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Tim Collins, played by
Ben Anderson, made his first appearance on 27 September 2001. Tim is a lawyer and has represented or worked with many of the Ramsay Street residents. Tim is
Toadfish Rebecchi's (
Ryan Moloney) enemy. He has been branded "ruthless" and "slimy" by reporters for the
Daily Record. While a writer for the
Sunday Mail called him a "creepy" lawyer. Anderson reprised his role as Tim in 2013. On 24 January 2016, Melinda Houston of
The Sydney Morning Herald praised Anderson's appearance on the show, saying "Absolutely stealing the show tonight is Ben Anderson as Tim Collins, erstwhile crony of Paul Robinson and now a major player on the apparently powerful and prestigious Erinsborough Council." Tim appears as part of the show's final episodes in July 2022, as he informs
Shane Ramsay (
Peter O'Brien) about
Paul Robinson's (
Stefan Dennis) behaviour over the years. Tim meets Toadie Rebecchi when he begins working for legal firm Stewart, Whitehead and Moore. Toadie discovers an insurance company is about to go bust and he decides to break Tim's confidence to warn his friends. Tim acts as best man at his cousin,
Marc Lambert's (David Karakai), wedding to
Stephanie Scully (
Carla Bonner). Later that same year, he begins working for
Susan Kennedy (
Jackie Woodburne) during her divorce. Tim leaves Stewart, Whitehead and Moore and asks Toadie to join him at his new firm, Tim Collins & Associates. Despite their differences, Toadie and Tim work well together. When Toadie and Tim lose their premises, they move into the offices at the
Lassiter's complex. Tim starts spending a lot of his time in Sydney, leaving Toadie to run the practice. A few months later, Tim and his girlfriend, Molly Milevic (Abby Meates), go out with Toadie and
Genevieve Doyle (
Lulu McClatchy). Molly has a good time listening to Genevieve's stories about wrestling, but Tim is not impressed. He tells Toadie to break up with her because she does not present a good image for company. However, when Genevieve is hired to sing at the Lassiter's complex reopening, she impresses Tim with her voice. Tim apologises and realises he should not have judged her. Tim starts taking more cases at the Sydney office, leaving Toadie and
Rosetta Cammeniti (
Natalie Saleeba) to run the Melbourne office. Tim gives Toadie and Rosie an ultimatum – whoever bills the most hours for a month will get a pay rise, while the loser will be fired. Tim clashes with Toadie's brother,
Stonefish (Anthony Engelman) and accuses him of stealing an expensive pen from his father. Tim later finds the pen in his briefcase, but does not apologise to Stonie. Tim displays a lack of compassion when Toadie suffers a panic attack and Rosie later catches him sleeping and listening to music instead of working. She and Toadie realise they are better off working for themselves and they set up their own law firm, Rebecchi Cammeniti. They also take over the lease for the office at
Lassiter's. Tim represents
Kirsten Gannon (
Nikola Dubois) during her custody battle for her son. Kirsten tries to Tim and he rejects her. Tim tells
Oliver Barnes (
David Hoflin) that his adoptive brother is contesting his rights to their parent's hotel empire. Tim decides to purchase 26 Ramsay Street, so he can knock it down and build townhouses on it. Tim almost wins the house, but he is outbid by
Steve Parker (
Steve Bastoni) at the last minute. Tim represents Paul Robinson when he is charged with the hit and run of his half-sister. Weeks later Tim is hired by Erinsborough Hospital during their fight with the Kennedy family, who had been denied the right to try IVF.
Declan Napier (
James Sorensen) hires Tim after he believes Steph was responsible for the accident that caused the death of his wife,
Bridget (
Eloise Mignon). When Declan realises he cannot afford the legal fees, Tim agrees on a no-win-no-fee case. When it is revealed that
Johnno Brewer (Damien Aylward) was responsible for Bridget's death, Paul hires Tim to represent Johnno and lose the case.
