Chris Harrington
Christopher Harrington (2013-2016)
Johnny Ruffo
Episodes: 5711–5748, 5803–6509
Parent: Ian Harrington
Sibling: Spencer Harrington
Occupation: Waiter
Chris was Spencer’s brother who arrived in town shortly after he and Maddy had settled there. He told Spencer he’d come home to find him gone and that their mother missed him, and convinced Spencer to go away with him for a couple of days. He was challenged by Harvey about his reasons for being in the Bay and tried to convince Spencer to go home with him but Spencer decided to stay with Maddy. He continued to hang around and suggested to Maddy that Spencer felt guilty about choosing her. He tried to keep them apart by telling them both that the other needed space but they saw through the deception with help from Roo and Harvey. When they confronted him, he explained he was worried about having to be the responsible brother with Spencer gone. He stayed in Summer Bay but Spencer and Maddy soon got tired of him hanging around them the whole time.
He flirted with Indi when he ran into her at the gym but was quick to flirt with April as well when Indi asked him to cheer her up following her break-up with Dexter, and accidentally freaked out recent rape victim Rosie by brushing some sand off her back. He helped celebrate Spencer’s birthday, after which Alf gave him a spare van to use to give Spencer and Maddy some space. When he continued to flirt with Indi, Casey told him about Romeo’s cancer. Chris attempted to help Spencer when he and Maddy split up but dragging him out of the caravan he was moping in failed to have any effect and Spencer accused him of never having cared about a girl. He slept with Indi, leaving Roo worried that he was more serious about her than she him. They tried to have another liaison in a storeroom but were interrupted by Heath. Chris took Indi out to dinner but she worried he was acting like they were a couple and pulled out. She then dragged him into the office but when he called her beautiful she realised she was using him and they resolved to remain friends. When he found out Indi was looking for Romeo, he suggested she hire a private detective. He then heard his parents were having troubles and decided to return home.
He returned some months later to a warm greeting from Spencer and Indi, and explained to Spencer that their parents were seeing a marriage guidance counsellor. Indi arranged for them to have the house to themselves but was upset when he told her he was only interested in a casual arrangement. He tried to get to know Sasha, who was now dating Spencer, but found he got on better with Maddy. He failed to break the ice with Sasha by dunking her in the water and when he invited Maddy to a get-to-know-you breakfast Sasha announced she didn’t like him. However, he managed to get Indi and Dexter onside by surprising Indi with a horse drawn carriage. Indi invited him round for dinner but he backed off when she tried to take things further before telling her he wanted a relationship. He tried to help Sasha and Spencer clear up Bianca’s office, which Sasha had decorated prior to Bianca’s abortive wedding to Heath, but left when he and Sasha bickered. Indi then summoned him to the gym and agreed to a relationship. Sasha told Chris to stay away from the house but she and Spencer walked in on him and Indi getting intimate in the office, prompting Spencer to tell Chris to find somewhere else to live. He got on Sasha’s good side by looking after the gym while Indi worked on an assignment and she recommended him for a room at Irene’s.
Irene gave him a list of house rules including no alcohol and no visitors without prior arrangement, only to come home on the first day to find an empty bottle of champagne and Chris in bed with Indi. As a result, she told him Indi couldn’t stay over. They tried to go to the gym for privacy but were interrupted by John, and Chris turned Indi away when she tried to climb through the window rather than go behind Irene’s back. He decided to get on Irene’s good side, cooking her breakfast and getting to know her, until Irene got tired of the attention and called Indi to take him away. When Spencer started acting strangely, Chris queried whether he had stopped taking his medication. When Sasha also said Spencer was behaving odd, Chris confronted him at the caravan park where Spencer attacked him and then collapsed. At the hospital, Chris told Peta Bradley that Spencer had bipolar in front of Sasha, Indi and April, when tests showed no sign of his medication.
