| Tug O'Neale | |||||||||||
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| Home and Away character | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Tristan Bancks | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1992–1994 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 20 May 1992 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 7 September 1994 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Des Monaghan | ||||||||||
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Peter "Tug" O'Neale is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Tristan Bancks. The actor was selected from 200 people who had auditioned for the role and was contracted to appear for one month.[1] Bancks soon joined the regular cast and Tug became a prominent character. Tug fills the role of the villain and is characterised by his "hardened, streetwise tough kid" image. The serial created a backstory consisting of a mother who abandoned him and an alcoholic father. Bancks has credited Tug's troubled childhood as the reason viewers were able to relate to him.
Tug's storylines include bullying Damian Roberts (Matt Doran), behavioural issues, a feud with Shane Parrish (Dieter Brummer), relationships with Sarah Thompson (Laura Vasquez) and his school teacher Beth Armstrong (Toni Pearen). The character has also been used to portray a suicide attempt. After a series of misdemeanours Tug instigates a car crash to end his life. Bancks researched the issue to help him play the scenes and subsequently felt depressed. In 1994, Bancks left Home and Away to pursue other projects. He believed that Tug no longer had material to play because he had used up "so many complicated storylines". Tug left the series in September that year.
The character has been positively received by critics and viewers alike. Josephine Monroe writing for the TVTimes opined that Tug was "generally humiliated" throughout his tenure. Lisa Anthony from BIG! stated that Tug changed from "horrible" to "sloppy" through his romance with Sarah. Melissa Field said that Tug is always grumpy. Woman's Own reporter Mary Fletcher named him one of the show's "most interesting residents".