Craig Dougall McLachlan (born 1 September 1965) is an Australian Gold Logie winning actor, musician, singer and composer. He has been involved in film, television, the music industry and music theatre for over 30 years. He is best known for appearing in the soap operas Neighbours and Home and Away and the BBC One spy drama Bugs. He has portrayed the title character in The Doctor Blake Mysteries, for which he was nominated for the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor; he has previously won the award in this category three times.
Career Television McLachlan was born at Long Jetty, a suburb of the NSW Central Coast but moved to Sydney when he was around 16 to pursue an acting career. He secured a guest role on the evening TV soap opera The Young Doctors, as well as several television commercials. However, he soon moved back home and spent two years working as a labourer and gym instructor. After returning to Sydney, he secured a brief guest role as a student in two episodes of the Seven Network TV series Sons and Daughters.
In 1987, he was cast in Neighbours broadcast by Network Ten, in the regular role of Henry Ramsay, brother of Kylie Minogue's character Charlene. After winning the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television (1990) and Silver Logie, he left Neighbours in 1989, but was soon contracted to Seven Network's Home and Away, playing schoolteacher and lifeguard Grant Mitchell.
Music A singer, guitarist and songwriter, McLachlan enjoyed international success in a concurrent pop music career. He had hits in Australia and the UK with a remake of the Bo Diddley song "Mona (I Need You Baby)" and with self-penned songs "Amanda", "One Reason Why" and "On My Own". He toured the UK and Europe with his band Check 1–2. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1991, "Mona", won Highest Selling Single for Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2. In the following year, his single "On My Own" was one of several works by Simon Hussey, who won Producer of the Year. Note: User may be required to access archived information by selecting 'The History', then 'By Award', 'Producer of the Year' and 'Option Show Nominations'.
Musicals In 1993, McLachlan starred as Danny Zuko in the West End revival of the musical Grease alongside Deborah Gibson and Sonia Evans. In his stage musical career he starred as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Caractacus Pott in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bob Wallace in White Christmas and Billy Flynn in Chicago.
1990s–present
Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, McLachlan appeared in around 20 film and television projects, including the American movie Superfire, the television film Heroes' Mountain as Stuart Diver, and Blackjack with Colin Friels. In 2004, he played Michael Chamberlain in Through My Eyes, an account of the Lindy Chamberlain story, and began work in the recurring role of Kane Morgan in McLeod's Daughters. He played Jeff Kennard in the Australian film Hating Alison Ashley, worked alongside Benjamin Bratt and James Franco in The Great Raid, and starred with John Jarratt in Savages Crossing.
McLachlan appeared regularly in the Network Seven TV series Packed to the Rafters as ageing rocker Steve Wilson and was cast in the fourth season of Rescue: Special Ops as Hayden Bradley. He played the role of Steve, the handsome gay gardener, in the award-winning production At Home with Julia and appeared in the ABC comedy Lowdown.
In 2011, British group Rizzle Kicks sampled McLachlan's version of "Mona" for their single "Mama Do the Hump".
McLachlan returned to Australia in 2012 to work on a new TV series, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, a period crime drama set in Ballarat in 1959. He plays the titular role of Dr Lucien Blake, a medical practitioner with a knack for solving murders and annoying the police. The first two seasons originally screened on ABC Television.
In 2013, McLachlan was again cast as Frank-N-Furter in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show touring Australia in 2014. In December 2014, McLachlan revealed that he was unable to return to Neighbours for the show's 30th anniversary celebrations owing to scheduling conflicts and his involvement in The Doctor Blake Mysteries. However, McLachlan agreed to take part in the documentary special Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, which aired in Australia and the UK in March 2015.
In 2016, McLachlan appeared in the sci-fi thriller Restoration, playing Andrew Majury.
Sexual harassment allegations On 8 January 2018, a joint investigation by Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that McLachlan had been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses during his performing career. Three actresses from the 2014 Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show – Christie Whelan Browne, Erika Heynatz and Angela Scundi – made allegations against McLachlan. He responded,
McLachlan subsequently left the 2018 production of The Rocky Horror Show. Victoria Police announced they were investigating complaints from two of the women.
McLachlan filed defamation suits against the ABC and Fairfax Media in February 2018; he also named Whelan Browne in a defamation suit. Producers of The Doctor Blake Mysteries announced that production would be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of investigations. The production company, December Media, "cleared the actor of any misconduct" during the show's run. In April, it was announced McLachlan would not be returning to the series.
McLachlan's defamation case was due to be heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 4 February 2019; however, the suit was postponed pending the outcome of the related criminal proceedings. On 11 January 2019, Victoria Police charged him with one count of common assault, eight counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. At a hearing in April 2019 it came to light that one of the indecent assault charges had been dropped and that the case would be determined by a magistrate alone. In November 2019, a contested hearing of the charges began, with Stuart Littlemore as defence lawyer.
The magistrate described McLachlan's evidence as contrived and his emotions as "not seeming genuine", also characterising the women who gave evidence as "brave and honest witnesses"."Actor Craig McLachlan's courtroom singing 'unnecessary', magistrate says" by Caroline Schelle, news.com.au, 18 December 2020 The magistrate also said that McLachlan likely touched the women while they were performing, but that she [the magistrate] was not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt he knew they were not consenting. During the course of the trial, McLachlan's lawyers argued:
The hearing ended on 15 December 2020 with McLachlan acquitted on all charges, and McLachlan subsequently received $500,000 in costs from Victoria Police to pay his legal fees.
