home and Away, the son of Alf and Ailsa. The character was portrayed by first by actress Allana Ellis in 1989 and was born in the episode airing on 9 June 1989. Actor Lewis Devaney portrayed Duncan from 1990 to 1998. Brendan...
, together with Shauna Bradley and Jade Sutherland
Jade Sutherland
Jade Sutherland is a fictional character on the Australian soap opera Home and Away, portrayed by actress Kate Garven from 2000 to 2004....
, were trapped inside. Joel helped with the rescue but had his leg crushed during a partial collapse.
Joel was hospitalised, his police career seemingly over when he was told he would never gain full mobility. He asked Gypsy and Harry if he could stay with them when he came out, since the stairs at Judith's made it impractical. However, he then received a visit from Natalie, who offered to care for him in Queensland. Joel rejected her offer and made arrangements to stay with Judith instead. Judith picked him up from the hospital...and then drove him round to see Natalie, knowing that was where his heart really was. The pair reconciled and he moved back to Queensland with her.