Heath Braxton
Heath Braxton (2011-2014; 2016-2017; 2021)
Dan Ewing
Episodes: 5233–6017; 6057; 6554–6587; 7478
Spin Off Appearances: An Eye for an Eye; Revenge; All or Nothing
Parents: Danny (deceased) & Cheryl Braxton
Siblings: Darryl Braxton; Kyle & Casey Braxton (deceased) (both half)
Marital Status: Bianca Scott (2013-present)
Children: Darcy Callahan, Rocco Scott-Braxton (deceased), Harley Braxton & unnamed daughter
Occupation: Bartender, Gym Worker/Manager
Heath is the middle Braxton brother. He and his older brother Brax were among the River Boys who attended the singles night at Angelo’s restaurant, where he recalled Angelo booking him for speeding when he was a police officer. Near the end of the night, a drunken Heath started hassling Leah until Charlie and Angelo stepped in. Angelo tried to throw him out, sparking off a brawl during which Heath hit Miles over the head with a bottle. He was arrested and charged.
Heath began hanging around the Bay and clashed with Xavier whilst surfing. Romeo attempted to calm things down but John undid his work by giving Heath and the other River Boys a lecture. When VJ was knocked off his board, Heath carried him to safety but was accused of causing the injury until VJ confirmed it was an accident. John tried to keep them out of the surf club nevertheless. When Casey, Ruby and Xavier gate-crashed a River Boys gathering with Xavier’s car, Heath was left embarrassed when Xavier knew more about the car than him and Ruby turned the tables on him flirting with her. He objected to Miles tutoring Casey and refused to let him come to the house, so Miles withdrew his statement and the charges against Heath were dropped. He belittled Casey’s attempts to do well at school and, when Ruby and Casey threw a party at an empty holiday cottage, invited himself and some of his friends along, where he proceeded to play loud music, throw April in the swimming pool and attract the attention of the police. He also began selling drugs at the surf club, with Liam as one of his customers.
Angelo became suspicious of him and Brax hanging around the national park. They claimed they were pig hunting and took him on an expedition where they fired their guns at him, claiming it was an accident. Heath also sent Angelo a dead pig’s head as a warning. When Angelo came across the River Boys harvesting the crop, Heath knocked him unconscious, causing him to spend two weeks in a coma. The police caught him riding his trail bike nearby but were unable to find any evidence linking him to the crop. He warned Nicole off of investigating what had happened to Angelo, unintentionally causing her to realise he had sent the pig’s head, but he managed to explain it away as a joke. He was annoyed when Brax set Brodie up to take the blame for the crop and helped get him out of town. Brax also got him to beat up Pee Wee, another of the River Boys, for flashing an expensive watch around. He was unhappy again when Brax chose to pay Angelo off after he got evidence on them.
He began flirting with Bianca Scott and was shocked when she agreed to a date. He spent the night with her but was disappointed she saw it as a one-night stand. He wound her up by dating a teenager, Keisha, in front of her and mentioning their hook-up in public. When Charlie tried to stick up for Bianca by accusing Heath of giving a minor alcohol, Heath went round to Bianca’s in a fury and left her feeling scared. Charlie then booked Cheryl for a driving offence while she was driving Heath’s car, causing him to storm round to Bianca’s house again. He was initially intimidating but calmed down when Bianca apologised for using him and when Brax arrived he left quietly.
Eager to get the drug crop out of town, he arranged to hire Romeo’s boat, using Casey as an intermediary. Brax was furious he had got Casey involved and hit him. The plan went ahead but Brax convinced him not to go on the trip when he learned the police were planning to raid itches made a token effort to stop Cheryl throwing Casey out, then told her he thought Brax had a new girlfriend, prompting her to contact his old girlfriend, Tegan Callahan. Heath objected to Brax spending all his time at the restaurant instead of with the River Boys and began deliberately leading Casey astray to get a reaction, taking him out surfing and partying when he should be at school. He was shocked when Brax responded by quitting the gang and leaving him in charge.
He led a group of River Boys in gate-crashing the bachelor and spinsters ball at the farm, having persuaded Laura Carmody to sell them tickets. When Bianca was raped at the event, Heath was a suspect. He initially refused to give a DNA sample but Brax punched him and ordered him to co-operate, saying he had to show they didn’t approve of rape. When Liam heard he was in the frame, he attacked him at the surf club and Heath took delight in telling him about his night with Bianca. He was cleared by the DNA test but Bianca told Charlie about his drug dealing. However, Brax tipped him off that she was investigating him and he made sure he had nothing on him when she searched him.
He decided to lead a raid on Jake Pirovic’s drug crop, despite Brax’s warnings. He was confronted by Jake and his men with guns before the police arrived and arrested them all. When he refused to co-operate, Inspector Joyce ordered him locked up with Jake. He protested and started struggling, prompting Georgina Watson to taser him. He had a bad reaction and was hospitalised. Charged with possession and released on bail, he agreed to help Tegan hide Jake’s drugs when he threatened her and her daughter Darcy but, when he heard Liam had agreed to testify against him, he ended up stealing some of the drugs to go on the run. He was caught by Charlie and jailed.
Tegan visited him and revealed that he was Darcy’s father and also that Brax was seeing Charlie and had tipped her off about the raid. Heath agreed to give evidence against Jake in return for parole. He made his peace with his brothers and clashed with Jake’s brother Hammer, who had him beaten up. He convinced Brax they needed to strike back and ended up moving in with him and Casey. When he learned Liam and Bianca had split up, he clashed with Liam again. He vandalised Hammer’s car but in return his own was stolen and torched.Brax agreed to call the gang out for a fight but Charlie broke it up and Brax and Heath later found that Stu Henderson had been attacked and had his arm gouged.
