Hamish Woodford
Hamish ‘Woody’ Woodford (2001)
Chris Foy
Episodes: 2974-2988
Parents: Ian and Louise Woodford
Occupation: Student
Woody was a student who Shelley helped enrol at Summer Bay High after he was expelled from Yabbie Creek. His rather obscure sense of humour and unusual take on life caused most of the student body to shun or make fun of him but Brodie befriended him. Mitch was particularly unhappy with Woody, partly because of his closeness with Brodie and partly because he was unhappy with Shelley helping him rather than the street kids he had set up the Drop-In Centre for.
Woody misinterpreted Brodie’s friendly overtures and tried to kiss her, prompting her to run off. When he learned Brodie was back with Mitch, he accused her of leading him on, resulting in both Mitch and Sally taking him to task for treating her badly. Brodie tried to make peace between Mitch and Woody by getting them to collaborate for the school talent show, with Mitch putting Woody’s poetry to music, but Mitch quickly decided Woody’s dark subject matter didn’t fit his style and they decided to enter separately. Brodie was shocked to see Woody with his father, a tough character who showed little empathy towards his son. By now, Woody had started writing the names of students who made fun of him in a book.
Woody gave a poetry recital at the talent night but his rambling free association piece about a dog being shot received derisive comments from Nick and the other students and even provoked pained utterances from Irene until he stormed off stage. Afterwards, he wrote the names of the students he had a grudge against, plus Sally, on a school board, where it was seen by Don and Irene.
Although Don tried to encourage him about the incident, Woody handed Mitch a bullet in the corridor, telling him he was lucky he was late to class, then entered a classroom where Sally was teaching a class including Dani and Brodie and took them hostage. Brett Egan briefly entered the classroom and saw the gun. The rest of the school was evacuated and the police surrounded the building. Ian was asked to talk to Woody using a megaphone but merely berated his son for his foolish actions. Woody slowly began to go to pieces, especially when one of the girls, Paula, wouldn’t stop crying and Dani managed to run out while he was distracted. Brodie convinced him to let the rest of the class go so they could talk alone but Sally refused to leave without Brodie. She unsuccessfully tried to get the gun off Woody but in the process realised it was merely a replica. She and Brodie convinced Woody to leave the school peacefully with them and he was taken into custody.
Shelley initially wanted to wash her hands of the situation but Brodie convinced her to continue acting as Woody’s social worker. She went to see his mother, who was detached from the world and left Ian to look after Hamish but recalled Ian forced Woody to shoot his pet dog because he felt he was too attached. Seeing the same detached behaviour from Woody in the holding cell, Shelley felt he had learned from his mother’s example to shut out the world if he couldn’t cope. Inspector Carter told her Woody would be psychologically assessed and if the psychologists recommended treatment rather than him facing charges, the police would go along with it.