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Character Profiles > Darcy Tyler Mark Raffety
Also credited as Mark Rafferty and Foster Rafferty

Dr. Darcy Eammon Tyler 2000-2003, 2004, 2005
Lived: 22, 28 Ramsay Street
Born: 1972 (also said to be c. 1969)
Parents: Robert and Carmel Tyler
Family Tree: Tyler
Occupation: Doctor at Erinsborough Medical Centre, Doctor/Hospital Orderly at Erinsborough & District Hospital

The son of Susan Kennedy's sister Carmel, Darcy was always Susan's favourite nephew. Darcy had spent seven years running a medical practice with his partner Alice before coming to Ramsay Street to spend some time working in Erinsborough hospital's emergency department. On his first day in Erinsborough, he bumped into Dee Bliss at the coffee shop and there was an immediate attraction. Darcy helped Dee after she tripped and sprained her ankle in the Lassiter's complex but she was aware that he had a girlfriend back home, so she kept her distance. However, she eventually admitted to Tess that she had really fallen for him. Darcy grew even closer to Dione when she accompanied him to the medical ball and they shared a dance.

However, Darcy admitted to Karl that things were not going well between him and Alice, so the last thing he was expecting was for her to arrive in Erinsborough looking for him. Unfortunately, she turned up on the night of the ball, and later gave Dione a warning to stay away from Darcy. After Alice's visit, relations were strained between Darcy and Dione and they found it difficult to work side-by-side at the hospital. When Alice called, asking him to go home, he was in two minds. He decided to apologise to Dee, but while he was at Number 32, Alice returned and was furious. She demanded to speak to Darcy in an effort to work things out between them, but the conversation didn't go well and Darcy realised he'd have to go back with Alice to sort the whole mess out.

A few months later, just as Dee was beginning to get over him, Darcy returned to Erinsborough, helping out Karl by filling in as a locum. The two of them were still attracted to each other, but it looked like they'd never be able to get it together as Darcy took a job in Perth. Realising it was now or never, Dione took the opportunity to tell Darcy how she felt - by kissing him at the surgery. Then they got some good news, as Darcy's job in Perth fell through and he no longer had to leave. This led to Karl offering him a partnership at the surgery. Unfortunately, things got off to an awkward start when an audit revealed that Darcy had made some mistakes when charging patients and the surgery underwent a full investigation, only narrowly escaping being closed down.

Things weren't much better in Darcy's personal life as a phone call from Alice caused problems for him and Dione. They decided to take a break from each other. To make matters worse, Alice was demanding that she get control over the practice after their split and Darcy decided just to give in to her demands. Meanwhile, things were becoming more and more strained between Darcy and Karl and Darcy decided to move out. Luckily an opportunity came along when Darcy saved the life of Louise Carpenter after she fell in the pool at Number 30, almost drowning. Lou was so grateful, he offered Darcy the spare room at Number 22.

After the incident with Louise, Dee and Darcy managed to work things out and got back together. But a few days later, Dione received a phone call from Alice, warning her not to trust Darcy. Dee decided it was just sour grapes on Alice's part, but events were about to prove Alice right.

Darcy began spending a lot of time with Dione's old housemate, Tess Bell. When Dione turned down a night at the opera with Darcy, Tess stepped in and took her place. At the end of the evening, as Darcy was dropping Tess at home, they both acted on the building sexual tension between them and kissed. Tess was wracked with guilt, but Darcy was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Meanwhile, he was also facing financial ruin after Alice's claims, so Dione agreed to lend him $1000.00. When Tess heard about this, she was uncomfortable and warned Dee that she might be making a mistake.

Meanwhile, Darcy was not only plotting against Dee, but also his uncle and partner in the surgery, Karl. Desperate for money, Darcy began to see the potential of the surgery and what it could be worth. His affair with Tess continued, with Lou walking in on the pair of them kissing at Number 22. Darcy tried to convince Lou that Tess was obsessed with him and had instigated the kiss, but Lou wasn't sure what to believe. Things escalated, as Darcy played Tess and Dione off against each other, causing great damage to their friendship as they drifted further and further apart. Dee almost caught them when Darcy turned up at Tess' house for her birthday, but Tess' insistence that Dione leave her alone only made matters worse. Suspicions were also raised amongst the neighbours, when Lou and Harold spotted Darcy's car outside Tess' house early one morning, only confirming what Lou already thought.

