David Croft, played by
Guy Pearce, made his first on-screen appearance on 19 July 1991. Pearce began filming in May 1991 and David introduced as the nephew of
Donald Fisher (
Norman Coburn) and brother to
Lucinda (
Dee Smart). David arrives in Summer Bay to visit his uncle, Donald and meets his estranged sister Lucinda who is frosty with him due to a falling out they had when they were younger due to David's investment idea failing and resulting in their parents losing their home. Donald plays referee between the two siblings and they later reconcile. Sophie is attracted to David and he feels the same way about her. They begin a relationship but it is revealed and Donald and Sophie's foster parents
Michael (Dennis Coard) and
Pippa Ross (
Debra Lawrence) express their disapproval with the relationship as David is much older than Sophie. Pippa then makes a deal with Sophie, If she still feels the same about David after two weeks away at Pippa's mother,
Coral King's (Jessica Noad) house, She and Michael will leave the couple alone. David decides to leave on a trip of his own too but he and Sophie agree to meet up when they return. The couple part after Sophie gives David a taped message to play. That night, David sets off in his car on Yabbie Creek road, listening to the tape.
Karen Dean (Belinda Jarrett) and
Adam Cameron (
Mat Stevenson) arrive in an oncoming car and there is a head-on collision which David tries to avoid but he is killed instantly. When Sophie returns from Coral's, she is devastated to learn of David's death and is shocked to learn Karen is responsible. She is initially angry at Pippa and Michael for sending her away but calms down. Sophie then discovers she is pregnant with David's baby and later gives birth to a daughter, Tamara (Emily and Chloe Hutton). Sophie then moves to Perth near David's mother Mary (Jan Kingsbury). Sophie has another child in 2003 and names him after David. Barbara Toner, a writer for the
Sydney Morning Herald expressed her disappointment in David's storyline with Sophie. She opined: "Guy Pearce, fresh from his film career, has turned up as a nasty, but his storyline was even less fascinating than whatever is going on between hard man-on-the-run
Revhead and personality girl Karen. Theirs could have been a goer but they seem to have underlined the wrong words on their scripts so I'm afraid I gave up on them."
Channel 5 chose the episode where David is killed in a car crash with Adam Cameron and Karen Dean as one of their "favourite ever
Home and Away episodes". ==Ryan Lee==