When a storm hit town, he took Darcy out of school without telling Tegan and took her to Summer Bay High. Tegan arrived to collect her, after which Heath was trapped under the rubble with Bianca when the roof collapsed as he tried to get her to safety. On being rescued, he learned Tegan had been killed in the storm. The feud with Hammer escalated and Heath had to drag Brax off Hammer when he started beating him in front of witnesses. He supported Brax’s plan to get rid of Hammer for good. When Hammer’s base was torched, he and Brax were puzzled to realise neither of them was responsible. He accompanied Casey to the police station when he was questioned and was delighted to learn Casey was guilty. He was annoyed when Casey told Ruby and, when Ruby revealed Charlie was about to make an arrest, he took Casey on the run. However, Casey quickly realised he didn’t have a plan and, when Brax tracked them down, Casey turned himself in.
He became closer to Bianca, who helped him look after Darcy when she visited him. When a patron at the restaurant hassled her and then started intimidating her outside, Heath stepped in and walked her home. Bianca suggested he take Darcy to a counsellor and, although he was initially reluctant, when Casey asked him if he wanted Darcy to end up in a gang he agreed. When Bianca looked after Darcy while he tried to sort out Cheryl’s debts, he made sure Liam saw her at his house. He asked her out and kissed her but she was worried about using him again and refused to sleep with him. Along with Brax, he saved a depressed Casey from drowning when he got out of his depth. He then threw a party for Casey prior to his court appearance. When John and Gina complained to Roo about the noise and she threatened to have the Braxtons evicted, Heath started trying to intimidate Gina but stopped when he realised Bianca was in earshot. He later apologised to John, Gina and Roo in front of Bianca and promised the parties would stop.
He was amused when he ended up having to break up a confrontation between Liam and Mark when Liam slept with Gypsy. When Bianca’s sister April asked him for drugs to keep awake while studying, he refused and, when he realised she’d got some anyway, told Bianca. Liam attacked Heath, wrongly believing he had sold them to her, but Bianca stuck up for him, telling Liam that Heath had warned her about April, and thanked him with another kiss.
He was annoyed when Benji Perrin, an old friend who had gone to jail protecting his family, was released and Brax would only offer him a job delivering pizzas. When Brax told him Charlie had helped him steal evidence after he’d been framed by Benji for armed robbery, he convinced him they should follow her and Bianca on a retreat. There, he and Bianca slept together again. When Charlie and Brax were involved in a collision with Liam on his bike, Heath persuaded Brax to take Charlie and leave and told the police he and Bianca had been in the car. Bianca went along with the story but wanted nothing more to do with him and got back with Liam. He turned up to see her in a mildly inebriated state but she turned him away and he ended up sleeping on the beach. April found him and was sympathetic but told him he had to accept it was Liam Bianca liked.
He suggested to Brax they sell pills to the schoolies but Brax refused. He then helped break up a fight between Stu and one of the schoolies, Lachie. When Darcy wanted to show Bianca her new toy horse, Heath reluctantly took her to the house and had an awkward meeting with Bianca and Liam. Bianca later told him not to go there again but April stuck up for him and he returned the favour by telling her Dexter hadn’t slept with Dallas and defending her when a group of River Boys wolf whistled her. He agreed to give her, Xavier and Ruby a lift to a car fare where he mocked Liam over Bianca’s plans to get him to buy a family car.
Heath was upset Brax was planning to take Casey and move to the city. He claimed Casey wouldn’t go and got a small measure of revenge winding Ruby up about it. He got in touch with Geoffrey King, a large scale criminal, to ask him to buy the restaurant and give him a job but Brax refused to deal with him. Brax invited Heath to go with them but Heath preferred to work for Geoffrey and started dealing drugs around the surf club. He was caught by Charlie, who arrested him for possession. Out on bail and with the news Casey was going with Brax and the others, Heath met up with the similarly depressed April and they went for a drive together and shared their woes before she kissed him. He took her back to her house where they slept together. The following morning, she smuggled him out of the house before Irene saw him. He briefly returned home but refused to spend the day with Brax and Casey and went out again.
He reappeared in the aftermath of Charlie’s funeral and took charge of the restaurant while Brax was away. He was left hosting an engagement party for Liam and Bianca and left during the toast looking downhearted. April followed him and, although he’d previously told her their night together was a one-off, they kissed, only to be caught by Bianca and Liam. When April turned up at his house, he spent the night with her again but, when Liam told him he was the first person April had slept with, he backed off, telling April he’d just been using her to get back at Bianca.
However, when Dexter told him if he didn’t appreciate April then he didn’t deserve her, he changed his mind and, after his initial attempt to talk to her was derailed by Irene being in hospital, apologised to her. They nearly slept together again but she backed off because she’d promised Bianca she wouldn’t see him. Heath was finding running the restaurant difficult and accepted some cheap alcohol from Geoffrey. Brax was furious when he found out and attacked him when he insulted Charlie. April approached him wanting to see him in secret but he refused. Heath tried to sort things out with Geoffrey only to learn that not only did he want the $5,000 for the alcohol but $25,000 for a watch he’d given Heath, which he threw away when Heath tried to return it. Heath went back to April and agreed to keep seeing her on her terms.
He was soon reunited with Henri Brown, an old girlfriend now working at Summer Bay High, and began spending time with her. He gate-crashed Liam’s bucks night and challenged him to a game of cards, which he won, but was left deflated when Liam reminded him that he still had Bianca and so arranged to meet April. When he tried to meet up with her on the day of Liam and Bianca’s wedding, Bianca turned up instead to warn him off. A paparazzo took pictures of them together and Bianca convinced Heath to drive her away with her in the vehicle but his attempts to lose the photographer left them with a puncture and he only just got her to the service in time. April tried to get him to accompany her to the reception but he chose to get drunk with Henri instead and reminded April they weren’t exclusive. However, after trying and failing to talk Brax out of cage fighting, he went back to her and admitted nothing had happened between him and Henri. He then convinced Elijah to help train Brax.