With Darcy and Tess on the same team at the fishing competition, they had many opportunities to be alone. When Dee arrived looking for them, she was pointed in the direction of Darcy's car, where she spotted her boyfriend and friend kissing. However, she didn't let either of them know what she had seen. Darcy was still plotting his surgery take-over and his plans were helped along when his partnership with Karl became official. Unfortunately, Dee used the celebratory get-together at the pub to reveal Darcy's affair, pouring a glass of champagne over him in the process.

This was a huge blow to Darcy, who was forced to try and win back favour from his family and friends in Ramsay Street. While his Auntie Susan stuck by him, Karl wasn't so sure. Darcy also had to try to win back Tess, who felt awful about deceiving her best friend. He decided there was only one thing left to do, and proposed to her. Fortunately, she was swept away in the romance and accepted. Darcy went to stay with Tess and in the days leading up to the wedding, she began to have doubts. Dee visited her, trying to convince her that Darcy wasn't to be trusted and in the end, Dee got Alice to contact Tess. Unfortunately for Darcy, Tess decided she couldn't marry again, especially to someone she didn't trust and so she left him standing at the altar, while she ran away to England.

Having lost Tess, Darcy turned his attentions back to the surgery. He contacted his old friend, Victor McMillan, who Darcy told Karl would make an excellent addition to the surgery, all the time plotting to oust Karl. Darcy was horrified when he found out that Dee had been on a date with Victor and was right to be worried as Dee had learned of Darcy's plans. When Dee confronted Darcy, he realised he had no choice but to come clean with Karl and Susan before she did. He didn't quite reveal everything though, only telling them of his plans to sell out to a superclinic. When Karl opposed the plan, he offered to buy back Darcy's half, but Darcy told him he wanted $800,000 for it. As Darcy's terrible deceit became clear to everyone, Susan was forced to apologise to Karl.

Unfortunately for Darcy, his buyer for the surgery, Marcus Teague from Total Cover Health, pulled out, leaving Darcy facing huge debts after he had bought a new sports car and rented an apartment. Karl and Darcy spent weeks at loggerheads, until one day they were driving by a construction site on their way to dissolve the partnership once and for all. Part of the building had collapsed, trapping a worker inside and Karl rushed in to help. Unfortunately, while inside, another part of the wall collapsed on top of Karl, leaving Darcy to pull him out, saving his life. This gave Darcy some extra time in which to redeem himself and eventually he begged for Karl to re-instate him, promising that he had changed. This worked and Darcy returned to his old position.

However, it wasn't long before Darcy had someone new to lust after. When Serena Lucas, the new temp, arrived at the surgery, she wasted no time in putting Darcy in his place, making it clear that her interest lay in Karl. Meanwhile, Darcy found out something that forced him to stop and reassess his life. During an argument with Joel Samuels in the coffee shop, he learnt that Dee had been pregnant a few months ago with his child and had miscarried. Darcy confronted Dee, who rejected his attention and sympathy and so Darcy was left to accept that he couldn't do anything to remedy the situation.

Meanwhile, he and Karl were having trouble dealing with Serena. While Karl was determined to get rid of her, Darcy was growing attracted to her and wanted her to stay at the surgery. Darcy was also busy trying to find investors for a film, The Doctor is Waiting, which was revealed to be pornographic. While the other investors, including Harold, were shocked to learn this, Darcy didn't seem fazed at all, as he was still trying to repair his bank balance. He also continued his pursuit of Serena, who quickly realised she was having no luck attracting Karl and moved her attentions to his younger nephew. On their first date, at Lou's Place, she stole some prescription pads from his bag.

