Stafford McRae
Stafford McRae (2004)
Rohan Nichol
Episodes: 3822–3860
Occupation: Personal Assistant
The right hand man of Tasha Andrews’ biological father Ian Osbourne, Stafford was first seen as the leader of a group of black clad men covertly breaking into the beach house on the night of Noah Lawson’s memorial concert. They wired the house up with security cameras, narrowly missing being discovered by Tasha when she came home unexpectedly to collect the poem she was reading.
He was next seen greeting Josie Russell when she visited Ian, reminding her that she’d disobeyed instructions to leave her mobile on during the concert. He told her that he had been working for Ian for four years, having become his personal trainer after he suffered a stroke, and warned her that people who had known Ian beforehand said that he had changed and was now a lot harder and ruthless.
When Ian began to get directly involved in the lives of the beach house residents, arranging Kane’s cancer treatment and sending flowers to Kirsty to smooth over an argument between the pair, Josie contacted Stafford who confirmed that Ian was becoming obsessed with the house, spending most of his time watching what was going on there. He gave Josie the surveillance tape of her meeting with Morag and telling her about Ian, which Stafford had hidden from him. He later agreed to meet Morag at the Diner where she told him to pass on a message to Ian, telling him to dismantle the security cameras and meet with her in person. During the visit, he noticed Dani sitting nearby and seemed instantly attracted to her. After Irene and Morag had put an end to Ian’s surveillance, Stafford visited Irene to tell her that the security cameras had been removed and Ian had broken off his association with Josie after instructing her to discourage Tasha from contacting him.
Stafford then went to see Dani in his capacity as a representative of Osbourne Publishing. He told her he knew about her work on Viv Standish’s autobiography and was willing to pay her $2,000 for first refusal on the manuscript. Josie was worried about his interest in her, but he reminded her that she owed him and told her to keep out of it. He kept in contact with Dani, visiting Alf with her to discuss using his and Viv’s story in the book. He escorted Dani to Viv’s funeral in the city, along with Alf and Morag, and comforted her during the service. Afterwards, he and Dani went for lunch together and he persuaded her to delay her return to Summer Bay and go to a celebrity party with him instead.
With Scott growing increasingly suspicious of Stafford’s intentions, Dani summoned him back to the bay to ask him what his interest in her was. Stafford told her he genuinely thought she had talent and was interested in the book but also admitted he was attracted to her and felt that she deserved more out of life than marrying Scott and staying in Summer Bay. The conversation prompted Dani to break things off with Scott and move to the city.
The following year, Stafford provided Josie with some off-screen assistance in her attempt to expose Brett Macklin’s toxic waste dump plans. However, when Josie went to meet him, she found Brett waiting instead. What happened to Stafford was never revealed.