He promised Indi no more secrets but when he saw Robyn Sullivan, a girl he had had a three day relationship with a year previous and who still considered him her boyfriend, in town, he tried to keep her and Indi apart. However, when Indi saw them hugging he had to admit the truth. Indi stopped him telling Robyn about them, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. He and Indi teamed up to get Spencer and Sasha talking again, and when Robyn confronted them at the gym Indi told her they were a couple. Chris shrugged off the fact Robyn had spent the night with Kyle and tried to support Indi when she got news of Romeo’s death. He snapped at Robyn when she suggested Indi had got bored with him, earning Irene’s disapproval. Indi admitted she felt like she’d cheated on Romeo with him but let him comfort her and he accompanied her and her family when they scattered Romeo’s ashes. When Robyn told him and Indi that her father had died, he agreed to have dinner with her but Kyle told them she had made it up to gain sympathy. After a heated confrontation, Chris and Robyn exchanged apologies and she left town.
He then learned Spencer had joined a commune in the hope they could help him with his bipolar, and Sasha told him Evelyn MacGuire, another member of the commune, was keeping an eye on him. Chris went to a seminar at the commune, where he met Evelyn and gave her his phone to record what was going on. When he questioned the teachings of group leader Murray Grainger, Spencer told him to leave and punched him. They were reunited when Spencer was hospitalised after being beaten on Murray’s orders, which Evelyn had recorded using Chris’ phone. However, things were tense between him and Indi. He learned she was planning to go travelling and planned to go with her but she told him she had to go on her own. He admitted to Dexter that he didn’t understand why they’d broken up, prompting Indi to tell him she had started to fall in love with him but wasn’t ready to move on from Romeo. Soon after, Spencer moved in with Irene and Chris. Chris also suggested Sasha come to live with them with the rest of her family leaving town and said goodbye to Indigo while retrieving her things.
When Irene told him she wanted rent from him, Chris went to Heath and Casey and told them that Spencer had agreed to him taking over his shifts at the gym. Spencer was furious but Irene solved the problem by forcing Chris to give Spencer the shifts back then employing him at the Diner. After a faltering start, he fitted in well. He attended the musical festival where he chatted up Phoebe and ended up sleeping with her after she had been rejected by Kyle. He accidentally disrupted Spencer’s attempt to have a romantic meal with Sasha by wandering into the Diner and being kissed by a blindfolded Sasha, and had to help them make up afterwards. When Irene went away, Chris decided that made him the manager of the Diner and started ordering Leah about, but backed off when she pointed out how much work the boss had to do. Despite her making it clear there wouldn’t be a repeat of their liaison, he gave Phoebe a place to stay. He then came home to find a party in full swing: It had actually been arranged by Jett and VJ but he, Sasha and a reluctant Spencer allowed it to go ahead until Irene came home, shut it down and tore a strip off them, before getting them to wait on her as punishment. Then Sean Green, who Chris and Sasha had spoken to at the party, turned up at the house injured and took them hostage, having misunderstood their comment that their parents were doctors and thought he could get medical help. Chris managed to overpower Sean, who was arrested, but felt guilty that he had hurt Sean even though it had mostly been down to his existing injuries.
When Spencer worried about Harvey, who had gone missing, Chris managed to get Harvey to come to the surf club by leaving him a message saying there was an emergency with Spencer but failed to convince him to stay. He acted as Phoebe’s confidante when she worried about getting back with Kyle. He decided to do something nice for Irene and asked John for help in finding a boyfriend for her. John found a candidate and Roo arranged a romantic dinner for the pair but the date cancelled. Chris rushed to the house to stop Irene being alone and they, Alf, John, Marilyn and Roo ended up having a pleasant dinner together. Irene suggested he had projected his own feelings of loneliness onto her and tried to set him up with Tamara, telling him that she liked him, but Tamara gave him short shrift when he propositioned her. When Irene saw him chatting with Denny Miller she told him she would put a new burger he’d designed on the menu if he took her out. Chris took Denny to a secret beach for a picnic and they got on well, but when he told her about the deal with Irene she took off in their boat, leaving him stranded. He made an unsuccessful attempt to help Sasha and Spencer when they broke up, thinking they needed to have an argument instead of being overly polite, and ended up scuffling with Spencer.
