.
Character Profiles > Brett Stark Brett Blewitt

Brett Stark 1993-1996, 2023
Lived: 22, 24 Ramsay Street
Born: 1977
Parents: Cheryl and Maurie Stark
Siblings: Janine, Darren, Danni and Louise
Family Tree: Stark
Marital Status: Wife [Name Unknown]
Occupation: Student, Car Yard Assistant, Golf Course Assistant, Sailor, Owner of Not-For-Profit

In sharp contrast to two of his siblings, tearaway sister Danni and criminal brother Darren, Brett 'Brettles' Stark was always a studious and gentle man who wanted the best both for himself and his family. After she won the lottery and bought a pub, not wanting her kids to grow up in that environment, his mother Cheryl sent him to an all-boys boarding school where he spent the bulk of his education, until one day Danni showed up after being expelled from her own all-girls boarding school. After an initial argument in front of other students and teachers, Danni eventually convinced Brett that they should go and visit their mother Cheryl in her new home in Erinsborough. While Cheryl received a big shock in seeing them, the twins received an even bigger shock in finding her with Jack Flynn. Even though Cheryl initially wanted them to leave, they eventually persuaded her to let them stay and enrol in Erinsborough High. They quickly got themselves in trouble when they tried to stop neighbour Lou Carpenter from dating their mum, believing that he was a gold digger and only interested in her money. Their scheming was quickly rumbled by Lou and Cheryl, who warned them that if they didn't stop interfering in her love life, she'd sent them straight back to boarding school. With the kids, particularly Danni, unhappy with this arrangement, Cheryl announced that she was no longer seeing Lou, before resuming the relationship in secret. Though Brett accepted his mum being with Lou when the truth came out, it took Danni longer to see him as any kind of father figure.

As Brett and Danni started at their new school, he became friends with Rick Alessi, who helped Brett fit in, and Brett, in turn, attempted to help him to be elected school captain. With things progressing between Lou and Cheryl, Brett and Rick also found themselves sharing a bedroom, as the Starks moved from 22 Ramsay Street into Lou's house at 22 Ramsay Street, where Rick lodged along with Lou's daughter, Lauren. Though messy Rick and tidy Brett found it difficult at first - with Rick especially unhappy to have a share a room with Brett's pet rat, Jeffrey - until Brett found one of Rick's lost CDs and a $50 note whilst tidying, and then Rick started to see the benefits. Having undergone hypnotherapy with Sophie Giardi to help with his cricketing skills, a more confident Brett set his sights on dating Debbie Martin, who was Rick's ex-girlfriend and a year older than Brett, but that didn't stop him in his awkward pursuit of her. His efforts included taking up smoking and wearing a leather jacket, but when Cheryl agreed to let him use her credit card, he booked a helicopter flight and expensive lunch, only for Debbie to tell him that she wasn't ready for a relationship - but giving him a glimmer of hope when she said that, if she ever was ready, he'd certainly be in the running.

When Erinsborough High was merged with West Waratah Tech, a new group of kids arrived, including Sassy, who quickly developed a crush on Brett and was determined to get him for herself. After the pair shared a kiss, Brett was horrified to learn that Sassy already had a boyfriend, Stonefish Rebecchi, who she had just dumped to be with Brett. The jealous Stonefish soon tracked down Brett and gave him a black eye, which unfortunately had the effect of putting Debbie off him too. Having finally made Sassy see that he wasn't interested in her, Brett's home life took some interesting new turns, as Jeffrey the rat turned out to be a female and gave birth, Rick moved across the street to no. 30, and Cheryl announced that she was expecting a baby. Meanwhile, when Debbie finally decided to ask Brett to accompany her to the Deb Ball, he had to turn her down because he'd already agreed to go with Danni. Brett then proved to be a great support when it turned out that Debbie was suffering from bulimia and, as she prepared to go to a clinic for treatment, she and Brett attended the Deb Ball together, where they shared their first kiss. When Debbie then returned home for a visit, she was shocked to learn that Brett had written an article about bulimia for the local newspaper. Although initially furious with him, when she found out that he'd only written it to try and help other people in Debbie's position, she apologised, realising that he'd done it for the right reasons.