April tried to get him to take her out on a date but he cancelled when Brax asked him to be his cornerman in his bout with Dick Norris, telling her he had to work. He got into a row with Leah when Brax was injured and threw a party at the house which he convinced April to stay for when she turned up to confront him. When April told him Bianca was pregnant, he asked Bianca if the baby was his but she told him the dates were wrong. He was irritated by Tyler Churchill’s presence in the household and encouraged Casey to hit him when they got into a violent clash, only for Casey to strike Heath in the stomach with a pool cue instead. He went to April but was uninterested in her complaints about the way Henri was treating her at school, although he agreed to her request for an exclusive relationship.
He found some money Tyler had been hiding and Casey admitted it was from Tyler stealing and selling John’s car. He later scared Tyler off when he found him hanging around town again. He turned down April’s request to attend a family meal but agreed when she said it would be just the two of them. After being upset when Brax and Henri cut him out of their attempts to find out what was going on with Casey, he arrived for the meal to find Irene, Liam and Bianca there and stormed out. He went to the restaurant where he slept with Henri. He took April out for dinner at Angelo’s but after an evening of stilted conversation he decided to take Henri up on an offer to go away together. He changed his mind after April told him she loved him but when April saw the brochure that Henri had left she assumed it was for her and Heath. In the end, both April and Henri turned up at the hotel and he and April broke up after he admitted he’d never wanted to be a boyfriend.
He tracked Casey and April down when they played truant from school only for Casey to attack him for sleeping with Henri. He realised Casey had a crush on her and taunted him about it, only for Casey to respond by winding him up about not having a chance with Bianca, at which Heath punched him. He found out that an old friend, Trent “Sully” Sullivan, was responsible for an attack on Brax and gathered together some of the River Boys to go after him. Sully fled the ambush and took Bianca hostage, threatening to throw her off a cliff, and Heath let him go in exchange for Bianca’s safety. He helped Sid look after Brax when he discharged himself from hospital, shortly after which April told him Bianca’s baby was his. He berated Bianca for keeping it from him but she told him if Liam ever found out he knew she would leave town. Darcy overheard him discussing it with April and confronted Bianca. Heath stuck up for Bianca when she tried to explain the situation but this resulted in Liam finding out. He first tried to talk to Henri about it before confiding in Casey.
He began winding Liam up at work, getting into a fight with him, and told Brax what was going on. He enlisted Bianca’s help to look after Darcy and suggested she leave Liam so they could be together. Bianca turned him down but he taunted Liam about it anyway. While he was winding Casey up about his chances with Henri, Casey told him they’d already slept together and Heath confronted Henri about it in front of Gina. He was shocked when he learned Liam and Bianca were planning to leave town and confronted Bianca about it, at which point they both felt the baby kick for the first time. He tried to come to a compromise with her but Liam refused so instead he hired Hayley O’Connor as a lawyer and threatened to sue for custody if they left town. Liam responded by pointing out there was no proof that Heath was the father so Heath demanded a DNA test, bullying Hayley into staying in town after she had a run-in with Brax. However, when April told him there was a risk of miscarriage and he learned Bianca was at the hospital, he raced there and told her he’d changed his mind, only to discover she was only there for a scan. Afterwards, he told April he was resigned to them never being a family.
He tried to visit Bianca with Darcy before she left and asking her not to cut him out of the baby’s life. He went to see Bianca when he found out she had broken up with Liam instead of leaving but she made it clear it didn’t change things between them. When Hayley asked him to pay her off with drugs, he initially refused but changed his mind when Brax made Liam manager of the restaurant ahead of him, prompting Brax to order him to stop. He had a hard time getting Bianca to let him in with the baby but eventually she gave him a DVD of the ultrasound, which he tricked her into watching with him by claiming he hadn’t seen it. He refused to supply Jett James with drugs only for Gina to tell him to stay away from the boy anyway. When he overheard April asking John to help Bianca put a cot together, he went to the house himself and assembled it. He was shocked when he found out Bianca was in hospital and went to see her, only to get into a fight with Liam. When he learned Bianca had pre-eclampsia and the baby might have to be delivered early, he walked out of the hospital and, despite April and Brax trying to get through to him, proceeded to get drunk, prompting Brax to accuse him of being like their father. This prompted him to go and visit Danny in jail and then pay Hayley to look into his case. Hayley told him Danny was unlikely to get parole but that the officer who gave evidence against him was corrupt, which gave them grounds for appeal.
He had more to worry about when Sid announced they planned to deliver the baby by caesarean the next day. Bianca asked him to make sure the doctors prioritised the baby over her and, when she needed to be rushed into theatre after fitting, passed the message on. Both Bianca and their son got through the operation. He convinced Sid to let Bianca visit the baby but she promptly suffered a seizure and ended up in an induced coma, which Heath had trouble coping with. Bianca came round while he was reading baby names to her but she reacted badly when he, April and Dexter took her to see the baby. Sid told them that Bianca had post-natal psychosis and believed her baby to be dead and Heath failed to convince her otherwise.
Despite Brax telling him to stay away from Danny, he told Hayley to go ahead with getting him out of jail and agreed to give her cocaine in return but refused to give her more drugs to help her through the hearing. When Danny was released, he introduced him to Darcy and took him to see the baby. When Bianca went missing from the hospital and turned up at Liam’s place, Heath went to find her and restrained her while Sid sedated her. However, the experience left him feeling he was the root of Bianca’s problems and he decided to keep his distance from her.