He insisted Denny was interested in him but his arrogant behaviour around her put her off. After talking to Irene, he approached her in a more sensitive manner and she agreed to a date. He interrupted the MacGuires’ breakfast where Hannah was telling them she was dating Andy and left everyone bewildered with his comments on the subject. He and Denny tried to spend the day together but both had to work, although he eventually found time to take her for a picnic on the wharf. He attempted to impress her by cooking risotto, also giving some to Alf and Leah and putting it as a special at the Diner. He stowed away on the Blaxland to surprise her only to find Denny had been called away and he was stuck with Alf. When Alf then fell ill and the engine overheated, Chris had to get him to shore in a rowing boat. He managed to get Alf to hospital but was shocked to learn that Leah and several others had fallen ill after eating his risotto, which he had made with wild mushrooms. He cleaned the Diner as penance and, on learning Leah might need a transplant, offered himself as a live donor and arranged a meeting at the Diner to get others to sign up to be tested. Chris himself came back negative but in the end Leah recovered without it.
Wanting to make things up to Alf, he ended up taking Denny’s place unloading orders at the bait shop. Since he hadn’t spoken to Spencer since he had returned to living at the caravan park, Alf got Spencer to help him. With the Diner closed down because of his actions, Chris was determined to get it reopened and enlisted Jett and Spencer to hand out flyers while he tried to attract people’s attention with a loudspeaker. Phoebe stepped in, getting Chris to take her past the beach in a boat while she used the loudspeaker, and the Diner was soon busy again. Phoebe confided in him that working at Angelo’s with Kyle wasn’t as much fun as she’d expected so he suggested she do the job poorly and get fired. He helped set up the school for Gina’s memorial and was upset to find Tamara still giving him the cold shoulder over his attempt to chat her up. He managed to charm her slightly when they teamed up to search for missing Darcy and Harley.
When Denny returned, Chris desperately sought to get the house to themselves, paying for Irene to stay in a hotel then booking Spencer a caravan after failing to set him up with Evelyn. They slept together for the first time but when she told him she was starting to fall in love with him he panicked and, after avoiding her, told her they should take a step back. He faked illness to avoid Denny only for her to come round with some soup and catch him out. He then tried to arrange a grand gesture to win her back only to find her chatting to Casey instead. He made an unsuccessful attempt to get her attention by surfing and then used some of his old chat-up lines on her. When Denny finally agreed to speak to him, he proved his commitment by jumping off the wharf and wrecking his little black book; Denny jumped into the water with him and they kissed.
When Marilyn believed John was cheating on her, Chris sent her some flowers under a false name to even up the odds. Denny blamed Sasha for revealing Oscar had run over Tamara but Chris took Sasha’s side and Denny understood when he explained she was like family to him. He was frustrated when Denny invited Casey to what was supposed to be an evening alone and made plans to take Denny to a horror movie marathon but she convinced him to accompany Spencer and Evelyn to a party on a double date. When it became clear their siblings were getting on fine, they sneaked away to the Diner to reconsummate. He accepted a scratch card as payment at the Diner but ended up paying the bill himself and keeping the scratch card, winning a cruise. However, he was reluctant to leave Casey and Denny alone so gave the prize to Irene. He accused Casey of having feelings for Denny and Casey punched him but agreed to drop it when Denny didn’t believe him. However, he thanked Casey for giving them space. He arranged a romantic night with Denny but she chose to spend the evening with Evelyn instead and he had to share it with Spencer. Denny admitted she had feelings for Casey so Chris broke up with her and then punched Casey. He ended up hiding out at home, scared of reprisals from the Braxtons, but when Denny tried to get back with him he told her they needed to move on.
Spencer told him Denny and Casey looked like they were going to become a couple and when he saw them on the beach together he agreed they should move on. He helped Spencer clean up the caravan park but spent most of his time playing football, and when he kicked the ball under Andy’s caravan they found a package of marijuana there. Evelyn begged them not to tell anyone for Josh’s sake but Chris went to the police, resulting in Andy being questioned and Josh blaming Spencer and punching him. Chris told Josh and Spencer he was responsible and Josh said they should put it behind them. When Andy returned to town, Chris hid from him. Andy tracked him down to the Diner but before he could do anything Alf stepped in, telling Andy that Josh could stay at the caravan park so long as Andy left quietly. Andy tried to approach him later anyway but was unable to intimidate him in front of Hannah and Oscar.
