| Darryl Neilson | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Mark Ferguson | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1992–1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 2 June 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 24 March 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; recurring | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Caterina De Nave (1992) Brian Lennane (1993) Tony Holden (1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Darryl Neilson is a fictional character in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Appearing sporadically, Darryl made several recurring appearance from 1992 to the character's death in 1995. He was portrayed by Mark Ferguson.
A character that fans "loved to hate", Darryl was introduced as the antagonistic son of receptionist Marj Neilson (Elizabeth McRae) and paramedic Tom Neilson (Adrian Keeling). Utilised in the soap as a means to develop the character of Marj, Darryl was involved in numerous high-profile story lines. These included attempting to rape Kirsty Knight (Angela Dotchin), drugging Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) so that he missed his wedding day, faking the abduction of his own children, distributing dodgy drugs, stealing Grace Kwan's (Lynette Forday) egg cells and eventually drowning after attempting to murder Kirsty. Darryl's personality was seen as manipulative, egotistical and destructive. However, it has been noted that his saving grace was his "love for his mum".