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. 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".
Casting
Bancks joined the cast of Home and Away in 1992 and he had previously undertaken a drama class which Bancks felt had well prepared him for the role. He was selected from 200 actors that auditioned for the role. Bancks felt that the "biggest thrill" of his career was when his agent informed him that he had secured the role. Bancks missed "muck-up day" at school because he was learning his scripts for his first episode and he began filming in March immediately after leaving school. Tug was originally only meant to be a guest character. Bancks signed a one-month contract with the serial when he was sixteen and was later promoted to the regular cast.
Character development
Characterisation
Tug is characterised as a "bad boy" teenager. Tempany Deckert who plays Selina Roberts described Tug as a "rough renegade" who had lost his way but "finally got back on the straight and narrow with the help of various foster parents". A writer from the show's official website described Tug as a "hardened, streetwise tough kid, who lived up to his nickname".
Bancks told Monroe of TVTimes that he thought Tug "had a much harder time" in life because the writers decided upon a "such a silly name". Lisa Anthony from BIG! magazine reported that Tug would go "b-for-bonkers" at his headteacher Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn), burn his tie and walk out of the school. Bancks told Anthony that he sympathised with Tug because "everyone has problems at school" and added that he did not go to "the lengths" that Tug did. Bacnks explained to Ally Oliver from Inside Soap that Tug's persona changed through the writing. He "liked" the character when he first began portraying Tug's journey. "He was pretty tortured, but the writers softened him up a lot and it's difficult to play against the script your given."
While interviewed by Soap's Angie Taylor, the actor described Tug as being a character who "has to be tough and able to stand up for himself". But at the same time Tug remains likeable and sometimes he can be "very unlikeable". Bancks opined that there is always a need for a bad guy in certain parts of storylines. The fact that Tug's personality had mellowed was viewed as a positive change of character by Bancks. He explained to Taylor that it helped him play Tug and stated "I do like him and I like playing him because he's so far removed from myself. I can relate to the character - otherwise I wouldn't be able to play him - but he's very different to me."
Towards the end of Tug's tenure, Bancks had transformed a "troubled" character into a popular one that appealed to teenagers. Bancks opined that Tug's backstory was responsible for developing the connection with viewers; more so with those who had a difficult upbringing empathised with Tug. His mother conducted an affair and abandoned him with an alcoholic father who constantly disappointed him. Bancks concluded that "so many things have gone wrong for Tug that he's lost his self-confidence".