After Bianca recovered, Heath was disappointed to see her hugging Liam, unaware they were just saying goodbye. He visited his son only for him to start fitting and acted as a donor for a blood transfusion. The incident brought him and Bianca together and they decided to name the baby Rocco. Bianca asked him to join her at one of her counselling sessions but he missed it when Brax was attacked. Afterwards, he went to see Bianca and they shared a kiss. He told Bianca afterwards that she was off the hook and he understood the kiss didn’t mean anything but she asked him to give them a chance and they began seeing each other. However, when Bianca was allowed home, he felt left out surrounded by her family and made his excuses. He got drunk and admitted he was scared of messing up but Bianca convinced him to accompany her to the hospital to visit Rocco. When checking out Danny’s caravan, he found some letters that Danny had sent the family in prison and Brax had returned without telling anyone, angrily confronting Brax about it. However, when he found Danny holding a family barbeque with Casey, Ruby and Marilyn and Danny refused to go to the hospital with him to see Rocco, he realised Danny didn’t care about him. The experience led to him agreeing to give Rocco the surname Scott-Braxton, saying he would be the first Braxton whose parents cared about him.
Heath gave Brax some advice when he learned he had gone back to acting as a drug courier to pay off Danny and approved of Casey’s plan to get close to Danny. He agreed that Rocco should live with Bianca when discharged but found that Darcy was unhappy with being left out of the new family. He convinced Bianca that they should all live together. He took Bianca on a picnic, after which they slept together, but when she talked about divorcing Liam he revealed that he wasn’t planning on marrying her. When he realised Bianca was upset by the comment, he made his own commitment by telling her he loved her. He helped Brax search Danny’s caravan when he thought he’d taken Casey on a job but left when they didn’t find anything. He was shocked to receive the news that Casey had shot Danny during a robbery and headed to the hospital and the news that Danny had died. He was furious when Brax posted bail and punched Casey. Casey then attacked him in front of Georgia in order to get rearrested. After spending a few days away, he returned for the funeral and was buoyed when Rocco was allowed out of hospital to attend. He thanked Marilyn for arranging the funeral and she convinced him to support Casey as his bail hearing but didn’t feel able to be around him and moved out of the house and in with Bianca, where they were allowed to bring Rocco home. He went to see Brax but was annoyed by Brax’s unconditional support of Casey and admitted he felt cheated that Danny had never explained why he’d been such a bad father to them. Afterwards, Bianca told him she loved him and he reassured her over her fears of looking after Rocco. When Casey came round, Heath refused to talk to him but after some encouragement from Bianca he admitted that he felt jealous, since Danny didn’t even think Heath was worth messing with, and the two brothers made up. After Bianca objected to him bringing the River Boys round to see Rocco, he decided to move back in with his brothers.
He felt Bianca didn’t trust him when she was reluctant to let him look after Rocco while she went back to work and proved himself somewhat by dragging Brax along to help the Walkers prepare their home for Dexter being allowed out of hospital after a car accident. However, Bianca then asked Irene to look after Rocco as well and, when Romeo asked Heath to supply him with steroids, he agreed. Bianca left him alone with Rocco the next day but Rocco ended up falling ill and being rushed to a hospital in the city. When Bianca asked if he should have been got to a doctor sooner, Heath felt she was blaming him and left the hospital, sending Irene to take his place. April convinced him to return and he and Bianca managed to sort through their issues before hearing Rocco was going to be fine.
Bianca and Rocco moved in with him prior to them getting a place of their own but Cheryl promptly parked herself on them. She told Heath that Bianca wouldn’t stick around, while Sid lectured him about supplying Romeo, but when Bianca stood up to Cheryl she changed her mind and left them to it. However, then Rocco died. Heath coped well with the loss but Bianca moved back in with Irene and he was left in tears as he reflected on all the things he’d been planning to do with his son. He was hurt when Bianca cut him out of the funeral arrangements and she eventually relented and asked him to help her pick out some toys and clothes. After making it through the funeral service, he tried to talk to Bianca but she sent him away. He then joined the River Boys for a private memorial service where he, Brax and Casey laid a wreath out at sea. He convinced Bianca to spend time with him and Darcy but Bianca snapped at Darcy when she said they were still a family and walked off. Although she later apologised to Darcy, she told Heath they couldn’t spend time together anymore.
When Harvey told him the profits from the surf carnival were being donated to a SIDS charity, he agreed to make the cheque presentation and made a speech about how the doctors’ work had meant they’d had a little time with Rocco. He tried to comfort Bianca but when he turned down her attempt to seduce him and refused to supply her with sedatives she rejected his overtures. He was also unhappy to find Brax working with his old mentor Adam Sharpe, who Heath distrusted after Adam once let him go to jail for a robbery Adam had set up. When Bianca began spending time with Adam and buying pills off him, Heath tried to convince Brax to get rid of him but Brax insisted Adam was on their side. Adam said he’d keep supplying Bianca unless Heath worked for him. Heath refused and tried to threaten Adam only for a group of heavies to turn up. He asked Natalie to keep an eye on Bianca while he went to Melbourne with Brax to look for Kyle, their secret brother who could help prove Casey’s innocence. They turned up at the address they’d been given but the young woman there, Mack Watson, told them Kyle wasn’t there anymore. Kyle then rang them and told them to meet him under a bridge but turned up with a group of thugs. A fight was prevented by the arrival of the police, who had been sent by Mack, and she helped the two brothers find Kyle and persuade him to return to Summer Bay with them. Heath was left to watch him but Kyle disappeared from the house while he was taking a shower. However, he and Brax then found Kyle on the wharf, where he told them he wanted something in return for going to the police.