He involved himself in John and Marilyn’s wedding plans, even trying to get John to make him groomsman. When he overheard Denny saying she and Casey were having problems, he suggested they have dinner together as friends. They got on well but when he kissed her at the end of the night she threw him out. Phoebe warned him to stay away from Denny or she’d tell Casey about the kiss. He tried to get Denny to forgive him, then told Casey himself. He went away for a while, returning with a spice rack for Irene and a Zen garden for Spencer. He tried to put up some new shelves in the kitchen but ended up dismantling the oven that Irene was meant to be using to cook scones for Sasha’s market day fundraiser. He tried to make it up to her by organising a kissing booth but got no takers. His DIY ended up demolishing the entire kitchen but when Irene saw how depressed he was she told him to take as long as he needed to fix it. He then tried to get Spencer to take him to the school formal so he could chat up the teachers.
Chris turned his attentions to Shandi Palmer, while also filling in for Denny at the bait sjop after Casey’s death. He defended Marilyn when Shandi had a go at her, leaving Irene and the others to accuse him of making things worse, although not long after Shandi changed her mind about Marilyn. Shandi asked him to be her date when John and Marilyn were about to elope but instead Irene assigned him to look after the Diner so she could go. When the elopement was cancelled, Shandi pointed out she hadn’t invited him to the actual wedding but after they spent the day hanging around each other’s normal haunts in the hope of bumping into the other, they met on the wharf and she invited him. He insisted on organising a bucks party for John, then got dragged to the hen party by Shandi to act as a life model. He appointed himself MC at the reception and shared a dance with Shandi but she left town before anything else could happen.
He signed Spencer up to a dating site and hired a boat so they could spend time together but Spencer cancelled to Skype Amy, a girl he had met online, only for Amy to cancel in turn. Chris tried to convince Spencer to forget Amy after she cancelled another meeting. When Spencer went to meet her, Sasha told Chris that the T-shirt Amy had supposedly designed was mass produced and he found Amy’s photo on a list of known internet predators. He grabbed Alf and went to the motel to rescue Spencer, arriving to find his predator, Keith Potts, unconscious and Spencer in a state of shock. He helped get Spencer to give a statement and tried to support him in the aftermath but Spencer kept losing his temper, pushing him into some shelves.
He encouraged Spencer to tell his story to the school and, when Matt broke up with Sasha, told her he was getting in first because he was worried she would break up with him. When Denny organised a girls’ night to cheer up Evelyn, Chris insisted he should come too and kept the girls entertained with a game of charades. He took Spencer out to chat up girls and Spencer got on well with Monique Wu while Chris annoyed her friends and got a drink thrown over to him. He later got a text from Monique asking for Spencer’s number (since Chris had sneaked his number onto one of her friends’ phone) but Spencer refused to see her. When Chris ran into Monique, he decided to throw a party at the beach house and invite her. He slept on the sofa to give them some privacy when Spencer and Monique slept together; however, instead of cheering him up as Chris planned, it just left Spencer more depressed, aware that he’d used her because he was upset by the news Maddy was pregnant, and Chris had to reassure him.
He was offered a job on a cruise ship but was reluctant to leave Spencer. He tried to ask Denny to keep an eye on him but she thought he was trying to set them up and pushed him off the wharf. When Spencer found out and angrily told him to go, Chris was more convinced than ever that Spencer needed him around but Spencer persuaded him to go. However, he returned when he heard Spencer was down and learned Maddy had not been pregnant and was instead getting treatment for cancer. He told Spencer there had been a typhoon, then claimed he was seasick, and Spencer was unhappy when he learned the truth, not having wanted Chris to give up the job for him. However, Chris supported him when they waited for news of Maddy.
When they learned Maddy had run away, Chris convinced Spencer to let Oscar look for her. He found a video on the internet that appeared to depict Phoebe having sex; Phoebe told him that she had been set up by her manager Neive Devlin, so Chris co-opted Spencer to gather up all newspapers referencing the story and deliver them to her. He then had to do it again when John ordered more papers for the surf club, cutting the article out of them. When Spencer returned to school, Chris found himself at a loose end. Alf suggested he do something to help people so he asked John about joining the surf club. John put him through a day’s worth of chores before announcing anyone could join and leaving him to clear up. When Josh graffited a mural on the side of the surf club, Chris felt responsible and took Josh to the police station. He joined with John in trying to clear it off only to be faced with a group of protesting teens. Chris insisted on opposing them, despite earning disapproval from Irene and Sasha, and Alf eventually dispersed the protestors.
