to bully Mark Gibbs (Colin Parry). Darren becomes friends with Mark in an attempt to deter Mark's bullying but Mark soon after rapes Luke. Darren takes advantage of the situation and begins a relationship with Luke's girlfriend Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn). Dawson commented on this saying, "Darren liked Mandy even before he went to America so he was gutted when he came back to discover she had started going out with Luke. And all along, Luke knew that Darren wanted to get together with Mandy ... Luke has other things on his mind and seems to be ignoring Mandy, so Darren thinks it is the perfect opportunity to make his move". Before Darren asks Mandy out he confronts Luke who "gives him the green light". Dawson opined that although viewers may think Mandy and Darren are being "heartless" they don't know about Luke's attack so are not to blame. Dawson felt that initially the relationship is a "flirty kind of friendship" although Mandy realises she likes Darren and plans to use Darren as a means of reuniting with Luke. As Darren and Mandy spend more time together their relationship "develops". If Darren were to find out about Luke's rape, Dawson felt Darren would help Luke get "revenge" on Mark. He said Mandy would either be "shocked and turn to Darren for support" or "feel guilty about what she's done" and reunite with Luke. Dawson felt if this were to happen Darren would "try to shrug it off" although "deep down, he cares for Mandy". Dawson felt that Darren should become a "hero" to Luke, fixing all his problems which would rectify him beginning a relationship with Mandy. Darren becomes embroiled in a feud with Scott Anderson (Daniel Hyde), and Scott sets fire to The Loft with Darren inside. Dawson said these scenes were some of his favourite because of the good scripts, and that he enjoyed working with Hyde. The scenes required a pyrotechnics specialist to come in and assist Dawson and Hyde through the scenes. While Darren is feuding with Scott he and Debbie Dean (Jodi Albert) have a brief relationship. Dawson said Darren's relationship with Debbie and feud with Scott were his "favourite" storylines as they were "more in-depth and show both sides of the character". Darren has a brief relationship with Steph Dean (Carley Stenson), with Stenson commenting that Steph "really loved him" even though he