Brett was an eccentric and unique character in many ways, and one notable quirk of his was his curiously strong rapport with older women. He developed a particularly close and strong friendship with Helen Daniels - while of course she was a compassionate and relatable woman who was used to taking in waifs and strays, and would get on well with the young, all the same her relationship with Brett was deeper than most. Over time, Helen gave Brett driving lessons, taught him about art and joined him in practising qigong, and Brett even provided support when Helen started to experience dizzy spells as a side effect of some glaucoma medication she was taking, and was a great support when her granddaughter Julie died.

More changes were to come when Brett's grandmother, Cheryl's estranged mum Marlene Kratz, and cousin Sam Kratz moved into 24 Ramsay Street, with Lou, Cheryl, Brett and Danni moving into no. 22, and soon after, Cheryl gave birth to Louise. With Debbie still away at the clinic, Brett grew close to new Erinsborough High student Lata Chatterji, offering to show her around town. Having arrived in Australia to join her older brother, Vikram, who worked at Philip Martin's newsagency, Lata quickly began to enjoy the Australian lifestyle and a little more freedom than she'd enjoyed with her aunt and uncle in India, but Vikram was still very protective of his sister. When Brett asked Lata to be his partner in a darts competition, they ended up winning but when Vikram caught them, he grounded Lata for two weeks. When they were allowed to see each other again, Brett took Lata ice-skating where they almost kissed, and they continued to spend a lot of time together, with Lata babysitting Louise, and Brett and Lata auditioning for the lead roles in the school play. When Lata accidentally damaged the aerial on the car belonging to school principal Anne Teschendorff, Danni agreed to take the blame, having started making money by setting up a 'Blame Agency' where people would pay her to take the blame for their mistakes. With Teschendorff demanding $60 to fix the aerial, Lata was forced to pay Danni quickly, and stole a $100 note from Vikram's wallet, something that shocked Brett when he found out. With Lata believing that virgin Brett was actually very experienced with girls, she suggested that they go back to her place when Vikram was out, but a panicky Brett turned her down. Believing that he just wasn't attracted to her, Lata decided to look elsewhere, and went on a date with Sam, but when Brett saw his cousin with the girl he liked, he saw red and the mild-mannered Brett shocked everyone by punching Sam.

Though Brett was very embarrassed by his behaviour, the incident finally made him and Lata admit their feelings for each other, though Lata continued to keep the relationship a secret from Vikram. One day, they were at Vikram's home, chatting about pets - Brett told Lata about his pet rat, Jeffrey, who turned out to be a girl then ran away, and Lata explained that she'd once had a female monkey that they'd also mistaken for a male - and taking photos on Lata's polaroid camera, when Vikram returned home unexpectedly. She managed to hide him in her bedroom and smuggle him out when Vikram had gone to bed, but the next day, they weren't so lucky. As Brett and Lata were kissing, he told her that he loved her, but they were caught by Vikram. Appalled by his sister's disrespectful behaviour, Vikram told Lata that he was sending her to stay with her aunt in another state. Though Brett tried to convince Vikram to change his mind, he failed, but before she went, Lata gave Brett a parting gift - a galah that he'd mentioned seeing the pet shop window, which he named Dahl.

With Lata gone, and Debbie deciding to move to New York for a fresh start, Brett soon fell head over heels for new neighbour Libby Kennedy, who he met on the day her family moved into no. 26. Even after he and Danni were thrown out by Libby's father, Dr Karl, for making a mess of the house when trying to help move things around, Brett still couldn't help but stare at Libby from a distance. Deciding that he was going to make her his girlfriend, his attempts to get her to audition for the school play ended in disaster when he and Danni ended up being cast as the lead couple, so his next plan involved something a little more unusual - a love potion. Ren Gottlieb offered to help the lovelorn Brett by creating the potion for him, only for everyone, including Libby, to be repulsed by it, with Ren later admitting that she'd used the pheromones from Sam's sweat to make it. Brett's next attempt to woo Libby was to introduce her to Dahl the galah, but it quickly ended in disaster again when Brett launched himself at Libby and tried to kiss her, and was forced to promise to never do it again when she threatened to report him for assault. With rehearsals for the school play underway, Brett came up with a new plan, complaining that he shouldn't be expected to kiss his sister. Libby's mum, Susan, who had started work at the school, agreed, and suggested that Libby and Danni should swap roles, leaving Brett quietly thrilled. Having found a way to spend time with Libby, Brett then needed a way to get her to fall for him, so he returned to Ren for another attempt at a love potion. Unfortunately, the latest potion needed a lock of Libby's hair, and Brett was caught taking some from the hairbrush in her bedroom one day. Brett was forced to confess his plan, and Libby told him that he didn't need a love potion, they just needed to spend some time together to see if they were compatible.