As relations further deteriorated between Karl and Serena, Darcy found himself in trouble when a young girl collapsed at Hemisfear and bouncer Drew noticed that she'd taken drugs prescribed by Darcy. Serena lied to them, saying that she'd accidentally left the surgery unattended for a few minutes, when she went for coffee. Her lies were uncovered when Darcy caught her dealing at the club, and he was forced to admit to Karl that he'd been wrong about Serena.

The stress of the past few months had taken its toll on Darcy, which manifested itself when he collapsed in the surgery, clutching his chest. Fortunately, his cousin Elly was passing and found him in time to call 000 and save his life. Darcy learnt that he was suffering from a heart condition, but would soon recover. The experience made Darcy reassess things. Dee cared him for in hospital and they had a heart-to-heart, which went some way to ease the rift between them.

After leaving hospital, Darcy got close to Terri Hall, the policewoman who lived in the flat above Libby and Drew's. They began seeing each other and for once, Darcy seemed to have met someone who he could have a normal relationship with. Unfortunately, Darcy's jealousy got the better of him and he followed Terri to a club where she was about to uncover a drug ring. She was furious that he had ruined the operation and dumped him. Just as she was about to leave Erinsborough, Terri teamed up with Dee to fool Darcy into thinking he was being investigated. Darcy was enormously relieved to realise it was all a practical joke.

Darcy had also been developing a rivalry with Stuart Parker, who had recently been dating Dione. Darcy took every opportunity to comment on their relationship and belittle Stuart. However, when Darcy was confronted with a snake at Number 22, he was glad to see country boy Stuart arrive and catch it. Stuart used the opportunity to wind Darcy up, claiming the harmless was poisonous. When Amelia Moon arrived at the garage to get some work done on her car, Stuart and Darcy both vied for her affections, with Darcy winning once again. His attentions quickly moved on however, when new patient Penny Watts arrived.

Darcy knew that it was unethical to see a patient, but he couldn't deny the growing attraction between himself and Penny. As the two of them began to flirt more and more, Dee threw a spanner in the works by revealing that Penny was a friend of Tess. Darcy was angry and decided to forget about Penny, but she got a job in the coffee shop and for once, Darcy was being pursued. He began to give in. Meanwhile, he also posed for Rosie's church calendar.

Darcy and Penny began seeing each other, despite the problems this may cause. Dione was quick to realise what was going on and warned Darcy about the trouble he could get himself into. Karl put Darcy forward for a job at the hospital and during his interview Darcy bumped into Penny. Karl also spotted Penny and Darcy kissing and confronted Darcy, warning him that he'd have to report him to the medical board, causing Darcy to break things off with Darcy. Days later, Darcy faced a family crisis when his Auntie Susan was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia after a nasty fall. Darcy was forced to reveal to Susan that her parents were dead.

Penny was heartbroken when Darcy broke things off with her and began pouring her heart out to anyone who would listen. Darcy, however, was determined he wouldn't lose Penny and laid on a romantic dinner in the pub, complete with violins. When Darcy's mum and Susan's sister, Carmel, arrived in Erinsborough to help her amnesiac sister, Penny was nervous. However, after a shaky start, Penny and Carmel became good friends. However, they saw an opportunity to wind Darcy up and before Carmel left town, they played a joke on him, pretending to hate each other.

While Penny was talking of marriage, Darcy met a girl in the pub, Sindi, who he had an instant rapport with. On their first meeting, she kissed him, so he was shocked when he found out she was Penny's sister. After Penny's talk of marriage, Darcy decided to publicly prove his love by arriving at Lassiter's on a horse-drawn carriage and declaring his love. Penny, however, was expecting a proposal and stormed off. Meanwhile, Sindi realised the potential of the situation she was in and blackmailed Darcy. After meeting him at the hospital and getting more money, Sindi gave Darcy a kiss, unaware that Penny had witnessed the whole thing. Things got worse for Darcy when a hurt Penny reported to the medical board that he had taken advantage of her, leading to an investigation. Darcy was punished by being given a chaperone whenever he was with a female patient - and Dee was happy to oblige. He was also humiliated when the whole affair was reported in the Erinsborough News under the headline ‘Local Doctor Disgraced'.

