List of Neighbours characters introduced in 1988

Dave Summers, played by Greg Fleet, made his first appearance on 25 March 1988. The character was introduced alongside Ted Regan (Julian Branagan) as new villains for the serial. Fleet's character is best known for causing the death of popular character Daphne Clarke (Elaine Smith). When asked about his character's actions, Fleet responded: "Do I feel bad about killing Daphne on ''Neighbours''? If you are going to be in a show as bad as ''Neighbours'', you should kill one of the main characters." In Fleet's biography ''These Things Happen'', he tells of how his role prevented him from having his throat cut in a drug deal gone wrong, as the dealer recognised him from the show. Series writer Marieke Hardy described Fleet's role as "small but important". Prior to playing Summers, Fleet guested as Steve O'Donnel on the serial in 1985. Summers and his friend Ted Regan run Daphne Clarke and Gail Robinson's (Fiona Corke) car off the road, causing a crash which leaves Gail with amnesia and Daphne in a coma for several weeks. Summers and Regan are caught by Jane Harris (Annie Jones), Charlene Robinson (Kylie Minogue), Tony Romeo (Nick Carrafa), Jim Robinson (Alan Dale) and Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) when their car is spotted at Lassiter's by Gail, who recalls the license plate via hypnosis. Daphne dies as a result of her injuries and Summers and Regan are both tried, but Summers only receives a one year suspension of his license and a $500 fine, which enrages Mike Young (Guy Pearce). Mike goes after Summers and Regan to fight them, but does not. Summers then reports Mike to the police and he is charged with GBH, despite being innocent. Regan smugly tells to Mike that someone else had beaten Summers and they decided to let him take the blame. However, this is exposed as a lie by Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) and Henry Ramsay (Craig McLachlan) who set a trap for Summers by taking photos of him removing his cast and bending over to pick up a wallet dropped by Scott. In spite of the evidence produced by Scott and Henry, Mike is then found guilty of simple assault and given a 12 month Good behaviour bond.

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