When Liam told him Bianca had moved in with Adam, he went to the house and tried to get her to leave but she told him she wanted nothing to do with him. He supported Casey in court and disagreed with Brax’s suggestion that Casey stay out of the court room after having a panic attack. When Bianca broke free of Adam of her own accord, Heath was pleased but told her he wouldn’t let her hurt him anymore. Instead, he had a boys’ night in with Brax and Casey before they went to court for the verdict. After Casey was allowed off with periodic detention, Heath took Kyle to visit Danny’s grave and told him Danny was never there for them. He befriended Adam’s son Jamie when he learned Adam had been beating him, unaware Jamie was still taking orders from Adam. Bianca visited him and told him she wouldn’t give up on them. He went to the city with Jamie, telling Brax about how Adam treated him. He agreed to go on a fishing trip with Jamie and defended him when John accused him of stealing Jett’s phone. When Jamie pointed out he was throwing away something that other people dreamed of having, he left Bianca a message saying he wanted to get back together. Jamie then knocked him out and left him tied up in a sinking boat. Fortunately, he managed to get out of the boat before it sank and was washed up on a beach, where he was found by Brax, Kyle and a co-opted Jamie. He was rushed to hospital and treated for hypothermia.
Heath was reunited with Bianca in hospital. He helped trick Jamie into going to a house in Mangrove River where Kyle held him prisoner as part of Brax’s plan to trick Adam into confessing. He and Bianca then considered getting their own place. When Darcy ran away and turned up at the house, Heath originally believed she was worried about her grandmother Connie getting ill but when he learned Darcy wanted to live with him he decided to apply for custody. He told Bianca he was willing to go ahead without her but, after Brax dismissed the idea, Bianca told him she supported him. They met with social worker Gavin MacIntosh together but Heath fumbled his way through questions about his criminal record and living arrangements before Brax and Casey interrupted the discussion by coming home arguing. Connie refused to consider letting him have custody and he then received a call from DoCS saying not only had Connie been awarded custody but he had lost his visitation rights.
When Darcy went missing from school, Brax accused Heath of taking her but Heath had no idea what was going on. He received a call from Adam and went to meet him with Brax. Adam said he would release Darcy if Heath did a job for him. Brax insisted on going instead, sending Heath back to Darcy. However, Heath returned and overpowered a gunman that had been poised to kill Brax in an attempt to cheat him and Adam. When Adam was apparently killed saving Brax’s life, Brax left Heath to deal with the situation and look after things at home, walking away. Heath tried to spend time with Darcy but Connie forced him to explain recent events to her and they were both left upset when he told her that his criminal past meant she couldn’t live with him.
Bianca encouraged him to step up and he tried to be the head of the family, finding a job for Tamara. However, when he tried running the restaurant he struggled to get orders out and ended up goading Liam into hitting him. He used the incident as an excuse to demote Liam and make himself manager but proved hopelessly inadequate at the task, leaving customers waiting ages to have their orders taken until Kyle stepped in. Despite this, when Brax returned there was no food because Heath had failed to speak with the supplier and the head chef had walked out because of an argument.
When Celia Stewart saw him and Bianca together, she made her disapproval of the relationship clear but changed her mind on learning about Rocco and instead convinced him to propose. Bianca’s response was to slap him and Irene suggested he should have made more of an effort with the proposal but he was left annoyed with both Bianca and Celia. Celia gave him her old engagement ring to use when the time was right. He went to see April to ask about getting permission from Bianca’s parents and April told him he had her blessing. When Bianca proposed to him, he hastily produced Celia’s ring and proposed himself and this time she accepted.
He stopped Kyle running away from home and joined Brax and Tamara in trying to convince Casey to take a deal that would get him out of jail. He told Romeo he’d cover Casey’s shifts at the gym while he was in hospital but Romeo dismissed the idea. When Romeo later changed his mind, Heath refused the job until Bianca convinced him not to let his pride get in the way and he actually proved to be well-suited running it. Romeo offered him a full-time job while Kyle warned him he couldn’t keep taking money from the restaurant. He realised Kyle had feelings for Tamara and warned him not to act on them, sharing his thoughts with Bianca. He ended up arguing with Casey, who felt Heath had taken his job at the gym, forcing Brax to step in to restore order.
Connie abruptly cancelled a visit from Darcy after she won a swimming carnival Heath hadn’t even known about. Bianca arranged for Darcy to stay overnight but next day Heath took her to the beach instead of school, resulting in Connie sending the police to fetch her back. Bianca convinced him he needed to see a counsellor so he got Natalie to give him advice. He went to see the colleague she recommended, Robin Sutton, but Heath stormed out when the subject of his father came up and had a go at Natalie. However, when Zac reminded him he’d considered it important, he went back and was more open. Romeo left him in charge of the gym while he took Indi away and he refused to let Casey work there without the doctor’s say so. Kyle offered to throw him and Bianca an engagement party at Angelo’s and he talked her into it, although it ended in Casey punching Kyle. Bianca tried to make an effort with Cheryl but Cheryl got annoyed when she mentioned Heath’s counselling, prompting Heath to stand up to Cheryl and tell her to accept him and Bianca as a couple. He arranged to see Darcy but Connie abruptly cancelled after Irene and Bianca had arranged a party for her. He invited Connie round to explain about the counselling and how he was trying to be a good father but this resulted in Connie taking Darcy to another state. He felt defeated when he learned he wasn’t on Darcy’s birth certificate and punched Zac when he tried to get him to channel his anger. He eventually gave up the quest for Darcy’s sake on learning he would need to get a court order and a DNA test to prove he was her father and worrying she would think he was trying to prove he wasn’t.
