Mitchell "Mitch" McColl is a fictional character

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...

 in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n 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...

. He was portrayed by actor Cameron Welsh

Cameron Welsh

Cameron Welsh is an Australian actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Mitch McColl on Australian soap opera Home and Away from 1999 until 2001. He was nominated for a Logie Award in 2000 for Most Popular New Male Talent...

. He debuted on 15 July 1999 and departed on 9 March 2001. When Welsh fell ill in 2000, Mitchell McMahon took over the role temporarily. Welsh reprised the role in 2005 for the serial's 4000th episode.

Storylines

Mitch arrives in Summer Bay and hides out on Travis Nash

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:...

's (Nic Testoni

Nic Testoni

Nicolas John Testoni is an Australian actor and producer most notable for his Logie Award winning role of Travis Nash in Home and Away from 1995 to 1999. Testoni wrote the film Mr. Patterns depicting the life of Geoffrey Bardon, which was released by his production company "Reel World Productions"...

) boat. It is soon revealed that Mitch is a runaway who fled home after his stepfather, Rod blamed him for causing his mother's death by accidentally hitting her in the chest with a cricket ball. Mitch is then fostered by Alf

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...

 (Ray Meagher

Ray Meagher

Ray Meagher surname pronouned "Marr" , is a veteran Australian character actor. He has appeared regularly in Australian film and television since the mid 1970s, and is notable as the longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, as Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the...

) and Ailsa Stewart

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...

 (Judy Nunn

Judy Nunn

Judy Nunn is an Australian actress and author.-Acting career:Her breakout role was as the scheming bisexual reporter Vicky Stafford in the risque soap opera The Box. Her character became a popular cult figure in the series. Nunn continued in the role for the show's entire 1974–1977 run...

) and quickly a big brother

Authoritarian personality

-Historical Origins:Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson and Sanford compiled a large body of research and theory , which attempted to characterize a personality type that described the “potentially fascistic individual”...

 figure to their 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...

 ([Brendan McKensy). Mitch is accepted into the local high school and makes friends Will

Will Smith (Home and Away)

Will Smith is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Zac Drayson. He made his first on-screen appearance on 13 February 1998. Will was a regular on the show from 1998 to 2002. He continued to make frequent guest appearances until 2005. In 2010, it was...

 (Zac Drayson

Zac Drayson

Zac Drayson is an Australian actor.He is best known for the role of Will Smith, one of Irene Roberts' many foster children in the soap opera Home and Away...

) and Hayley Smith

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...

 (Bec Cartwright), Gypsy Nash

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...

 (Kimberley Cooper

Kimberley Cooper

Kimberley Cooper, in Sydney New South Wales, is an Australian actress who played Gypsy Smith in Home and Away . Cooper won the Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent on Australian television in 1999 and the Best Aussie Actress for The Inside Soap Awards, UK, 2000...

), Peta Janossi (Aleetza Wood) and Edward Dunglass (Stephen James King

Stephen James King

Stephen James King is an Australian TV and stage actor.- Career :A graduate of the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. King leapt into the public eye with his series regular role as Edward Dunglass on the award winning Australian television drama, Home and Away...

).

Mitch is attracted to Hayley and she is attracted to him but she is dating Sam Marshall

Sam Marshall

Sam Marshall is a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by actor Ryan Clark between 1991 and 2000. He returned for short stints in 2001, 2002 and 2005.-Character:...

 (Ryan Clark

Ryan Clark (actor)

Ryan James Clark is an Australian television actor.He is best known for his role as Sam Marshall in the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away and his appearances on Bondi Rescue. In 1991, Clark joined the cast of Home and Away as Sam Marshall when he was eight years old...

. Mitch dates Gypsy instead and sleeps with her. After Hayley and Sam break up, Mitch gets together with Hayley but they briefly seperate when she learns that he lied about Gypsy. They reconcile when Mitch confronts Hayley's employer Brian Rodgers about making inappropriate advances towards her.

One morning, Mitch finds the body of Sarah McKay, a teenage girl who had ran away and drowned while sleeping in a storm drain. After realising he could have suffered the same fate as Sarah, Mitch is compelled to set up a Drop-in Centre. His idea comes to fruition after his friends and the local adults battle the council for permission and name the centre after Sarah, whose parents attend the grand opening.
When the centre is up and running, Mitch feels a little annoyed when the newly-arrived Shelley Sutherland

Shelley Sutherland

Michelle "Shelley" Sutherland is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, portrayed by actress Paula Forrest from 2000-2002, 2003, 2004, 2009....

 (Paula Forrest

Paula Forrest

Paula Forrest is an Australian actress, best known for playing the role of Shelley Sutherland on the long-running Australian soap opera Home and Away...

) and Gypsy begin running the centre but eventually relents. Brodie Hanson

Brodie Hanson

Brodie Hanson was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. The character was portrayed by actress Susie Rugg between 2000 and 2002 before returning for a short stint in 2004....

 (Susie Rugg

Susie Rugg

Susie Rugg is an Australian actress best known for her role as Brodie Hanson in the TV series Home And Away.Susie was born and raised in Sydney, Australia.-Television:* Fallers .... as Nic* The Surgeon .... as Cathy Handel...

) begins staying at the centre after fleeing her abusive mother, Jan and Mitch forms a close friendship with her. Hayley is annoyed when she finds Mitch is dating Brodie, as she hoped to reconcile with him as they had broken up after her father Ken

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....

 (Anthony Phelan) died.

After Mitch wins, a charity talent contest with a self-composed musical number, he is approached by Morrie Sanders, who reveals he is his uncle and explains that Mitch's grandfather had thrown Vicky out of home when he learned she was going to marry Mitch's father. Morrie tells Mitch that his grandmother, Morrie and Vicky's mother is dying and wants to see him before she dies and Mitch agrees to go to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

with Morrie. When Mitch returns to the Bay, he feels he has changed and his relationship with Alf in the wake of Ailsa's death sours.
He then moves in with Gypsy and 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...

 (Ryan Kwanten

Ryan Kwanten

Ryan Christian Kwanten is an Australian actor. He played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 on the Australian soap-opera Home and Away...

). Mitch then decides to leave for New Zealand permanently and before leaving renconciles with Alf and shares an emotional farewell with Brodie. Four years later, Mitch returns to Summer Bay briefly in 2005 for Alf's 60th birthday party.

Reception

For his portrayal of Mitch, Welsh was nominated for the "Best New Male Talent" Logie Award

Logie Award

The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...

in 2000

External Links

Home and Away.org character profile

Episode guide