Keith Irwin
Keith Irwin (2011)
Alan Lovell
Episodes: 5251–5309
Occupation: Masseur
Colleen and Morag met Keith at a group counselling session for victims of crime, after Colleen’s caravan had been stolen with her inside it. After the group session, Keith and Colleen chatted over a cup of coffee and got on well. They began spending time together outside of the session and Keith offered Colleen a full body massage. She was upset to learn he had already given a massage to Irene until Morag pointed out an advert in a paper showing Keith was a professional masseur.
Colleen and Keith had lunch together at the Diner and Keith invited her out on a date. Having got dressed up, she was surprised and slightly disappointed when Keith took her to help serve food at Elijah’s mission. Keith explained he had been helping out there since he realised the people who had robbed him were down on their luck. Colleen’s spirits were buoyed when she discovered that Keith was taking her to a restaurant afterwards for their real date.
Keith and Colleen asked Leah to donate some food to the mission and Keith gave a pep talk to Romeo, who was in a depressed state after breaking up with Indi, when he helped out there, asking if he felt guilty about being better off than the people he was serving. After Elijah was attacked by Billy McVeigh, a young man he had met through the mission, Keith commented on how volunteers had dropped off. He was disappointed when Colleen also refused to go back and pleased when a chat with VJ convinced her to change her mind.
Colleen arranged for the two of them to go on a picnic with Leah and Miles to try and progress their relationship but failed to meet the others at the Diner. When he heard she was worrying about their first kiss, Keith went to the house where Morag was reassuring her and kissed her. They joined the others for the picnic but when Keith and Colleen went for a walk together they stumbled across what appeared to be a shallow grave. They were relieved when the police searched the spot and found it was actually buried asbestos. Colleen was surprised to see Keith talking to Heath and Keith told her that Heath and Brax helped out at the mission.
When Brodie Upton, who was responsible for Colleen’s original trauma, escaped from police custody, Keith did his best to reassure her. Meanwhile, Brax was smuggling Brodie out of the country and gave the police an anonymous tip-off about a supposed drug operation at an isolated farm as a distraction. When Charlie, Georgie and the other police burst in with guns, they were greeted with Keith giving a half-naked Colleen a back massage. However, a search of the property found a small amount of marijuana. Keith admitted he used it for medicinal purposes and was arrested. Colleen was released without charge and left the police station without talking to Keith.
Keith attempted to get in touch with Colleen but she refused to take his calls and even turned up for work in disguise to avoid him. Keith eventually forced her to talk to him, reiterating that he only used the drugs as pain relief and wasn’t a dealer. However, Colleen told him she couldn’t forgive him for lying to her.