He annoyed Spencer by using his newfound authority to dictate where gym sessions could be held on the beach. He convinced Spencer to let him help out with fundraising for the colour run and gave Sasha advice on her long distance relationship with Matt. He picked up on the fact Nate and Kat had slept together when he saw them in the Diner but when he chatted to Kat about it she threatened to arrest him for defamation, prompting him to frantically tell Marilyn to keep it quiet. When Chris and Spencer argued about Spencer trying to ban Oscar from the colour run, Irene made them sleep in separate rooms. They found they enjoyed it but argued over who should keep their old room and who should move into Sasha’s. Chris ended up forcing the issue by moving all Spencer’s things into Sasha’s old room while he was out and arranging them for him. Spencer initially objected but when he accidentally broke a window in their old room during an argument he quickly moved out and left Chris to deal with it.
During the colour run, Kat offered to have a coffee with him if he faked an injury to delay Nate, who she had bet she could beat. Chris kept up his end of the deal but Kat approached him with two tiny coffees and finished hers in one gulp. He got a phone call from his mother saying his father was in hospital after a car accident and told Spencer. They both ended up going to visit him together. Shortly after their return, Spencer decided to move home permanently but convinced Chris to stay in Summer Bay. He was disappointed when he arrive home wanting to watch a Jackie Chan movie to find Irene and Maddy watching romcoms and having manicures. Irene accused him of making Maddy feel unwelcome but after clearing the air they watched his movie together. He tried to hang out with John but annoyed him by hanging up on Marilyn when she called him at work; however, John later came round and watched a movie with him. He convinced Phoebe to stay in town after she found out about Kyle and Billie but intruded on John and Jett’s reunion. He helped with the catering for Ricky’s baby shower and was disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to go along.
He attended Phoebe’s gig in the city, where he managed to stop a fight between Ash and Oliver, a man who had been dancing with Hannah, with humour and by offering to introduce Oliver to some twins he’d met. He was left with a hangover however and spent the next day trying to cure it. When he learned Phoebe was short of money and offering guitar lessons, he signed up with her to kickstart the business, even though he could already play. This resulted in Kyle thinking they were together and angrily confronting him. Chris put his mind at rest and told Phoebe that Billie had spread the rumour. Looking for a hobby, he started training for his bronze medallion again but after being put through an intense schedule by John he fell and injured his shoulder. When he overheard that Zac was planning to propose to Leah, he hijacked the idea and came up with a huge production number public proposal involving Irene and Marilyn kidnapping Leah, a guard of honour with surf ski paddles and the proposal written on the rear of dinghies, only for Leah to say no. When they finally did get engaged, Chris tried to make baklava for their engagement party but burnt it so stole one of Leah’s, with only Roo knowing the truth.
He tried to arrange a date with Billie Ashford; she turned him down but asked him to meet her at the surf club. He heard her screaming in the gym and found her with her clothes ripped, claiming Nate had attacked her. He looked after Billie until Ash arrived and gave a statement to the police. Kat defended Nate to him and, when he questioned Billie, she kissed him. This made him suspicious and he found evidence in her bag that she had been responsible for putting up posters around town of Kat’s head on a stripper’s body. Kat told him to let the police handle it but he tried to record Billie admitting she’d made it up. Billie turned off the recording then confirmed she was lying…at which point Chris revealed he was wearing a wire. He refused to make up with Billie and began hanging out with Nate, joining him kayaking and trying to interest him in movies and snuggies. When Kat told him Nate wasn’t enjoying it, he revealed he’d simply been trying to apologise for doubting him. He volunteered to help search for Billie when she went missing from the hospital and wished her luck before she was transferred to a burns unit.
He organised a drive to get clothes for Leah and her family when their house burned down and suggested a nude calendar to raise money for them. He was put in charge of organising tables for the eventual idea, a banquet with topless waiters, and went to collect some from Hannah at the farm, helping her get rid of a one night stand. They acted as each other’s wingman when they went on blind dates but both ended in disaster; Chris’ date, Monica Grymsom, talked about origami and threw a drink over him when he called her boring. He was bemused when Hannah started avoiding him until he learned Marilyn had told her they should be a couple and assured her he wasn’t interested in her.
