Dodge in 1995
Dodge was a guest character in 1989 and again in 1995. As well as being one of Pippa Fletcher's few fostering failures, he is one of the most memorable bad guys from the show's early years. Dodge was played by Kelly Dingwall (later known as Kelly Dale).
Backstory[]
Brian Roger Forbes was in 1970/71 into a stable, well-off family. Little is known of his early life, other than that there was no obvious reason why Brian might turn to a life of crime. However he did, and along the way he assumed the identity of Brian Knight, a real person with real problems. He preferred to be known by his nickname Dodge.
1989[]
Dodge first appeared in the Bay in Episode 287 when he shopped at Celia's store and claimed he didn't have the money to pay for food. Celia let him off. He then went on to steal money from the Diner and tried to steal Lance Smart's car. Lance caught him in the act but was taken in by Dodge's broke and homeless sob story. Lance, who had fallen out with his best friend Martin Dibble and was feeling forlorn, took pity on him. He let him stay at his home but Dodge repaid his generosity by stealing money from him. Dodgy also tried to steal from the school dance but that didn't work out.
Dodge stole Dr Philip Matheson's medical bag for the pills inside but was caught out by Celia. She had him handed over to the police. In revenge, Dodge snuck out of the detention centre where he was being held and firebombed Celia's store with a Molotov cocktail. He returned to the detention centre unnoticed. What he didn't know was that his fire had also claimed the life of Philip Matheson, who had been asleep in the flat behind the shop.
Shortly afterwards Dodge was fostered by Tom and Pippa Fletcher. In a pattern that would repeat itself in the years to come, Pippa decided to foster someone without clearing it with her husband. Tom was furious that Pippa had gone over his head but was left with no choice to go along with the fostering; Dodge arrived at Summer Bay House minutes after he found out that they would be getting a new resident.
Dodge quickly befriended his foster brother Steven Matheson, who happened to be Philip Matheson's nephew. Steven was grieving the loss of his uncle Philip and had concluded that Roo Stewart's new boyfriend Simon had burned down Celia's store. Simon had a record of arson, which was music to Dodge's ears. Keen to deflect suspicion and to endear himself to Steven, Dodge encouraged him in his vendetta and persuaded Steven to frame Simon. His plan was that they'd burn down Morag Bellingham's mansion and leave Simon's gold chain (stolen by Dodge) at the scene. The two went to the cinema with Dodge quietly leaving so he'd have an alibi . Dodge poured gasoline through the mansion but was stopped by Steven who'd had second thoughts about actually burning the house down. Dodge agreed to leave it, since the gasoline would be enough to scare Morag. He dropped Simon's chain at the site and the ruse worked. The police arrested Simon who fled town rather than return to prison. This convinced most of the residents that Simon had burned down the store, leaving Dodge completely off the hook.
Dodge was welcomed into the Fletcher family and even made it into a family photo. Although the rest of the family were friendly, Sally took an instant dislike to him. The first time they'd met, Dodge had stolen a lollipop from her, and having him around made Sally uneasy. Dodge may have been taken into the Fletchers but this did little to settle him. At school, he began to work as a loan shark and would steal items from the other kids when they couldn't pay their money back. This earned him a beating when several of his victims teamed up. Bobby and Stacey became concerned about the influence that Dodge was exerting on Steven. Tom and Pippa weren't worried because they were glad that Steven appeared to be moving on after Philip's death and had made a new friend.
Dodge had spent most of his life in the city and was desperate to return there. He decided to take Steven there for a visit and to expose him to the fun the place had to offer. After lying to Tom and Pippa about going on a camping trip, the two caught a bus to the city. Dodge took Steven to a strip club and arranged some 'after hours' fun with one of his friends. After that, they stole a car to get them to the location where they'd arranged to meet Tom.
A couple of weeks later, Tom and Alf Stewart went missing while on a fishing trip. As a huge search operation got underway, Dodge took advantage of the distraction to rob the Bayside Diner and Alf's liquor store. Between Dodge's presence and Tom's disappearance, Sally felt very unsettled and started talking to her imaginary friend Milco again. Although Tom was soon found, Dodge and Sally's feud intensified to the point where she ripped the patches off Dodge's jacket and blamed Milco. Dodge was furious to the point where he was ready to hit Sally, only to be stopped by Pippa. Dodge then decided to take care of Milco, and told Sally that Milco didn't want to spend time with her anymore. Dodge drove Sally to tears pretending that Milco was now his friend and forced her to admit that Milco wasn't real. Tom and Pippa were very unhappy at Dodge's harsh methods, although they had to concede that he'd got the job done.
Dodge decided to take Steven on another 'camping' trip but was put out when Tom decided to tag along. While walking along the bush, Dodge failed to see a large drop and fell, getting his foot caught in a rock. Tom, despite still being injured from the fishing trip, lowered himself down the rock face and pulled Dodge back up. Dodge was genuinely grateful towards Tom, but was happier when this made Tom decide he wasn't well enough to camp and headed home.