Darcy was once again on hand when hotel owner Chloe Lambert suffered an asthma attack outside the coffee shop. He took her into the surgery and she invited him to the theatre to see The Graduate, the irony of which was lost on Darcy, who didn't know the plot of the play. Chloe was grateful for the company and she gave him a watch. This led to a great deal of gossip in Erinsborough. Darcy was shocked when Chloe broke down in tears and revealed that her husband, John, wanted a divorce. Darcy could see the benefits of having Chloe as a close friend, particularly when he got to meet Martin Cook, an influential surgeon. However, at one of Chloe's parties, Darcy noticed Chloe looking very pleased with herself infront of her friends and realised he was being paraded as a toyboy. After a chat, they managed to work things out and decided to ignore the gossips. However, when the Lambert mansion was robbed, Chloe asked Darcy to stay with her. Darcy agreed, despite the look of disgust on Jordan Lambert's face when she came home and met her mother's younger man. The next evening, the mansion was robbed again and Darcy and Chloe spent the night tied together, only being freed when the cleaner arrived the next morning.

Chloe decided that she didn't want Darcy's friendship anymore, especially after Jordan's reaction and she disappeared to her beach house. Darcy followed her and declared that he wanted to take things further with her and she at first refused, but eventually agreed to a secret affair. Unfortunately, they were photographed while at their secret retreat and the story appeared in the gossip column of the Erinsborough News. Jordan also returned to town, determined to end the relationship between her mother and Darcy.

First Darcy's car windows got smashed, then he was beaten up in Lassiters car park. When Darcy suspected Jordan, Chloe was horrified and refused to listen. But when Jordan came to the hospital and admitted that she'd hired someone to teach Darcy a lesson, both Darcy and Chloe were forced to reassess their relationship.

While still in hospital after the attack, Darcy overheard a conversation between Dee and Martin Cook, or Cookie. He offered to help Dee with her harassment case and asked her to trust him. Darcy continued to act as a friend to Cookie and they went to The Delphium Club together for Darcy's enrolement. After a while, Darcy turned the conversation to Dee and managed to get Cookie to admit to everything. He threatened to tell Cookie's wife unless he retracted his statement. Dee was thrilled and Darcy finally managed to repair a little of the damage from his affair with Tess.

Chloe, however, was horrified with Darcy's actions. She didn't see the point in losing an important ally like Cookie for a girl like Dee. Later, she arrived at Ben's first birthday party and witnessed Darcy holding baby Ben. She arranged to meet Darcy where she told him it was over between them ' she'd noticed how much he loved being around children and she couldn't give him any. Plus, she'd noticed that Darcy felt much more than just friendship towards Dee. Darcy realised this was true, and at Susan and Karl's wedding, he told his aunt that his biggest regret was letting Dee slip away.

Darcy decided to make it his mission to win Dee back. After winning back her trust by getting rid of Cookie, Darcy learned that Toadie had been invited to a 'Rebecchi Round-Up' family reunion. He engineered things so that Dee would have to stay in Erinsborough during the reunion then managed to talk her into dinner at his place. He made sure to swap all his action movies for romance and his dirty jocks for scatter cushions, and Dee was suitably impressed. After dinner and a movie, she fell asleep on his couch. The next morning, she walked in on him naked in the bathroom, something which Darcy was not in the least embarassed about.

He then offered to take her to Toadie's reunion at Colac as he was heading down that way to visit an old friend. She agreed, but the car mysteriously 'broke down' in a small town and they had to stay in a motel. Darcy had bribed the owner in advance, making sure they ended up with what was supposedly the only room left - a double. Darcy slept on the sofa, although his tossing and turning led to Dee offering him the bed - he was thrilled, until she got out and slept on the sofa.

Upon their return to Erinsborough, cracks were showing between Dee and Toadie and Darcy quickly picked up on this. He 'accidentally' mentioned a letter from the motel, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Tyler. He let slip that they had shared a room, which caused tension for Dee and Toadie, but Darcy failed to cause more than a heated row between them. However, after giving Dee a lift home one night, he had a snoop through a box of her old stuff that had been sent up from Tasmania. He was shocked to find a wedding certificate with Dee's name on it and so he began a new phase of his plan - tracking down her mysterious husband.