When it finally came to them performing in the play together, Brett was very excited about their big kiss, only to realise that he felt nothing when it finally happened. For Libby, it was quite the opposite and she suddenly became interested in Brett and asked him out to the movies. When they went out on their date, Brett did his best to put Libby off, wearing dirty old clothes, but it didn't work and Libby remained as smitten as ever. As things once again fizzled out between them, and as a new year began, Libby challenged Brett to try and get Stonie - the most unsuitable candidate she could think of - elected as school captain, while at home there were more changes when Lou's long-lost daughter Ling Mai Chan arrived. With the campaign to get Stonie elected having some success, things ended badly when Danni, who was also running for school captain, decided to tell Stonie the truth. When Brett tried to apologise, an upset Stonie rode off on his motorbike and ended up crashing, coming away from the accident with some broken ribs. With Brett horrified over what had happened, he wrote Stonie a letter apologising again, and Stonie decided that Brett was going to be the one who ran for school captain, however much he didn't want to. With Brett and Danni running against each other, they were left embarrassed when they both lost to other candidates, but they did use their newfound campaigning skills to get Lou elected to the local council, later helping him to expose corruption in the building of a new freeway, leading to Lou being elected Erinsborough's new Mayor.

After winning a trip to the Whitsunday Islands, Brett returned a new man, raising the possibility with a shocked Cheryl that he might take a year off to travel before going to uni. As he started saving up for his overseas trip, Brett was soon distracted, however, by Bianca Zanotti, a homeless young woman who'd been taken in by Marlene after finding her sleeping rough. Their brief friendship looked like it was going to be cut short when Bianca managed to track down her mother, and Brett only made matters worse by trying to kiss Bianca, as she pulled away. Meanwhile, Cheryl was shocked to learn from Annalise, who'd been on the Whitsundays trip with Brett, that he'd taken an interest in sailing the world on a yacht with a man named Max Geppert. With Brett trying to find work to save up the $10,000 he would need for the year-long sailing trip, Cheryl was disappointed that he hadn't told her about his plans and instantly banned him from going. As he was about to turn 18, Brett insisted that he didn't need his mum's permission, and Lou pointed out to him that there were still another six months before he finished school and could go on the trip, so Brett decided to spend those six months showing his mother that he was mature enough to go travelling. Matters only got worse when Cheryl found out that Lou had given Brett money for his 18th, instead of the second hand car they'd been planning to give him, but eventually Lou made her see that she would have to let her son go at some point. Realising that she'd been overprotective towards elder son, Darren, and he'd ended up a criminal, she changed her mind and let Brett continue with his plan to go sailing, though she soon managed to spoil things when she told Brett that, as he was now 18 and working part-time jobs, he would need to start paying her rent.