When he learned an ex-girlfriend, Ivana Frost, was going to the same fundraiser as him, he desperately searched for a fake girlfriend to accompany him and ended up asking Hannah. She kissed him as part of the act but he was left depressed when John told him that Hannah would never go out with “the town clown” for real. Although John apologised, it didn’t seem to improve his mood. In the end, Hannah took him out to cheer him up; he admitted that he adopted his clown persona while travelling to make people like him and she told him he didn’t have to pretend with her. He arranged a party at the house while Irene was away where he ended up kissing a girl. He used Nate’s return as an excuse to shut down the party and was confused when Hannah got annoyed at being asked for dating advice. She kissed him and admitted she liked him; Chris cancelled his date with the other girl and kissed her back.
Hannah wanted to keep their relationship secret but he made it clear he didn’t want to be treated like an embarrassment so she loudly announced that he was her boyfriend on the beach. Hannah encouraged him to go for his bronze medallion again and train as a lifesaver. He pestered Hannah into telling him that Nate had slept with Ricky then proceeded to make a heavy-handed attempt to get Nate to confide in him before letting it slip to Kat. However, he did help Hannah give Phoebe some privacy after she had had a miscarriage. He was the first to realise that Denny hadn’t been in touch with anyone since she’d been away. When an amnesiac Marilyn came to stay, he bombarded her with photos and reminders that only managed to upset her. He accidentally blew the lid on Maddy’s surprise party and the fact Roo had tried to get married without her. When Tank Snelgrove and his friends gatecrashed the party, he was happy to join in their fun until he realised Hannah disapproved and helped chase the gatecrashers out. He told Hannah he loved her but regretted it when she failed to respond. When John encouraged him to make a romantic gesture, he turned up at the hospital with a picnic but Hannah sent him away, although she did later tell him she liked him. He counselled John when Marilyn was reluctant to go through with their vow renewal.
When Hannah told him that Andy had kissed her, he walked away from her. He passed his bronze medallion but told Hannah he expected her to cheat on him. However, after a talking to from Andy he made up with her, although she walked out on a date when she heard Josh had regained consciousness. He received the news that his father was recovering and took Hannah to meet his family. On his return, he overheard Leah saying she needed a new member of the bridal party to replace Marilyn and put himself forward. He saw Hannah as his main competition and was delighted when she told him Leah had chosen him (in fact, Leah had told Hannah to choose) and then let slip that she loved him. He threw a barbeque to celebrate but had difficulty getting Hannah to say it again. He was the one who found Oscar’s clothes on the beach when he went missing.
He became concerned about Hannah and Andy’s increasing closeness and consulted with Alf and Evelyn on how to stop Leah and Zac postponing the wedding after Denny’s death. After briefly considering surprising them with topless waiters at the reception, he settled on a firework display instead but wasn’t around to see it. When Irene got drunk at the reception, he took her home but she hit him when he took her hip flask away. He then asked Hannah about Andy and she admitted she still had feelings for him; he broke up with her, and returned home in a depressed mood.
Chris snapped at Olivia when they worked together at the Diner and refused to serve Hannah. When Josh told him that Andy had kissed Evelyn, Chris started a fight with Andy on the beach which John and Alf had to split up, then launched a rant at Hannah in the Diner. Nate tried to play peacemaker, but when Hannah came round Chris reminded her that she’d told him to be himself with her and then rejected him anyway, before telling Nate to stay out of it. He arranged a Smouldr date and got on well with the woman, Destiny Starr, until he started ranting about Hannah. He tried to avoid Hannah while running a stall for the Diner during orientation week but when he found her unconscious after she had tripped he summoned help. With encouragement from Evelyn and Nate, he got back with her. They had a hard time progressing the relationship after their first kiss though, waiting for the other to make the next move. When Billie clued Chris in on the situation, he went to Hannah’s house and kissed her. He tried to arrange a romantic night-time picnic for them but the food was covered with ants; however, it resulted in them spending a blissful night together.