In May 2021, Seven News' Spotlight program claimed that the ABC had "manipulated" McLachlan's accusers when it interviewed the women in 2018. The program showed ABC journalists (off camera) appearing to coach the accusers by offering specific words and phrases for them to say in their interview, such as "predatory" and "power imbalance".Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The ABC rejected those claims. McLachlan filed a defamation suit against the ABC and Nine newspapers over media reports of the 2014 Rocky Horror Show tour allegations for which he had been tried and acquitted. On 15 May 2021, fresh allegations were made about the actor's behaviour, including from Jeanne Downs, a former UK television star who accused the actor of groping her live while a guest on her popular children's show in 1990. McLachlan applied to discontinue the defamation suit ten days into the trial, on the same day the defence was set to begin calling witnesses, upon learning his acquittal in the criminal matter would be withheld from the jury.
Personal life McLachlan's partner is opera conductor Vanessa Scammell, whom he met in 2009. He has a child from his relationship with British actress and voice artist Charlotte Avery. McLachlan was briefly married to Karen Williams (), with whom he had attended the same secondary school. Subsequently, he was married to Neighbours actress Rachel Friend (1993–1994).
Discography
Studio albums + List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications Title Album details Peak chart positions Certification AUS NLD NZ UK Craig McLachlan & Check 1-2 Released: June 1990 Label: Epic 4 88 49 10 ARIA: Gold Hands Free Released: March 1992 Label: Epic 104 — — — Craig McLachlan & the Culprits Released: October 28, 1996 Label: Roadrunner — — — —
Musical albums + List of musical albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions UK Grease (Original London Stage Cast Soundtrack) Released: 1993 Label: Epic 20 The Rocky Horror Show (Australian Cast Recording) Released: 1995 Label: TriStar Music —
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications Year Single Peak chart positions Certification Album AUSAustralian (ARIA Chart) peaks: Top 50 peaks: Top 100 peaks: "I Almost Felt Like Crying": BEL GER IRE NLD NZ UK 1989 "Rock the Rock" (as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2) 36 — — — — — —Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2 1990 "Mona" (as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2) 3 8 44 5 26 16 2 ARIA: Platinum "Amanda" (as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2) 24 — — 16 — 22 19 "I Almost Felt Like Crying" (as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2) 103 — — — — — 50 1991 "On My Own" 23 — — — — — 59Hands Free 1992 "One Reason Why" 57 — — — — — 29 "I Hear You Knocking" 90 — — — — — — "Time Warp" (with Australian cast) — — — — — — —The Rocky Horror Show Cast Recording 1993 "You're the One That I Want" (duet with Deborah Gibson) — — — 24 — — 13Grease Cast Recording "Grease" — — — — — — 44 1995 "Everyday" (as Craig McLachlan & the Culprits) — — — — — — 65Craig McLachlan & the Culprits "If We Were Angels" (as Craig McLachlan & the Culprits) — — — — — — — 1996 "Hear the World Cry" (as Craig McLachlan & the Culprits) — — — — — — 92
Videos Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2: The Video (featured an interview and the video clips for "Mona", "Amanda", "Rock the Rock" and "I Almost Felt Like Crying") (1990)
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1991Heroes II: The ReturnLt. Walter CareyTV film1992Mad Bomber in LoveThe Whip Feature film 1992Absent Without LeaveJames Edwards Feature film 1996Catherine the GreatSergei SaltykovTV film2001Let's Get SkaseEric Carney Feature film 2001CubbyhouseBill Feature film 2001Abschied in den TodDet. Const. Steve McNamaraTV film2001My Husband, My KillerWarren ElkinsTV film2002Heroes' MountainStuart DiverTV film2002SuperfireJack SkidderTV film2005BlackJack: Ace Point GameMichael HaslerTV film2005Hating Alison AshleyJeff Kennard Feature film 2005Lt. Riley Feature film 2009Amar a morirNick Feature film 2011Savages CrossingMory Feature film 2012ValShort film 2016RestorationAndrew Majury TV film
Television Year Title Role Notes 1986–1987 Sons and Daughters Student Guest role1987–1989NeighboursHenry Ramsay Main cast1990–1991Home and AwayGrant Mitchell Main cast1995–1997Bugs Ed Main cast1999TribeRalph LeytonTV miniseries2001–2002Always GreenerGreg Graham Recurring role2004Through My EyesMichael ChamberlainTV miniseries2004McLeod's DaughtersKane Morgan Recurring role2005SupernovaAlistair Foster Episode: "Unity"2008City HomicideLeon Grasby Episode: "Golden"2008–2012Packed to the RaftersSteve Wilson Recurring role2009Dutch Holland Episode: "A Falcon's Tail"2010–2012LowdownBen Hollander Episodes: "Wasp in Translation", "Ben Behaving Badly"2011Rescue: Special OpsHayden Bradley Recurring role2011At Home with JuliaSteveTV miniseries2011NCIS: Los AngelesClifford Bosworth Episode: "Lone Wolf"2013Redfern NowJack Episode: "Consequences"2013–2014House HusbandsDamo Recurring role2013–2017Dr. Lucien Blake Main cast2016Deep WaterKyle "Hammers" HamptonTV miniseries2016Eric Main cast
Awards and nominations