After finding the mysterious Darren Turner, Darcy phoned him, explaining that Darren had won a competition - and the prize was two tickets to the Erinsborough Charity Ball. Having made sure that Darren, Toadie and Dee were all at the ball, Darcy set about introducing Dee to her ex-husband and watching as the fall-out began. When Darcy deliberately probed Darren for information on his and Dee's past together, Darren revealed that they'd been married. Darcy watched the relationship between Toadie and Dee fall apart. Both of them came to him for advice and he easily managed to convince Toadie that Dee was not to be trusted - even saying that Dee had not been entirely blameless during his affair with Tess.

Dee decided to move out after catching Toadie reading her diary and Darcy was quick to offer her a place to stay. He made sure that both Toadie and Dee were reliant on him for support and information. When he bumped into Sindi Watts, the sister of his ex-girlfriend Penny, in the Coffee Shop, a new phase of his plan came into play. Convincing Libby to bring Dee down to the pub that evening, he paid Sindi to flirt with Toadie. The first thing Dee saw as she walked in was Toadie and Sindi fawning all over each other. Darcy was not so pleased when Sindi begged him for Toadie's number, having actually fallen for him. At first Darcy refused, but when Sindi reminded him that she knew about his plans to keep Dee and Toadie apart, he quickly agreed.

Darcy, meanwhile, had been accepted into the prestigious Aurora Club and took Dee along for his first night. As Darcy got more involved with the club, he found himself losing money at poker. Meanwhile, Sindi was also worried that she was losing Toadie and demanded information from Darcy on Toadie's likes and dislikes. Darcy's taste for poker also began to get the better of him - having arranged a game at his home, he was shocked when the evening left him owing $10,000 to James Atkinson. The next day, Darcy admitted the truth to Dee and wondered how he was going to raise that sort of cash.

After attempting to kiss Dee, telling her he wanted them to give their relationship another go, she fled to Tasmania, to try and think things over. Another card game left Darcy $60,000 in debt and, unsure of what to do, he decided to follow Dee, hoping that James would be unable to find him there. Dee was shocked when Darcy turned up, but soon felt sorry for him and agreed to him staying for a while. Upon their return to Erinsborough, Darcy was desperate to raise the money he needed, and so he stole $2000 takings from the pub when Lou's back was turned. However, it still wasn't enough.

When Darcy learnt that his aunt and uncle had inherited some extremely valuable jewellery from an elderly aunt, he realised it could be the answer to all his problems. Staging the incident to look like a break-in, Darcy found the jewels hidden in the fridge and made his getaway. Unfortunately, he hadn't bet on Lyn Scully coming to investigate the sound of breaking glass, and he knocked her down the back steps as he escaped. In a surprising twist, Darcy then signed on for his shift at the hospital and found himself treating the pregnant lady. Luckily, she couldn't remember the person who had injured her, and Darcy managed to pay off his debts. The police quickly found another suspect in Harold's ladyfriend, Ruby Dwyer.

Amidst all this, Dee told Darcy that she would like to give their relationship another try and they arranged to have dinner together. Little did Darcy realise that Susan's wedding ring, something he'd grabbed during the robbery and hid in a plant pot, had been moved and Dee had found it. Lyn's memory also suddenly came flooding back when she bumped into Darcy one day, but Susan found it difficult to believe that her nephew would ever do such a thing. However, Dee's discovery of the ring had sealed Darcy's fate as she contacted the police and he was taken away, and later imprisoned for the crime. His parting shot was to tell Dee and Toadie that he'd orchestrated their entire break-up, but they got their own back by reuniting and getting engaged the next day.

Darcy was later given a reasonably light sentence of 18 months in prison, after Susan found it difficult to produce a scathing character reference for her nephew. After serving a year in prison, Darcy was surprised to be joined by one of his old neighbours, Lou Carpenter. Darcy’s time behind bars had made him even more cunning, but it had also helped him to realise how much he’d hurt his loved ones. When a chance for day release came up, Darcy knew that he needed a sponsor who was not only an upstanding member of the community, but also a victim of his crimes. Lou managed to convince Susan to visit Darcy, but when she realised why he’d asked to see her, she remained unconvinced. A desperate Darcy asked Lou to be his sponsor, but Lou’s time in prison went against him. At the last minute, Susan arrived to help her nephew.

