Ric Dalby

Eric "Ric" Dalby is a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away, portrayed by actor Mark Furze since September 2004.

Alf's long-lost grandson
When Ric’s mother died, his father Owen turned to alcohol as a means of dealing with his grief. His drunken aggression was taken out on Ric. For years, Ric was subjected to both physical and emotional abuse from his father.

Although he grew up terrified of his father, Ric himself took great pleasure in bullying other students at school. Ric was unpopular at Yabbie Creek High School and was eventually expelled. Barry Hyde (Ivar Kants), the principal of Summer Bay High, was keen to have a strong swimmer for the school’s swim team, so Ric became a student at Summer Bay High.

Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), who had always clashed with Ric, was amazed to discover that the Ric was his grandson. He tried to reach out to Ric, who resisted at first, but Matilda Hunter (Indiana Evans) developed a friendship with him and convinced him that Alf was the only family he had left. Ric then accepted Alf as his grandfather, but preferred to live with Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) and Flynn Saunders (Joel McIlroy) as a family.

Following Flynn's death, Ric was expelled from Summer Bay High after it was discovered that he had bought and used a stolen exam paper to get through his exams. Although a place was found for him at another school, Ric decided to leave full-time education altogether, despite the family's disappointment. When Ric began an apprenticeship with a car mechanic firm, he was subjected to extremely nasty workplace bullying from Dominic, one of his co-workers and the nephew of Ric's boss, Ray. Dominic played a variety of nasty practical jokes on Ric – such as pouring battery acid over his legs, for example – and it was only after after Dominic's latest prank went badly wrong, resulting in a car held up on a faulty jack falling on top of Ric and his being admitted to hospital with potentially serious crush injuries, that Ray decided enough was enough, and finally sacked the bullying mechanic. Ric's only concern now is keeping his new girlfriend Matilda’s mother, Beth (Clarissa House) happy.

In February 2007, Rocco Cooper ran into hiding after revealing he was the attacker of Sally Fletcher. He was discovered on the scene when Rocco was found seriously injured. Rocco later died in hospital, and Ric was the prime suspect. Ric was found guilty by the jury of Rocco's murder and sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment, but was later released after evidence revealing that one of Johnny's gang members killed Rocco. He is currently dating Matilda Hunter.