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Guest Character Profiles > Marty Muggleton Nikolai Egel

Marty Muggleton 2019, 2020, 2023
Occupation: Maths and Science Teacher at Erinsborough High

The least popular teacher at Erinsborough High - with both the students and his colleagues - Marty Muggleton was notorious for being hard on the students, and constantly complaining to school principal Susan Kennedy. When word got out at the school that recent arrival Mackenzie Hargreaves was transgender, and she became upset at everyone knowing her business against her wishes, Susan was worried to hear about the way Mackenzie had been treated at her last school, not wanting her to go through that again. With Marty and another teacher, Cherie Reyner, wanting to know how they should address the issue with students and parents, Susan told them that it was nobody else’s business and they weren’t going to turn Mackenzie into a spectacle, though Marty stunned Susan when he said that perhaps the staff should have been informed that a transgender student would be joining the school.

Though Mackenzie decided that she was going to stay and face up to things head on, Susan told her that she hoped that the staff and students would be accepting. Unfortunately, this proved not to be the case, as Mackenzie was subjected to homophobic graffiti and an abusive note left in her locker, warning her not to use the girls’ bathroom. The police were called in, and Susan decided that - for her safety - Mackenzie should use the disabled toilet for the time being. Mackenzie was deeply disappointed, pointing out that this was how it all started at her last school, and her friend Yashvi Rebecchi - who’d been the one who had accidentally outed her in the first place - agreed that it was unfair. Marty was surprised to find both Yashvi and Mackenzie waiting to use the disabled toilet, telling Yashvi that she should be using the girls’ facilities. Yashvi said that making Mackenzie use the disabled toilets was segregation and that the students wouldn’t stand for it, and soon a protest had started, with students skipping class to queue outside the disabled toilet. With Marty threatening to call their parents, Susan - who was quietly impressed with the students’ efforts - told Marty to get back to his own class, and that she would handle it.

When he returned later, Marty was surprised to see the protest still going on - with Susan and Cherie standing by and proudly watching as the students protected one of their own. As Marty asked Susan to end things and get the kids back to their classes, she claimed that it was out of her control now, and sent an irritated Marty back to teach the few students who were left in his classroom.

A few weeks later, Marty and Cherie were in attendance as the ‘Be You Ball’ was held for the students. Having briefed parent chaperone Pierce Greyson on keeping an eye out for alcohol and the kids getting too close to each other, Marty then spent much of the evening making sure that the students were ‘one foot apart’. As the night came to a close, Marty handed out awards, including Best Dressed to Pierce’s son, Hendrix, who took the opportunity with the microphone to attack his father, as Marty tried and failed to stop him.

The following year, when David and Aaron’s foster son, Emmett Donaldson, started at Erinsborough High, he soon found himself struggling to keep up in Marty Muggleton’s maths class. After becoming flustered as he was unable to answer an algebra question, Emmett ran out of the class, bumping into Shaun Watkins, who was at the school to be interviewed as the new school counsellor. Shaun calmed Emmett down and helped him with the algebra problem, and later went to see Marty, telling him that Emmett was in the foster system and, academically, might not be able to keep up with some of the other students. Marty explained that he’d been unaware of that, but told Shaun that, as Erinsborough High was a public school, they didn’t have the resources to give individual attention to every single student. As Emmett did his best to catch up, and make some friends, over the next few days, he found himself clashing with student Louis Curtain, then found himself in trouble again with Mr Muggleton, who felt that his homework wasn’t up to scratch. When Louis then trashed a classroom at the school, Emmett took the blame, desperate to try and make some friends and not be accused of being a dobber. The truth soon came out, however, and after the school holidays, Aaron approached Marty, explaining that he wanted Emmett and Louis to be kept apart if possible, and they needed to be more sensitive about Emmett’s low self-confidence. Marty said that the school was aware of the situation and would be doing everything they could to support Emmett.

A few months later, as the year 12s were preparing for to take their exams, fellow teacher Jane Harris asked Marty if he could let her into the cupboard containing the exam papers, as she’d left her keys at home. However, the keys had actually been taken by Hendrix, who had taken photos of the exam to send to his girlfriend Harlow Robinson. Unfortunately, they were caught out when Jane spotted the photos on Harlow’s phone - but Harlow managed to prove that she hadn’t even looked at her phone before the exam, having answered questions that weren’t in the photos Hendrix had sent to her, and was exonerated.

In 2023, with the school due to close, Marty attended a protest about the planned closure. He was interviewed by former student Summer Hoyland, who'd become an award-winning radio journalist and podcaster, and was keen to speak to people about their reasons for protesting. Marty said that, although he wouldn't have trouble finding another job - as male teachers were, in his words, a hot commodity - he wanted to remain at Erinsborough High, where he'd love working under both Susan Kennedy and new principal Jane Harris. Later, as the protest started to get out of hand, some people managed to get inside the school, but were quickly removed by the police and security guards. As Marty tussled with Neil Martello, one of the security guards, neither of them noticed that they'd knocked Melanie Pearson backwards down the stairs and she was left lying unconscious on the ground.

Trivia Notes
• The character of Marty also appeared in the 2019 spin-off, Neighbours: Erinsborough High
• For episode 8948, Marty was incorrectly credited as being played by Nikoli Egel

Episodes Featured
8189, 8193, 8210, 8392, 8394, 8405, 8483, 8948