Having tried other part-time jobs, Lou offered to take Brett on as his protege at the car yard. On his first shift, Brett's honesty got the better of him when he told a customer that the car he was interested in wasn't all that great. Lou was horrified, until the customer explained that he'd been looking for a car to use for stock car racing and that he was very impressed with Brett's sales technique. Meanwhile, Bianca returned to Erinsborough, having tracked down her mother, who appeared to want nothing to do with her. As Brett sympathised with Bianca, they finally shared their first kiss, but it looked like Brett was out of luck once again when Bianca's mum, Claudia, arrived in town. She explained that she had struggled with Bianca's presence as she had a husband and children now, and didn't want her husband, Alberto, to know about Bianca's existence. Claudia then admitted that she was seriously considering leaving her husband if he couldn't accept Bianca into their lives and later admitted that she had already told Alberto about Bianca, and that he'd given her an ultimatum - she could choose him and their children, or Bianca, leaving her losing at least one of her children whatever she decided. After a difficult few days, during which Bianca walked out on an expensive meal that Brett had prepared for her, she was surprised when Claudia said that she'd chosen Bianca over her husband and other children. Bianca then broke the news to Brett that she was leaving Erinsborough for good, hopeful that she could still build a relationship with Claudia and her younger siblings. Brett was heartbroken but said his goodbyes to Bianca, who presented him with a passionflower as a parting gift.

As Brett's friendship with Helen continued - and he even walked her up the aisle when she married Reuben White - he also developed a close friendship with Susan - there was always a strong mutual respect between them, and she encouraged him to enter a World Vision essay competition, with the ultimate prize being a trip to Africa. As Brett found out that he was one of the finalists and would be going to Canberra, budding journalist Libby wrote a newspaper article about him and his essay, but also mentioned his terrible love life, leaving him a laughing stock at school. Many of the local women, however, were impressed with the way Brett came across as sensitive and caring and sent faxes to the Erinsborough News asking for his contact details. After seeing all of the faxes, Brett reluctantly agreed to go on a blind date with one of the women, Betony Stanza, but it was a disaster as she proved to be a little obsessive and unable to stop talking. The next date seemed to be a bit more of a success when Brett met Samantha Spry, who was also going to the youth summit in Canberra and appeared to share Brett's interest in politics. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Brett realised that she only wanted to be friends, and to have someone to talk to in Canberra, when she introduced him to her boyfriend, Spencer Fryer.

When Brett, Libby and Samantha arrived in Canberra, Libby was sure that Samantha wanted more than friendship from Brett, but he wasn't convinced, pointing out that she already had a very attractive boyfriend back at home. Back in Erinsborough, Brett reported to Helen that he and Samantha had gotten on very well, but he would never try and steal another man's girlfriend, and the friendship continued when Brett and Sam attended study camp together. Unfortunately, when Samantha then turned up on Brett's doorstep, explaining that she'd taken his advice and dumped Spencer, Brett thought that his chance had finally come. He leaned in to kiss her, but she explained that she was already seeing another guy from camp, named Zack. Brett had other things to think about, after he heard that he was the winner of the essay competition, and that Susan would be accompanying him on the trip to Africa, after the original chaperone had to drop out. However, as the trip was approaching, Brett decided to impress his friends with an end-of-year muck up day stunt, planning to make all of the lights in the school start strobing at midday. Unfortunately, it all went wrong, causing $10,000 of damage to the electrics in the building, but with Stonie, Mal and Danni, who'd all been in on the plan too, refusing to take any responsibility, Brett decided that he'd have to own up. Luckily, his sister and friends all joined him and spoke up and although he was punished by the school, he was still able to go on the trip to Kenya.

When he found out that Cheryl had been paying Danni to study for her end of year exams, Brett was annoyed, so his mum offered to give him money for his overseas trip. However, she then turned up with lots of clothes she'd bought for him and he was forced to point out that, for the price of one of the shirts she'd bought, they could feed a whole school in Kenya. Cheryl then backed off and, as he completed his final exams, Brett packed his bags to go away, with Cheryl giving him a St Christopher charm to make sure he returned home in one piece. When Susan and Brett then arrived in Kenya, he was shocked to realise that his mum had given him a suitcase full of his baby sister's old clothes, rather than his own. This incident only served to make Brett want to cut the apron strings with his mum even more, admitting to Susan that he didn't share Cheryl's vision of his future - going to uni and studying law. As Brett dwelled on his issues with his mother, Susan took him aside and reminded him that they were on the trip of a lifetime and he was spoiling it by moping, so he started to relax a little and get into the spirit of things. After being humbled seeing how little the people had in their villages, Brett was taken out herding cows with Maasai warriors and later had a vision telling him that he needed to break free from Cheryl if he was ever going to find out what was out there in the world. After spending the night out on the plains with the warriors, protecting the cows from a lion that had been spotted in the area, Brett returned to Susan feeling braver than before. As they prepared to leave Africa, Susan then had a confession for Brett - she'd helped her mother to die, and he was the only other person she'd ever told. With both Susan and Brett changed by the experience, they said their goodbyes, and Brett symbolically gave his St Christopher charm to one of the Maasai warriors, Kapaito, telling Susan that it meant that Cheryl would no longer have a hold over him.

