Liam Murphy (2009-)
Axle Whitehead
Episodes: 4804, 4838-4865, 4916-4917, 4939-present
Spouse: Wife Chelsea
Children: Son Ash
Occupation: Musician
Liam was the performer at a concert that Annie, Jai, Geoff, Nicole and Belle attended.
He was interviewed after the concert by Belle and was pleased to realise that she was a fan of his music and complimented her. After the interview had wrapped up Liam asked if they were 'off the record' and when Belle confirmed that they were he held out a small bag of drugs and offered her some. Belle rolled in several hours later, clearly trashed after having 'a few drinks with the band'.
Henext turned up when Belle was in rehab after being admitted himself. Belle introduced herself to him and Liam remembered her, beginning a friendship. They were able to support each other through rehab with liam confiding in her about his wife leaving him and banning him from seeing his child. Belle was offered money by her editor to take pictures of Liam but refused. She later did take pictures of him with his son and asked Annie to get them developed as a surprise but the next day they ended up in the paper with a story that she was seeing Liam in rehab. Liam was furious at what he saw as her betrayal and she tried to put things right but Liam did his own digging and found that the boy at the photoshop had confessed to selling her photographs and he and Belle made friends again.
A chat with Liam convinced Belle that she was ready to head home. Within days of her release, Liam turned up in the bay to ask Belle to help him convince his wife to let him see her son. Shortly after another story appeared about Liam and Belle, causing his wife to end things and Liam to lose his recording contract. With nowhere else to go he moved in with Belle but clashed with Aden who thought he was no good for her. He later confided in Belle that his marriage was over and that he wanted a relationship with her but a reluctant Belle asked him to back off. After things went wrong between her and Aden again and she worried Liam had overdosed, Belle agreed to a tentative relationship with him but when she found him on drugs she broke things off. She tried to get him to the hospital but he was spooked by a photographer and ended up on the roof. Aden managed to talk him down and he was taken away in an ambulance as Belle admitted she was still in love with Aden.
Liam turned up at Belle's house a few months later claiming he was off the drugs and wanted to apologise and was shocked to discover from Nicole she was dying. He went to the hospital but left without seeing Belle, feeling he was in the way. He turned up at her funeral on drugs and spent the night with Nicole before disappearing into the night again.
With his marriage over and his career in tatters, Liam decided to move to Summer Bay permanently, hoping being around people who knew him would keep him on the straight and narrow. He bought an old restaurant, planning to convert it, and offered Romeo, who he had given a lift into town, a job there. He tried to build bridges with Aden and Nicole but his and Nicole's first conversation was awkward and when he later tried to talk to Aden and tell him he knew he had to face the consequences of what he'd done, he received a punch for his troubles. He found out that the old restaurant needed a lot more work than he'd expected and told Romeo to take a better job when he was offered one. He and Nicole got on better after she confided in him about Sid and after spending the day together they had an intimate encounter on the beach. He came round to cook her dinner while she was studying and they ended up getting intimate again. She inspired him to write a song and, after she made a joke about him impressing her, he serenaded her with it in the surf club, confirming their status as a couple.
He and Aden tried to make an effort to get on for Nicole's sake but when he failed to set the alarm, causing Nicole to miss the start of one of her exams, Aden persuaded him to break up with her until exams were over. When the break-up seemed to cause Nicole more stress, he agreed they should see each other one night a week. He went to the city for a recording session but after it was cancelled he returned to find Romeo and Xavier using his house for a Halloween party. He realised that Ned Re, a dodgy acquaintance of his, was on drugs and escorted him from the building, then returned to find he had spiked a drink with drugs and caused Romeo to collapse. Aden was disgusted when Liam refused to call an ambulance for him, worried everyone would think he was involved, and persuaded Aden to take him to the hospital instead. Afterwards, he cleared the air with Romeo and Nicole, telling them he was trying to change.