He worried that Bianca was shutting down again when Gina died but she eventually opened up to him. Bianca tried to involve him in the wedding arrangements, which left him bemused, then panicked about being offered the acting principal’s job, prompting him to decide they needed to go away for a bit to clear their heads. Bianca ended up deciding they should get married straightaway in the city. However, they quickly realised they’d regret not having their families there and the catharsis let Bianca feel ready to take the job. He managed to talk to Darcy on the phone and learned Connie was calling him a thief, saying he’d stolen from Brax and given the money to her. He forced Kyle to show him the restaurant accounts, which proved a money transfer had taken place. He punched Brax, believing he had paid Connie off and refused to have anything to do with him, moving in with Bianca at Irene’s. He found sharing the house with April and Dexter a bit bewildering and found his attempts to spend time with them rebuffed although Dexter eventually acknowledged they needed to get on for the girls’ sake. Heath then told Bianca he wanted to try for another baby but she told him she didn’t want one. He decided he’d rather have her than be a father again.
He learned Casey had been arrested and wanted to help but refused to work with Brax. Bianca convinced him to talk to Kyle, who persuaded him someone was after the family and had caused the rift between him and Brax, and together they filled Brax in on the fact Ricky had used Kyle to set Casey up. It then turned out Adam was behind things. Like Kyle, Heath encouraged Brax to choose to save Tamara when Adam said he’d only release one out of her and Ricky but provided a distraction so Brax and Kyle could sneak out of the house without Adam seeing them. He helped get Tamara to hospital when she was found dehydrated with memory loss. He admitted he hadn’t called an ambulance for Adam and failed to stop Brax taking up Adam’s invitation to meet him at a warehouse. Heath stood guard over Brax in hospital after Adam shot him and, although Adam managed to knock him unconscious and give Brax a potassium injection, Heath managed to catch Adam and convince him to tell him what he had done to Brax, allowing the doctors to save him. He encouraged Ricky to visit Brax and tried to support Bianca when she was threatened with demotion for publicly supporting Zac over false sexual assault allegations. He tried to sort out the difficulties caused by the still amnesiac Tamara ignoring Casey and developing an attachment with Kyle but failed to cheer up Casey, who told him and Bianca to take over his and Tamara’s old flat.
Heath struggled to keep the family together and encouraged Brax to take Ricky away to sort out their differences. Then Connie returned with Darcy and offered to put his name on the birth certificate and give him access, in return for him agreeing to never apply for full custody. He was reluctant to agree or trick her, prompting Darcy to run away from Connie and come to the house. He contacted Connie who agreed to move back to the area with Darcy so Heath could have regular visits. Bianca asked him to look into Holly Chapman planting drugs on Zac and he found the dealer she bought them from but was unable to get him to talk. After it came out Holly had been abused, he gave Darcy a talk about telling him if anyone hurt her. He met Sally when Pippa and Darcy played together on the beach and organised a farewell party for Sid.
The differences between him and Bianca became increasingly pronounced when he was reluctant to accompany her to a principals’ dinner. Indi persuaded him to make a half-hearted offer which Bianca turned down. Irene then convinced him to go along and support her but he found Zac there as her date. He accused Bianca of having feelings for Zac but they reconciled after he saw her point of view, although he still felt jealous of the pair, feeling they had more in common. Kyle took him, Brax and Casey to Melbourne for a stag weekend where he asked Brax to be his best man but he was devastated when Bianca phoned him saying she wanted to postpone the wedding. Brax lied to him that everything was sorted after phoning Ricky, then took Heath’s phone to stop him calling her. Heath tried phoning Bianca from a club but Zac answered. Fearing the worst, he had a one-night stand with the club barmaid, Jess Lockwood. In fact, nothing had happened between Bianca and Zac and the wedding was back on, as Brax told him once he tracked him down. Heath’s guilt was increased when he returned to town and found Bianca learning to surf in order to join him in a memorial for Rocco on their wedding day. With both Ricky and Kyle now aware of his indiscretion, Heath tried to tell Bianca during her hen party but Ricky stopped him. When Bianca came home declaring how much she loved him, he decided not to tell her at all. Darcy turned up for the service and revealed Heath was now on her birth certificate. He took Bianca aside and confessed at the altar, prompting Bianca to hit him and tell him it was over. He became aggressive when he tried to talk to her and Zac had to step in. Heath nearly left town but Bianca stopped him and they married in a cliff-top ceremony the next day, laying memorial wreaths for Rocco afterwards.
He returned from his honeymoon to find Casey in hospital with spinal damage after a car accident. Along with Brax and Kyle, he helped Zac kidnap his niece and nephew Evelyn and Oscar, whose father Ethan had taken them to a cult. When Bianca complained to him about being expected to fit into his family, he felt she was ashamed of him. Bianca was furious when she found out what had happened at the lodge and told him not to come home. Instead, he spent the night at the hospital with Casey and witnessed him regaining movement in his legs. Afterwards, he and Bianca accepted they were new to marriage but she queried where he saw his life going in future.
Heath began taking a fitness trainer course in secret. He gave Dexter a fright when he was watching horror movies at the house with April, Casey and Tamara. Dexter got his own back by hiding in Heath’s room to give him a scare in return; as a result, he learned about Heath’s studying and Heath roped him into tutoring him. Ricky and Kyle also soon found out what he was up to. Brax then confessed that he had accidentally killed Johnny Barrett, an old partner in crime of Danny, some years earlier and turned himself in to the police. Heath was left as nominal head of the family and his confidence took a knock, prompting him to bin his textbook. He was resigned to Brax being gone a long time and was proved right when he was sentenced to ten to fifteen years. Heath tried to keep an eye on the Barretts as per Brax’s wishes and forced Andy to face up to the fact that their fathers had started the family’s problems and Andy had to take responsibility for his own actions.
When Kyle encouraged him to reopen the restaurant and continue his studies, he called a family meeting where they voted to keep the restaurant going. He was upset when Bianca didn’t want to take on Mangrove River students after their school burnt down and pleased when she changed her mind. In the end, it was a run-in with his old teacher Jade Montgomery, who had moved to Summer Bay High as a result of the merger and took pleasure in belittling him, that convinced him to continue his studies. He was still having trouble with his coursework and tried copying one of Casey’s assignments before Casey used reverse psychology to get him to do it. Afterwards, he finally told Bianca what was going on. He took Casey along to the school to keep the Mangrove River students in line but Bianca sent them away. He helped clean up Bianca’s office when it was vandalised and initially assumed Matt Page was responsible, until he remembered that he went to juvenile detention because Montgomery wrongly accused him of stealing her car and he was so used to people believing he was guilty he didn’t try to defend himself.