Back in Australia, Brett was annoyed when Cheryl immediately made him open his exam results, which were impressive, but he announced that he'd decided to defer uni for a year. Cheryl was horrified, but Brett insisted that his mind was made up and that if his mother couldn't go along with it, then he'd have to move out. With mother and son at a crossroads over his future, Cheryl sent Brett to the golf course - where he'd been working part-time - to explain to her friend, recent divorcee Judy Bergman, that she was running late for their planned game. Brett immediately hit it off with the older woman, as she took a great deal of interest in his time in Africa and how much it had changed him. As Brett and Judy's friendship grew, he helped her out by babysitting her kids, Rebecca and Ashley, but Cheryl was becoming increasingly annoyed with his relaxed attitude to life, accusing him of becoming a slob. When this turned into another argument between mother and son, Brett announced that he would be moving into the back yard. As Brett set up a Maasai hut in the garden, Cheryl was convinced that he was just throwing a tantrum and it wouldn't last, but Judy was very impressed as Brett explained that he didn't plan to camp out forever, but he didn't want Cheryl to know that just yet. As the two joked about the situation, they ended up kissing and, with Helen's encouragement, Brett decided to see where things could go between them. After going out for dinner on Valentine's Day, gradually more Ramsay Street residents found out about Brett and Judy, and they were all happy for them, but there was still the matter of Cheryl finding out. Unfortunately, as they decided to wait before telling her, the decision was taken out of their hands when Cheryl spotted them kissing. Though Brett tried to make Cheryl see that he was now an adult and capable of making his own decisions, she spoke to Judy, pointing out that Brett was still very inexperienced with women. This comment made Judy wonder if the relationship was a mistake and she asked Brett if they could have a few days apart, so she could think about things.

When Judy contacted Brett again, she explained that she'd thought things through and had decided that she didn't want to start a relationship with him, as it would be too complicated, what with Cheryl's interference, the age difference, his inexperience and her kids. Though disappointed, Brett understood her decision and turned to Libby for support. As she had recently been dumped by Sonny Hammond, the pair helped each other out, but were surprised when they ended up kissing, then losing their virginity to each other. Having had so many near misses with each other in the past, Brett and Libby were happy to have finally gotten together, but left wondering how it was going to affect their close friendship. As they realised that they didn't want to become a couple and were happy to just be close friends, Karl found out what had happened between them, immediately becoming protective towards his daughter, refusing to believe that she and Brett weren't sneaking off and having sex at every opportunity. But it looked like Brett wasn't going to be sticking around, anyway, when he received a call from Max Geppert, who explained that there was a place available on his upcoming sailing trip around the world, but he'd have to leave in two weeks if he wanted to take it. Though Brett was keen, Cheryl was shocked at how suddenly it was all happening and, despite previously giving her approval to him going sailing, she struggled to let him go. After trying, and failing, to get Max to talk Brett out of going, she tried the same tactic with Libby, asking her to convince Brett to stay. Libby immediately told Brett, who then went to his mum and claimed that Libby had talked him out of going and, having realised how much she loved him and wanted him to stay, he'd asked her to marry him. Cheryl was once again horrified that her son was throwing his life away and marrying so young, and said that she'd rather he went sailing than got married, at which point Brett thanked her for her blessing and said that he'd call Max and confirm his place on the trip. Unhappy that she'd been tricked, Cheryl continued her efforts to get him to stay, leaving Brett with only one course of action - having given Dahl the galah to Libby, he made an early morning trip to the bus stop, with only Helen and Libby to see him off, he left Erinsborough, leaving only a letter for Cheryl. Cheryl was deeply upset by Brett's actions, but Lou managed to help matters by shouting her a flight to Cairns, so that she could see Brett and patch things up before he left to go sailing.