When Liam discovered his new home needed some serious rewiring, he accepted Nicole's offer to move into Roman's old house, even though it meant sharing with Aden. He began giving guitar lessons to try and raise money but felt increasingly frustrated that Nicole wouldn't sleep with him. He arranged a surprise dinner for her to celebrate the end of her exams but instead she spent the evening at the surf club with Aden. After further arguments about the status of their relationship, and Liam clashing with Aden becaise he wouldn't take Nicole to her school formal, Liam told Nicole he loved her but she seemed confused by the declaration and made a hasty exit. On the night of her school formal, he slept with one of his students, Poppie, who he had turned down the previous week, before dashing round to be with Nicole. However, when she found out she broke up with him. After turning down her offer of a repeat performance, Liam threw Poppie out of the house when she turned up with drugs before spending time on the farm with Martha and Bambang. He approached Nicole and asked her to get back with him and even asked Aden for help. When he saw them kissing, he took one of the pills Poppy left behind before checking himself into hospital and calling the police, being charged with drug possession. While high, he briefly met Martha and told her she was beautiful, apologising the next day when he went to see Gina to explain about his lapse. He made his peace with Aden and Nicole but felt like a gooseberry when they tried to spend time together at the house and uncomfortable when Aden asked him for relationship advice so decided to move out.
After he spent a day helping Martha out on the farm in an enthusiastic but not particularly competent manner, she offered to let him move in there, then slept with him. Liam was bemused, especially when she refused to discuss the encounter the next morning, and slightly concerned when Alf warned him Martha was still fragile. After Martha reassured him, he was not exactly unhappy about her desire for a casual relationship but was unnerved by the way she seemed to veer between wanting to spend time with him and being annoyed at him. He considered giving guitar lessons at the farm but at Martha's suggestion he managed to persuade Gina to employ him as a guitar tutor instead. He was shocked when Martha told him she might be pregnant and admitted to Romeo that he wasn't sure he was up to being a father before she told him it was a false alarm. When his "classic" car broke down on the way in to work, Martha ended up giving him a lift home in her ute then had sex with him in it, only to reject him again when they went back inside. He told her he couldn't deal with her constant mood swings and ended up in an argument with Tony who assumed he was at fault. Martha offered to help him choose a new car and, after taking her advice not to be talked into buying something cool but impractical, he opted for a motorbike instead. However, he then decided to move out, saying their friendship would be ruined if he stayed, only to change his mind when Xavier moved in and he began to suspect he was on drugs after he had tried to hide a shoebox from them. He even shared his suspicions with Gina until Martha showed him the money Xavier had been hiding and revealed it was from Hugo. When she threw herself at him again, he moved out. When he called round for breakfast a few days later to find her even more out of sorts, he told Alf that Martha wasn't as over Hugo as she appeared.
When Liam was asked to write a song for the school play, he found himself working closely with Ruby and was impressed by her talent. He ended up joining her on stage to perform the song when she had stage fright. He later gave Romeo some support over his break-up with Annie and advised Nicole over her concerns about her relationship with Aden, dropping round for a pep-talk and an impromptu game of ping pong after he left town. He asked Ruby to continue collaborating with him on his music but was thrown by Xavier's jealousy, warning him off her, and asked Ruby to set him straight before rumours spread. When he went to see Nicole about it, she let slip that she thought Ruby had a crush on him. He sought advice from Alf without mentioning Ruby's name and was advised to stay away from the student, but when she offered to end the partnership he told her they weren't doing anything wrong and should continue. He also gave Romeo some insights into addiction during his problems with Jill. He was concerned when he overheard Ruby saying she couldn't stop thinking about him and even more so when Nicole claimed she didn't like his music, which caused him to doubt his ability. Ruby admitted Nicole had been covering and she was attracted to him but insisted she could keep things professional. He tried to break up a fight between Xavier and Romeo at school and ended up being shoved to the ground. He supervised the pair in detention and mentioned to Tony he was taking a teacher course. He then had a run-in with Sid over their shared history with Nicole.