Tom Nash (Home & Away character)

Thomas "Tom" Nash is a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Portrayed by actor Graeme Squires, he was a regular on the show from 1998 to 2000. He later had two stints on the show during 2001 making guest appearances.

Character history
Tom arrived in Summer Bay in early 1998 with his father Joel, mother Natalie and younger sister Gypsy. Neither Tom nor Gypsy was aware that they had family in the area and on catching a strange man helping Gypsy to her feet after a rollerblading accident enquired if he was the local pervert...only to be informed by Joel he was their uncle Travis. Not long after, Tom and Gypsy got the full story that Joel had left town after his father had abused Natalie.

Possibly as a result of this, when Tim Connor began spreading rumours that Travis also liked young girls, Tom seemed ready to believe him, especially when he saw Travis playing with his foster daughters Tiegan Brook and Justine Welles. He was quickly convinced that Tim was lying and got on well with Travis, helping him out on his boat.

Tom seemed destined to have a poor romantic track record. When a new girl, Leila, arrived in town, he and Aaron Welles both competed for her affection. Leila then got Joey Rainbow to arrange a competition between the pair before revealing she wasn't interested in either of them. He was also interested in Justine and tried to win her from her boyfriend Vinnie Patterson, including challenging him in an athletics competition but was left humiliated when he fell over within sight of the finishing line and Vinnie had to help him to his feet. Finally, Tom, Joey and Aaron formed a band and hired Vinnie as manager, only for him to dub them the Chick Magnets. Tom got on well with Sugar, who with her twin sister was the trio's only groupie, only to have her make it clear she didn't want a relationship.

Then Tom met older woman Terri Garner. He was initially unaware she was a policewoman and colleague of his father and managed to convince her he was a twenty-one-year-old college student, until Joel caught them on a date together. Although she still had feelings for him, Terri broke it off. Tom turned his attention back to Justine and sent her a love poem but was upset to hear her telling his aunt Rebecca she thought he was too young for her.

Tom was suspicious of Gypsy's new tutor Robert Perez and teamed up with Will Smith to uncover the fact he was actually career criminal David DiAngelo, after revenge on Joel. He was too late to stop DiAngelo kidnapping Gypsy but helped with her rescue by decoding a message Gypsy sent them. He was present when DiAngelo set fire to their house and completely failed to prevent him kidnapping Natalie or to persuade Gypsy to leave the burning building (Travis rescued her). Once the ordeal was over, Tom and his family moved in with Travis and Rebecca.

Tom was persuaded to join the local cricket team and was surprised when Justine suddenly showed an interest in him. Wanting a place where they could have privacy, Tom made trouble around the house and persuaded his parents to let him move into a caravan. He then had to cope with Gypsy's alcohol problems when she started using it as a place to drink.

When Terri returned to town, Tom was quick to declare his interest in her, even though he was still going out with Justine. When Joel and Natalie made their disapproval clear, Tom moved in with Terri but neither of them fitted in with the other's social circle and they soon split.

Not long after Tom had moved back to his caravan, Justine was falsely accused of killing a child she had been babysitting. Tom was a great support to her and they started dating again. He bought a motorbike and got an unwitting Jesse McGregor to hide it for him, using it to take Justine out. He still found things stressful and made arrangements to meet a girl he'd spoken to on the internet-only to discover to their mutual horror that it was Gypsy. He was a character witness at Justine's trial but was forced to admit Justine had hit him when he cheated on her. Fortunately, she was soon released.

With Tom and Justine graduating from school, she made arrangements to go to drama school in the city and their relationship came to a natural end. Tom sold his motorbike and bought a car only to have Joel trash it when he used it in a police chase. Feeling uncomfortable at home, he moved in with Vinnie and Sally Fletcher.

While Sally was away, Vinnie and Tom took in a hitchhiker, Leah Poulos. They were worried when a policeman turned up looking for her only to find he was her fiancé and she'd run away from her wedding. Tom was interested in Leah but when he realised she only had eyes for Vinnie he backed off. He got a job with Alf Stewart as a deck hand but after he and Gypsy took the boat out without Alf's permission for rich boy Charlie Nicholas' birthday party Alf fired him.

Repeating the trick with Leah, Tom gave a spare room at the house to English backpacker Gilly Austen and then agreed to marry her so she could stay in the country. However, when he found out she was still sleeping with her old boyfriend he dropped her, even though she claimed to genuinely love him. It was perhaps unfortunate that it came to light around the same time that Natalie had cheated on Joel (and Gypsy on Will) and Tom, who had always been close to Natalie, had a hard time forgiving them. When Natalie left, Tom felt lost in the Bay and left to go travelling, leaving only a note for Joel and Gypsy.

He later got in contact with Natalie off screen and was present when she gave birth to her son Connor. He returned to Summer Bay twice in 2001, the first time as best man at Vinnie and Leah's wedding. He returned the second time when Gypsy fell pregnant and, like Sally, quickly realised Will was the father but accepted it was up to Gypsy whether to tell him. He had a brief fling with Sally but didn't feel like settling back in the Bay so left to go travelling again.