Next morning, Chris accompanied Hannah to get the results of her BRCA gene test but when she was found to have the defective gene she broke up with him. He went to Angelo’s to drown his sorrows, but next morning Hannah asked him to accompany her to see her counsellor, after which he helped her realise that she wanted a double mastectomy. He researched ways to help her like a support group and eventually hit gold with the idea of her having herself photographed prior to the operation, joining her in the pictures to ease her discomfort. He accompanied her to the hospital and told her she was doing the right thing when she had doubts, continuing to reassure her when she came round. He sent everyone away when she was discharged to give them time alone but she freaked out when he walked in on her changing her draining bag. Nate suggested that being isolated wasn’t good for her so Chris decided to arrange a fundraiser in her honour and joined her when she viewed her new body for the first time. When Hannah didn’t want to attend the fundraiser, he pressed ahead regardless but she ended up attending and having a meltdown. She initially gave him short shrift when he tried to talk to her but was receptive when he later suggested they go travelling together before starting a family.
He worked with Phoebe to organise a surprise stag and hen do for Ricky and Nate, but they blew the secret when the pair realised they’d both been invited there at the same time. He acted as groomsman at Nate’s wedding alongside best man Zac. He noticed scars on Olivia’s legs but she accused him of perving on her when he asked her about them. He went to the hospital fundraiser with Hannah, where they played matchmaker for Phoebe and Dom and discussed moving in together. He escaped with minor injuries when the event was hit by an explosion and helped search for other survivors, having to break the news to Hannah that Oscar had been killed. When she went into work, he followed her and told her to come home. Instead, Nate came round to tell him Hannah had died from a head injury sustained in the explosion.
He rejected John and Phoebe’s attempts to cheer him up and accused Andy of robbing them of time together. He refused to attend the funeral or leave the house, prompting John to take him out for a lifesaving shift. Andy admitted he had caused the explosion and Chris later attacked him. John convinced him to visit Hannah’s grave and say goodbye. Afterwards, he decided to get the emergency department named after Hannah and gained support from Tori and Ben Dawson, arranging a plaque and making a speech at the dedication. He walked in on Olivia about to cut herself and learned she’d been self-harming, arranging for her to attend group counselling sessions. Olivia shared her fears about Irene, who had left town without telling anyone, when she received suspicious phone calls and text messages but Chris was allayed by an e-mail claiming she had fallen off the wagon and was being looked after by her son. However, he had to take notice when they then received a photo and video showing she had been kidnapped. He went with Olivia to look for her and they found her wandering the bush, with Chris doing his best to support her when it turned out her kidnapper, Mick Jennings, was her son, feeling guilty that he had helped her in her efforts to track down the child that had been given up for adoption. He arranged for her to have self-defence classes with Billie to regain her confidence and also helped John work out his feelings over fostering.
He was angry when he heard Andy had fled town with Josh rather than face punishment for his role in Hannah’s death. When Mason tried to drop off flyers at the Diner advertising Salt, Chris refused to let him, dubbing them the competition, and went along to the launch just to cause trouble. He celebrated when Brody abruptly left town straight afterwards, then tried to play matchmaker between Nate and Danika before realising Nate actually liked Tori and tried to put in a good word with her. He tried organising a gourmet dinner for Irene, John, Marilyn and Billie but the rich food made pregnant Billie ill. Convinced that Brody had stolen his burger recipe, he rooted through the bins at Salt and challenged him to a cook off. Brody refused and called an end to the feud.
Kat and Phoebe asked him to find them some dates who were the opposite of Ash and Justin, so he set them up with a pair of accountants he knew from the Diner. After witnessing the successful beginning of the date at Salt, he got chatting to Mia White at the bar and took her back to the Diner for an after-hours caramel slice. However, he quickly ended things when Mia kissed him and admitted to John that he wasn’t over Hannah. He saved Evelyn from drowning and she admitted she’d been hoping Oscar would save her. He took her to Oscar’s grave to say goodbye.
When John asked his advice about doing something romantic for Marilyn on the anniversary of his first date with Hannah, Chris suggested he write her a letter supposedly from a secret admirer that she’d know was from him. Chris ended up writing the letter himself. Afterwards, however, he was forced to see John and Marilyn happy while he remained alone. Even Nate offering to spend the day watching action movies and chatting up women didn’t improve his mood and he admitted to John that he was surrounded by reminders of Hannah. He announced in the Diner that he was leaving town for a fresh start. After putting all his stuff in storage, he was disappointed that only Alf and Nate wanted to spend time with him so decided to make a quiet exit. Nate dropped heavy hints that everyone was staying away because they were planning a surprise party and he got to spend a last evening with his friends. Next morning, he said goodbye to Irene and visited Hannah’s grave before leaving town.