Heath took charge when Brax was allowed visitors, insisting Ricky make the first visit. He dragged two Mangrove River students back to school, only to learn one of them was on a free period. When he found Nate looking after Andy, who had been stabbed and didn’t want to go to hospital, he convinced Nate to look after him at his place and also dragged Josh to the house to force him to talk to his brother. Kyle tipped him off to the fact that Casey and Tamara had broken up and were keeping it quiet, encouraging him to console Casey. With Indi leaving town, Heath put himself forward as manager and ended up being made co-manager with Casey. He decided to concentrate on managing the clients and left the paperwork to Casey. Chris manipulated him into giving him Spencer’s shifts and he realised he’d messed up, although Casey was pleased he’d actually made a decision.
He eventually stood up to Montgomery in the Diner, prompting her to slap him and then frame him for assault, but Tamara gave him an alibi. With her career in tatters, Montgomery tried to apologise to him but he gave her short shrift. He was annoyed when Kyle and Tamara started spending time together again while planning a music festival, fearing if they reunited it would cause more trouble for the family. He learned Ricky was pregnant and tried to support her right to choose what to do. When Brax was transferred and broke up with Ricky, as well as refusing to tell his brothers where he was going, Heath took the lead in convincing Ricky they were still her family and stopping her moving out. He accompanied her to hospital along with Bianca when she started bleeding and brought Bianca’s laptop to the hospital unaware Montgomery had planted a bomb in the bag. As Nate was telling him and Ricky that she could leave, the bomb went off nearby.
Although Heath suffered only minor injuries, he and Nate ended up trapped in the rubble after staying behind to help a badly injured Bianca. Bianca suffered a head injury and was rushed to Intensive Care in the city. When he found out where the bomb had been, Heath was determined to find the person responsible and quickly tracked down Montgomery, finding her planting the phone she’d used to detonate the bomb in Matt Page’s locker. He dragged her to the hospital where Andy had to stop him beating a confession out of her, then chased her back to the surf club where John and Andy restrained him. She confessed anyway when Leah revealed Matt had agreed to give a statement. When Bianca came round, it turned out her ability to form new memories had been damaged and she kept forgetting she’d been in an accident.
Heath was called by Nate when Ricky was admitted to hospital with stomach pains and was with her when she found out she’d lost the baby. He briefly walked away from Bianca when her memory problems got on top of him, but ended up sitting by her throughout the night and was delighted when she remembered a detail of an article he’d read her. When he learned that Ricky had kissed Nate, he encouraged her to go for it but was frustrated by Bianca’s lack of progress. He insisted on helping her alone but fell asleep. When he woke up, Bianca had left a pan of boiling fat on, starting a fire. Casey came to their rescue and spoke to Nate over Heath’s insistence he had things under control. Heath tried to talk Ricky out of going to see Brax and ended up having to answer difficult questions when she found out he’d kept quiet about Brax being transferred. Heath passed his fitness course and Bianca slowly began to recover but had a panic attack on returning to work. Heath told Darcy to go easy on her when she started at Summer Bay High, upsetting Bianca. He was concerned when Casey started looking for Brax but, when Zac got them the prison details, reluctantly agreed to Casey visiting him and discussed plans to get him out of jail.
His and Bianca’s world was rocked again when Jess Lockwood, the barmaid Heath had slept with the previous year, turned up heavily pregnant with his child. Heath ushered her away from the house before Bianca could see her and confided in Kyle what was going on. He had a shock when Bianca and Jess ran into each other, before explaining the situation to Bianca. Heath convinced Bianca to talk to Jess but she had difficulty accepting the situation, especially when she found out Heath and Jess had talked about Rocco. Heath agreed to send Jess away but was moved when he felt his baby kick, prompting Bianca to go away to the city. When Brax was released from prison after Adam confessed to finishing Johnny off, Heath took him to task for abandoning them and Ricky, who he filled in on Brax’s release. When Bianca again asked him to choose between her and Jess, he went to see Jess but as he was telling her his decision she went into labour and Heath was present for the birth of his son, who Jess named Harley.
Heath drove Jess and Harley back to Melbourne, intending to have sporadic contact with them, but returned to Summer Bay to find Bianca had left him, going to London with Ricky. Irene explained that Bianca had found out Jess had terminal cancer and Heath angrily confronted Nate, who had let it slip. Heath followed the women to London along with Brax and Casey and offered to let Jess’ family look after Harley. Bianca told him she had slept with Zac, hoping it would put him off, and asked him if he could cope if she couldn’t deal with Harley. After letting Ricky know that Brax had suffered minor injuries in a car accident, Heath told Bianca to meet him at the top of The Shard if she wanted to stay married and was delighted when she turned up.
The pair returned to Summer Bay with Harley in tow but Bianca had trouble coping with her new stepson and got upset when Heath tried to settle him with Rocco’s teddy. He called Cheryl for help but her strategy of dumping Harley on Bianca made no difference. Heath had difficulty getting over her infidelity, punching Zac when he called Bianca about work. He brought Darcy to town to introduce her to Harley but Bianca avoided them and Heath ended up arguing with her in front of Darcy when he found her at the school with Zac. Darcy also reacted badly to Harley and ended up running off with him. Heath went looking for them and was annoyed that Bianca organised an official search, scared Connie would stop him seeing Darcy. Darcy then called him to say something was wrong with Harley. Brax, Heath and Bianca managed to track them down in the national park but Harley was severely dehydrated and had to be hospitalised. Heath decided to take Harley back to Jess and go back to being a part-time dad, only to find that Jess had died.