Lyn Scully (
Janet Andrewartha) asks Tim to appeal Steph's jail sentence. Tim tells her he has found some new evidence that could help, but Lyn struggles to meet his fees and later abandons the case. Paul asks Tim to help him out when
Ajay Kapoor (
Sachin Joab) and
Elaine Lawson (Sancia Robinson) bring a civil action against him, following an explosion on Lassiter's property that killed his wife and her son. Tim advises Paul to offer Elaine a cash settlement. Paul later asks Tim to represent
Mason Turner (
Taylor Glockner) and ensure that he is sent to prison. However, Mason changes lawyers at the last minute. Tim draws up a lawsuit for Paul when he decides to sue
Georgia Brooks (
Saskia Hampele). But Paul changes his mind and asks Tim to get his conviction for fraud expunged from his criminal record instead. The following year, Paul calls Tim to mediate between himself,
Terese Willis (
Rebekah Elmaloglou) and
Ezra Hanley (Steve Nation), after the latter decides to sue them. Tim also sits in on Paul's police interview when he is questioned about paying
Gary Canning (Damien Richardson) to assault Ezra. He berates Paul for talking and tells him he will be lucky to avoid a jail sentence. After Toadie is injured, Tim pays a visit to his wife, Sonya, to try to find out whether they are planning on suing for compensation. He then relays the information back to Paul, but
Naomi Canning (
Morgana O'Reilly) asks Paul to call Tim off. Tim tells Naomi that she should listen to Paul, as the Rebecchi's will sue even if they are friends. A few months later, Tim takes Paul's place on the council. He later refuses to help Paul when the police want to question him. Tim is elected to the council and he becomes interim mayor. After listening to Sonya and
Aaron Brennan's (Matt Wilson) concerns about the closure of the community centre, Tim later informs them that it will be closed within a month as it needs too much work and money to maintain it. He later closes the bridge across the lake, after Sonya protests the removal of the love locks. Sonya runs against Tim in the mayoral election. Piper Willis uploads a video of Tim hugging Courtney Grixti online, believing that he is having an affair. However, Courtney is actually Tim's daughter and she manages to talk her father out of taking legal action against Piper. Tim tries to ruin Sonya's character at a public debate, causing Courtney to vandalise his car. Sonya wins the election. Paul attempts to stop the
West Waratah Star from printing a story about his daughter
Amy Williams' (
Zoe Cramond) involvement with a lingerie-cleaning business, but he soon learns Tim is the paper's new editor and the story is printed. During Erinsborough's run for the Best Liveable Suburb competition, a drunken Mayor Sonya walks onto the stage and publicly bad-mouths Tim, who uses the paper to run a smear campaign against Sonya. He comes to Terese Willis with an offer to smear Paul's name and writes positive stories about Lassiter's, in exchange for a free hotel room, so he can conduct an affair. Tim is blackmailed by
Ryan Prescott (James Sweeny), who planted hidden cameras in the hotel rooms, and he gives Terese a USB stick with the footage after paying Ryan. Terese is also blackmailed by Ryan, so she has his car towed. She and Tim watch, before Terese reveals that Ryan will also be visited by the tax office. Tim asks Terese to join him for a drink, but she tells him to go home to his wife. Tim is incensed to learn that Courtney is engaged to Paul. This is soon revealed to be a ruse, motivated in part to enact revenge on Tim after he believed rumours that Courtney was providing erotic massages in the Lassiter's day spa. Courtney returns to live with Tim after he apologises to her. The next year, Terese arranges to give Tim an exclusive interview with Piper following her boyfriend Tyler's murder trial, in order to protect her from press intrusion in the meantime. After Tyler is found guilty, Piper's interview devolves into her blaming Terese for her situation. Gary, now Terese's partner, threatens Tim to prevent the interview from being published. Tim retaliates by arranging for the kitchens at
The Flametree Retreat, where Gary works, to be shut down by the council over health and safety concerns. The following year, another hidden camera is found in a Lassiter's room and Tim sends Paul a link to a website via email. The website is full of all the footage taken from the camera. Paul, Terese and Tim meet at
Harold's and Tim tells them that he is not going to publish an article about the footage, as Paul and Terese helped him when the last hidden cameras were exposed. Tim leaves and tells them that they owe him a favour, before Paul and Terese discover that other news websites have already published stories about the footage. Tim later talks to
Amy Greenwood (
Jacinta Stapleton) about the new Lassiter's uniforms she is creating.
Nicolette Stone (Charlotte Chimes) confides in Tim and he gives legal advice to her, but she decides not to take it on. During a Lassiter’s event in
The Waterhole, Tim presents Paul and Terese with a cease and desist letter from an airline company claiming the new Lassiter’s uniforms created by Amy have been copyrighted and stolen from them. Tim explains the legal process to an aggressive Paul and Terese. He then tells them that Amy came to him for advice and he used gained information to inform the airline company on the situation. A few days later, Tim informs Paul and Terese that the airline company has withdrawn the cease and desist and that Lassiter’s is allowed to use the uniforms, before calling Amy an air-head. As he is leaving, he overhears Terese and
Harlow Robinson (Jemma Donnovan) discussing Terese’s decision to not have Lassiter’s celebrate
Australia Day and support the
"change the date" movement. Toadie shows Terese an article that Tim has published in the
West Waratah Star about Terese and a statement she said five years prior that contradicts her decision to cancel Australia Day celebrations. Terese confronts Tim, but Tim responds with a smug comment and walks off. Tim visits
The Flamingo Bar and compliments Amy on the service. Toadie begins dating his assistant,
Melanie Pearson (
Lucinda Cowden), at the same time as he is taking on a large legal case for a man named Mr Carmello. Amy accidentally indirectly tells Tim that Toadie and Melanie are dating and Tim calls Mr Carmello to inform him of the unprofessional situation. Mr Carmello drops Toadie as his lawyer and hires Tim. When Toadie finds out, he calls Tim pathetic and says that he will always be alone. The following year, Tim gives Shane Ramsay information on Paul. He gives him files on Paul's ex-wives, when he burnt down Lassiter's complex, owned a sweatshop in Brazil and paid
Nicolette Stone (Charlotte Chimes) $1,000,000 to hand over her baby. Tim then says that the latter is his favourite of Paul's wrong doings. Paul later greets Tim in The Waterhole and says that his latest client will not be happy with the way Tim operates. Tim ignores him and continues drinking, as Paul walks off. ==Sandy Allen==