A few months later, it appeared that Cheryl's worst fears had been confirmed when Max got in touch and told her that Brett had been wrongfully arrested for drug-trafficking in Ecuador. When Cheryl flew out in order to bail him out, she was taken hostage by guerrillas and ended up having an affair with another hostage she met there. Brett didn't return home to Australia with her as she wished, but when she eventually came back, she was withdrawn and distant from her family and Lou, ultimately leading to the breakdown of their relationship. Even worse tragedy involving Cheryl was what brought Brett back to Erinsborough months of sailing. When running across the road to save Louise from being hit by a car, Cheryl herself was hit, and Dr Karl tried to save her but unwittingly gave her an injection that may have even sped up her death. A devastated Brett returned home to support Marlene, Danni and older brother, Darren, who had since moved back to Erinsborough. He was also grateful to see Helen, who proved a huge support to him in his grief, as well as his old friend Debbie Martin, who had moved back to Ramsay Street. His relationship with Darren had always been tumultuous, and while they tried to patch things up in the wake of their mother's passing, Darren was still resentful towards him, while Brett tried to stop Darren in his vendettas against Lou and Karl. Brett also tried to help Lou, who was struggling with having been on such bad terms with Cheryl when she died, and matters only got worse when he found out that she hadn't changed her will, so he inherited everything, instead of her children getting it. Though Danni and Brett were understanding, Darren was upset and, even as Lou tried to do the right thing and split the money and businesses between everyone, the tension remained.

As Brett decided to stick around for a few more weeks to help support the family, his levelheadedness proved to be good for Libby, who had started dating the hotheaded Darren, but soon started to wonder if she was with the wrong brother. As Darren's behaviour only got worse, Libby suggested, with Brett's advice, that they should take a break from the relationship until he'd sorted himself out. As Brett then helped Libby with her exam studies, they ended up kissing, and he suggested that she needed a break from her studies and that they could go for a drive in Marlene's car. When he found out what they were up to, Darren followed them in Cheryl's car and, when they left the car to go for a walk in the bush, he sabotaged it, leaving them stranded. It was only when he got back to Erinsborough and found out that it was the day of Libby's most important exam that he rushed back to help, acting the hero to a very grateful Libby. Later that day, however, after Libby had managed to get to her exam on time, he confessed what he'd done, leaving Libby furious that he could be so stupid. When Brett found out, he was equally angry with Darren, but was beginning to get itchy feet again, deciding that he'd be leaving to go travelling again as soon as possible. He asked Libby if there was any chance for them, even if it meant being a long-distance couple for a while, but Libby let him down gently, saying that they would probably only ever work as best friends. Despite his own heartbreak, Brett then helped Darren and Libby to reunite, as well as getting Darren to patch things up with Lou and the Kennedys, before he departed once more, this time having a joint farewell party with Danni, who had accepted a job in the fashion industry in Singapore.

Married and living in Africa, where he and his wife ran a not-for-profit, it would be almost three decades before Brett returned to Erinsborough again, this time to participate in the 'Save Erinsborough High' demonstrations, taking part in Summer Hoyland's podcast and sharing all the happy memories he had of his time there, and in particular stating what an inspirational and wonderful teacher Susan had always been.

Trivia Notes
• Brett was a regular character from late 1993 until early 1996, returning for a six-week guest stint later in 1996 following the death of Brett's mother, Cheryl
• In 2005, Brett made a cameo appearance in Annalise's 20th Anniversary Documentary and in 2023, he made a one-episode return
• Although it was often assumed that Danni and Brett were twins, as they'd arrived together and were in the same year at school, they celebrated separate birthdays, with Danni turning 18 in September 1994 and Brett in April 1995. When he returned in 2023, Brett incorrectly referred to Danni as his twin sister

Tenure
2057-2565, 2717-2743, 4773, 8948