Darcy began work as an orderly at Erinsborough Hospital. He had recently learnt of Karl and Susan’s separation, and so he quickly became suspicious of Karl’s new girlfriend, Izzy Hoyland. When Darcy saw Izzy at the hospital, he approached her and commented on how similar they were, leaving Izzy shaken. When he later saw Izzy leaving an appointment in the maternity ward, he managed to get into the office and sneak a look at her records. When he spotted that the father of her unborn baby was ‘unknown’, he grabbed his chance. He contacted Izzy and told her that he knew the truth. They then met up in a stairwell at the hospital, where he told her that this was his opportunity to make up for what he’d done to the Kennedys, and he wasn’t about to let it go. Izzy pleaded with him, even offering him money to keep his mouth shut, but he refused to listen, and warned her to leave town. As fate would have it, he slipped as he was going down the stairs, banging his head on the way down. Izzy had been on the way to get some jewellery cleaned, so she planted this in his pocket, before doing a runner. She then made her and Karl’s flat look like it had been burgled. Darcy was found by an old lady, Rose Belker, who alerted the police. Susan was especially devastated, as Darcy took Izzy’s secret with him into a coma, leaving everyone believing that he had returned to his old ways. After a few days at Erinsborough Hospital, he was transferred to a hospital closer to his mother, with little hope of him recovering.

Having been transferred back to Erinsborough Hospital, and comatose for almost a year, Darcy shocked everyone, not least Izzy, when he suddenly awoke. At first, he claimed not to have any memory of what had put him in hospital, and he passed a police polygraph test to back this up. Izzy was thrilled with this news, believing that she was finally in the clear. Darcy, however, had another trick up his sleeve as he told her that he remembered her secret and her pushing him down the stairs, and he demanded $70,000 for his silence. Izzy knew that she had no other choice if she wanted to prevent Karl and her family finding out the truth about her baby. But once she’d given Darcy the money he wanted, he continued to demand more - $200 a week, plus some alone time for just the two of them. Although she was willing to pay for Darcy’s silence, Izzy wasn’t about to prostitute herself and she considered hiring a hitman to get rid of her blackmailer once and for all.

When that plan failed, Izzy began to panic, particularly as she was called as a witness at Darcy’s trial. He made it clear that she was going to be the key to him going free and that, if he went back to jail, he’d be forced to reveal the truth. Darcy found a lawyer in the form of old enemy Toadie, whose motives were to further his own legal career. On the morning of the trial, Darcy woke up on a ward next to Paul Robinson, another local villain and close confidante of Izzy’s, who’d been hospitalised after double-crossing some local heavies. Paul congratulated Darcy on getting one over on Izzy, but also warned him about her plan with the hitman, making it clear that Izzy was prepared to stoop to any level. In court, Izzy said that she felt that Darcy had served his time and should not be punished further for robbing her flat, leading to him receiving a 12-month good behaviour bond from the judge.

Darcy then announced to Izzy that he would be leaving town the next day and considered that any debt she owed him was wiped clean. But Darcy had one more shock in store as he left town. Since he awoke from his coma, Darcy’s one goal had been to see Karl and Susan back together and so, as he said goodbye to Susan one last time, he also left her a letter. The letter explained all about Izzy’s lies concerning her baby. As Susan read the letter in shock, Darcy bumped into Karl as he went to board his bus. He warned Karl that there was still a negative influence in his life and one day soon, he would be relying on Susan, before boarding a bus and leaving Erinsborough once more.

Trivia Notes
• Credited as Foster Rafferty in his first appearances, the actor then became Mark Rafferty, before finally settling on Mark Raffety for the majority of his run
• During Mark's 2004 run on the show, after the character fell into a coma, he still featured for a couple of weeks, as Izzy began having nightmares about him

Tenure
3663-4267, 4526-4597, 4747-4762