Dodge and Steven quickly headed to the city to make the most of the time they had left and met a runaway named Viv Newton who had escaped her abusive father. Dodge, who was attracted to Viv, promised to help her and took her back to Summer Bay where he claimed she was Lance's cousin. The lie was quickly found out however which also led to Tom and Pippa discovering the true nature of the camping weekends. Worried that he might get kicked out of the house and returned to the detention centre, Dodge offered to leave. This worked and Tom, who had been thinking about it, allowed him a reprieve. Dodge then stole a car with Viv only to end up crashing it. When the police came round to speak to Dodge about it, Steven claimed that he'd stolen it. He was worried that if Dodge was arrested he'd lose his new best friend. Tom and Pippa, finally realising just what a bad influence Dodge was on Steven, ordered the two to sleep in separate bedrooms. Dodge earned himself some brownie points when he saved Sally from drowning on the beach. He decided to take advantage of this to admit to stealing the car to get Steven off the hook and to further convince Tom and Pippa that he wanted to be part of the family.
Dodge and Sally's enmity continued to fester to the point where he even threatened to kill Dag Dog. Later he employed her as part of his child staff to clean Morag's garden. However when Sally found out how much of a percentage of the fee Dodge was keeping for himself, she led her fellow workers in a strike. When Tom and Pippa sided with Dodge on the basis she'd already agreed to work the lower rate, Sally was so upset that she decided she didn't want to live with the Fletchers anymore. When Pippa saw that Sally was ready to call the department so she could ask to be rehomed, the penny dropped. Pippa finally realised how unhappy Sally had been recently and how much disorder Dodge had brought to the family. She decided to kick him out, out refusing to even have a family meeting about it (since she blamed herself for Dodge being there in the first place). When Tom defended Dodge and made Sally even more upset, he and Pippa realised how unsafe she felt and offered to adopt her. Sally happily agreed, and even said Dodge could remain although she maintained she would never like him. Although she had been convinced to keep him on, Pippa was still uneasy about having Dodge live with them and couldn't shake the feeling she'd made a huge mistake agreeing to let him move in in the first place.
Sally and Dodge called a truce. However Dodge, knowing he was on wafer-thin ice with Tom and Pippa, decided to organise a surprise anniversary party for Tom and Pippa at the diner. At this point, things seemed to be plain sailing for Dodge. However, a couple of nights later he got really drunk and admitted to new school caretaker Adam Cameron that he was the one who had torched Celia's store. The next day, Dodge realised what he said and tried to get Adam out of the way by stealing the school's VCR with a view to framing him for the crime. Donald Fisher caught him in the act and almost called the police on the spot. He agreed to talk to Pippa first but to Dodge's horror, Pippa declared that she'd had enough. She allowed Donald to call the police, causing Dodge to make a run for it. Meanwhile Adam had told Steven that Dodge was the one to start the fire that killed Philip. Filled with rage, Steven tracked Dodge down. He was all set to give him a beating but was talked out of it by Fisher.
Dodge was handed over to the police where the truth about his true identity was revealed. He wasn't Brian Knight, the son of an absent father and an alcoholic mother. Rather, he was a young man called Brian Forbes and he was the son of a well-off couple. He had had a stable, loving upbringing and there was no obvious reason for his awful behaviour. Dodge was nothing more than a petty thug who caused trouble for the sheer pleasure of it. With his alibi for the fire disproven, Dodge was quickly charged and eventually sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter and theft. Pippa ripped up the family photo with Dodge in it and burnt his possessions. She felt really guilty over having ever let him into the house. Steven and Sally, wanting to make her feel better, painted his bedroom to get rid of the smell and to allow them to make a fresh start.
1995[]
In September 1995, Dodge was given parole and made a surprise return to Summer Bay. By now, Tom had died and Pippa had remarried. And so, when her husband Michael rented him a caravan in the caravan park, he had no idea who he was. When Pippa and Steven found out later in the day, they were horrified but there was nothing they could do to make him leave.
It quickly transpired that Dodge had returned to town to get revenge on Steven for his part in his jailing. He certainly succeeded in causing him trouble, even going as far as faking his own death so he could frame Stevo for murder.
Philip wasn't the only person Dodge had killed. Shortly before he reappeared in Summer Bay, Irene Roberts's unpleasant ex-husband Murdoch (Mud) had been found murdered in the bush. It was later revealed that Dodge was the person who had killed him. While in prison, he had shared a cell with Irene and Mud's eldest son Nathan. After learning about Mud's awful recent behaviour towards his mother, Nathan paid Dodge to kill him off. In a fun throwback to Dodge's original stint time in Summer Bay, his girlfriend was Lisa Matthews - a woman who was Vicki Baxter's doppelganger.
In Episode 1806, Dodge and Steve had a showdown on the cliffs. While they were fighting, they rolled off the cliffs and fell several metres into the sea. Stephen survived unhurt and was rescued. Dodge's body was never found and naturally, that begs the question. Is he really dead? Might he turn up again some day?
Memorable info[]
Birthday: About 1971
Died: October 1995 (Body never found, presumed dead, Harold Bishop style lol)
Full Name: Brian Roger Forbes
First Line: "Give us a couple. Bleedin' hell!" (to Sally, as he stole her lollies)
Last Line: "Feelin' lucky, Stevo? Wanna see if we can fly?"
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