He decided to leave Harley with Jess’ parents, which Irene tried to talk him out of. He headed off to Melbourne for the funeral but returned to Summer Bay with Harley still with him. Bianca walked out and Irene encouraged Heath to talk to her; she told him there was nothing of their marriage left to fight for and moved out. When she tried to have a friendly conversation with him, he told her he couldn’t be around her. He took Harley to see Nate when he got feverish and ended up arguing with Bianca. It turned out Harley only had a cold but the incident prompted Heath to ask Bianca for a divorce. When the Braxton house was shot at, Brax suggested Heath send Harley to stay with Bianca and Bianca also made the offer. Heath initially rejected the idea but later agreed. When Bianca discovered she could handle Harley, they soon reconciled, being so keen to get home and make up that they missed Kyle lying injured nearby. Heath learned Bianca had applied for a job in the city and told her to take it, confident their marriage would survive, and she left town.
After Darcy had spent a family barbeque with the rest of the Braxtons, Heath embarrassed her by yelling at Jett for upsetting her, discovering Jett had told her he only saw her as a friend, and Darcy ended up locking herself in the bathroom for hours. However, the experienced prompted him to decide to apply for custody again with Bianca’s support and he began making arrangements for the four of them to have a proper family home. When Phoebe tried to hold a garage sale at the house, Heath was delegated the job of putting up flyers, only to have to take them down again when the sale was cancelled.
He arranged for Darcy to spend the holidays with them but Phoebe let slip that he was trying for custody again and he had to explain that it wasn’t certain. He acted as Ricky’s confidante when Brax told her he didn’t want children and was summoned to a meeting about Darcy with Sophie, where he was told she was intellectually gifted. The following day, however, Heath found Darcy had injured her arm; she didn’t want to go to hospital, since they had taken a friend of hers away from her father when she broke her arm, but Heath convinced her. However, despite Heath telling her to be honest, Darcy’s cagey behaviour resulted in Nate suspecting her of being abused and Heath being banned from seeing her. However, he understood Nate’s viewpoint, pointing out to Brax that they could have done with someone like him when Danny was abusing them.
When Darcy rang him in distress, Heath went to the school to see her but Leah and Zac convinced him to leave after only a brief glimpse. Darcy then turned up at the house and he planned to run away with her and Harley. Brax talked him out of it but then Connie found out about his custody plans and told him it would never happen. He blamed Phoebe but forgave her when he received news that he had been cleared and Harley wouldn’t be taken away; however, Connie still refused to let him see Darcy. Feeling he wouldn’t get anywhere, he decided to take Harley and join Bianca in the city, and visited Darcy for a farewell. However, the following morning Connie turned up with Darcy, who had attempted to run away. He told her to stay with Connie and spent his last day with her, which prompted Connie to change her mind and agree Darcy could go with them. After a farewell barbeque, Heath, Darcy and Harley all left town with Bianca.
Although he didn’t feel able to attend Casey’s funeral two months later when he was killed by Jake, Heath met Brax at the graveside afterwards. He offered to help Brax go after Jake but Brax refused to involve him and sent him back to his family. Heath told Brax to make sure he finished it.
In 2016, Heath followed Bianca back to Summer Bay when she took refuge there while they were having troubles. When she agreed to give him five minutes, the reason was revealed: Heath had told Bianca that he’d killed Gunno, a criminal who had kidnapped Casey and tried to kill Brax, a year earlier. Heath and Gunno had fought on a cliff edge and Gunno had fallen over, with Heath catching him and then deliberately letting him go. He had turned to drink, wracked with guilt, but insisted he had no option. Bianca handed him divorce papers but he refused to sign them and proceeded to cut his hand on barbed wire and get drunk on the beach. He was found passed out and ignored lectures from Alf and Irene. When Bianca made it clear she wasn’t going to call off the divorce, Heath drove off to pick up Darcy but collapsed at the wheel. Nate found him and rushed him to hospital where it was found that he wasn’t over the limit but did have a tear to his stomach caused by alcohol abuse, which needed surgery. After a lecture from Darcy, he and Bianca decided to have another go.
He moved back into the beach house to recuperate and was annoyed when Bianca admitted she’d tried to kiss Zac, warning him off. He was then taken in by the police after a body believed to be Gunno was found and questioned by Detective Geddes, where he contradicted his previous statement about which direction Gunno had gone in. He seemed set to confess until it was learned the body found was not Gunno but a missing bushwalker, leaving Heath pondering what had happened to him since his body should have been there. Bianca asked him to stay in Summer Bay and he agreed but then went surfing with Mossy, one of the River Boys, instead of going job hunting. He arranged counselling for him and Bianca and was annoyed when she turned up too late to go. When he discovered their arguing was upsetting Darcy, he suggested they go on a late honeymoon, unaware they were being followed.
He returned with Bianca and Harley and found Irene in a tense mood after a run-in with Mick Jennings. When Darcy found him and Bianca in a heated discussion, he told her Bianca was pregnant. Bianca then told him she couldn’t go through with the pregnancy. He promised her they’d all help her but then found a packet of abortion pills in the bin. He went looking for Bianca and punched Zac when he found them hugging. However, Bianca told him she hadn’t been able to go through with it but did want to move back to the city. Heath agreed and the family left after a quick farewell to Irene.
In early 2021, Dean enlisted Heath’s help after criminals Paul and Leon tried to blackmail Ari and Tane into taking part in an armed robbery at the Reefton Lakes Leagues Club, which was River Boy territory. Heath and Dean arrived with a group of River Boys and overpowered Paul, Leon and their men, with Heath taking Paul off for a “chat”.