| Martin Dibble | |||||||||||
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| Home and Away character | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Craig Thomson | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1988–90, 2000, 2002 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 17 January 1988 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 29 May 2002 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Alan Bateman (1988) John Holmes (2000) Julie McGuaran (2002) | ||||||||||
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Martin Dibble is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, played by Craig Thomson. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 17 January 1988, during the show's pilot episode. Martin is characterised as an idle and concoctor of schemes that are always unsuccessful. Thomson has described him numerous times as a "yobbo" or a "yob". Writers often used Martin for comic relief in between the show's more serious stories. They also created an on-screen partnership between him and Lance Smart (Peter Vroom). Together they were the show's "larrikins" with over-the-top personalities.
The character was written out of the series by executive producer Andrew Howie. He decided to focus on new characters and change the show's stories. Thomson was delighted to leave and claimed the decision was mutual. Thomson departed during the episode broadcast on 3 April 1990. Thomson enjoyed his first year in the role but grew to dislike the experience during his second. He has since stated that the show changed until he grew to dislike it. He also believed that writers had run out of stories for Martin. Thomson played the role of Martin in the 1991 stage show, Home and Away: The Musical. Thomson returned to film a guest appearance, in which Martin attends his friend Sally Fletcher's (Kate Ritchie) wedding. In 2002, he returned once again to celebrate Summer Bay's fictional "150 year anniversary". Television critics have ridiculed the character for his lack of intelligence.