Duncan Stewart

Duncan Stewart is Alf Stewart's son from his marriage to Ailsa Stewart. He first appeared on Home and Away as a newborn baby and has been played by a number of actors. He was played by Allana Ellis (1989-1990), Lewis Devaney from (1990-1998), Brendan McKensy (1998-2005), and by Benedict Wall in 2016. Duncan is notable for having undergone SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome). His original 1989 birth date was later pushed back to 1986.

Biography[]

Duncan Stewart
Character Profile
Birthday:	14th June 1989
Birthplace:	Summer Bay
Father:	Alf Stewart
Mother:	Ailsa Stewart
Siblings:	Owen Dalby Roo Stewart Quinn Jackson Shauna Bradley (all half)
Spouse:	Caroline Stewart (2009-2018)
Children:	Bryce Stewart (2012)
Occupation:	Pilot
Played By:	Allana Ellis (1989-1990) Lewis Devaney (1990-1998) Brendan McKensy (1998-2005) Benedict Wall (2016)

Early Life[]

Duncan was born on 14th June 1986 (originally 14th June 1989) to Alf and Ailsa Stewart. After Duncan's birth, Ailsa suffered from severe post-natal depression and almost smothered him with a pillow. He also suffered an allergic reaction to the Stewart family christening gown and had to be hospitalised. He was friends with Christopher Fletcher who had been born some months earlier. At home, he lived with his parents and a series of foster siblings and other lodgers. These included Emma Jackson, Blake and Karen Dean, Simon Fitzgerald, Roxanne Miller, Curtis Reed and Sarah Thompson, Mitch McColl and Aaron Welles. In the early years, Duncan was a recurring minor character with few lines. Lewis Devaney played the role from 1990 until 1998.

1998-2001[]

Duncan bomb — Duncan makes a bomb (yes, really)

Duncan was recast, with Brendan McKensey taking over the character. Duncan the character (not Brendan himself lol) underwent SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome) and his date of birth was put back to 1986. This meant that more mature storylines could be written for Duncan. After suffering a bad fall and sustaining a head injury, Duncan was hospitalised for several months. When he returned home, his personality had changed drastically. He became a troublemaker and in one particularly dramatic incident, he made a home-made bomb using instructions he'd found online. Alf accidentally detonated the bomb and luckily, only suffered burns. After this, the family attended counselling mediated by Natalie Nash.

Duncan befriended Mitch McColl who was a homeless teen. Alf and Ailsa let him stay in their home and they became close friends. He later became good friends with Nick Smith. Later on, he dated Jade and Kirsty Sutherland.

His mother Ailsa died from a heart attack in 2000 and this sent Duncan into a downward spiral. His relationship with Alf suffered and he alienated his friends. His girlfriend Jade broke up with him. When he found out that Jade was now dating David Barclay, he tried to set up a bomb in his letterbox. This didn't work out well. He also stole from the Diner and destroyed Nick Smith's games console. When Duncan's aunt Morag came to visit, she saw how unhappy he was. He moved away to live with her in 2001.

2004-2005[]

Duncan returned in 2004. It soon became evident that his time away from Summer Bay hadn't improved his personality. Can we take it as read that living with Morag was never going to fix him? He had also developed a drugs habit in the meantime. Although Jade had moved on and was now dating Seb Miller, they began to hang around and got high on bulbs. After a party, Duncan stole Robbie Hunter's car and took part in a drag race against Jade. He was arrested but managed to avoid getting into trouble thanks to Morag.

Alf and Morag tried to help Duncan by sending him back to school. To nobody's surprise really, he continued to cause nothing but trouble. After pulling a gun on Kim Hyde and Robbie Hunter, he moved to New York to stay with his half-sister Roo. Roo was badly injured in a car crash in the USA and Alf flew out to join her and Duncan.

In 2005 Duncan returned to Summer Bay for Alf's 60th birthday celebrations. He apologised to Seb for the hassle he'd caused but Alf was reluctant to engage with him. Duncan left the party early, taking a bottle of wine with him. When Chloe Richards, who'd also been at the party, was killed in a car crash on her way home, Alf accused Duncan of causing it. He was soon cleared by Detective Peter Baker, who revealed that the paint on Chloe's car didn't match the paint on the one he had been driving. Duncan had a heart to heart with Alf and he revealed that Roo's car accident had made him realise what a jerk he had been. They agreed to let bygones be bygones relationship and Duncan returned to the United States.

A few years later Alf flew to the United States for Duncan's wedding. He and Duncan fell out over his new wife Caroline and they barely spoke after this. Roo later contacted Duncan to tell him that Alf had had a stroke and had removed him from his will.

2016[]

Duncan returned in 2016, this time played by Benedict Wall. As well as visiting Roo, Duncan hoped to yet again try to patch things up with his father. At first Alf didn't even want to talk to him but eventually they reached a truce. For about 5 minutes, that is! When Duncan told Alf that he had a 5 year old son called Bryce, he got annoyed all over again for not telling him. And when Duncan mentioned Alfs's will (yeah, the one he'd been written out of), he was thrown out of the house. When things cooled down, Duncan explained that he had his wife Caroline had divorced because she had been having an affair. He was now living with Bryce in Hawaii and felt ashamed that his marriage had ended.

Duncan had qualified as a pilot during his time in the United States and when his friend Tori Morgan turned 30, he offered to fly her and some of her friends to a vineyard as a treat. The day didn't go to plan when there was a carbon monoxide leak in their plane. It crashed but luckily everybody survived. Duncan later returned to Hawaii to be with his ex-wife Caroline when she was injured. She died in 2018 and Alf and Roo flew to attend her funeral.

Memorable info[]

Birthday: June 14 1989, later altered to June 14, 1986.

Full Name: Duncan Stewart

Last line: "See you soon." (to Tori)

Trivia[]

Duncan was the third baby born on Home and Away. The other two were Christopher Fletcher and Martha MacKenzie (originally Stewart) in 1988.
To give all three of these characters more adult storylines afterwards, their years of birth were later moved backwards. This is known as SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome). Duncan's year of birth shifted from 1989 to 1986. Martha and Chris became 1987 babies.