All Saints: profiles


Erik Thomson…

Erik began work on All Saints in November 1998 and debuted on air in Episode 45 in late February 1999.

Born in Scotland, Erik grew up in New Zealand. He completed a Bachelor of Performing of Arts at the New Zealand Drama School in Wellington and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & Drama at Victoria University, Wellington.

He has an extensive list of theatre and television credits in New Zealand including lead roles in the drama series Plain Clothes, Snap, The Ray Bradbury Theatre and a recurring role on Marlin Bay.

Erik has also had a recurring role as Hades, Lord of the Underworld on the Hercules and Zena—Warrior Princess series.

He has worked on the Australian television productions Wildside, 13 Gantry Row, Water Rats and Pacific Drive.

Erik has been enjoying the role of Dr Mitch Stevens. He spent some time with a medical registrar before starting work on All Saints but he already knew quite a bit about doctors and the hospital system.

"My father is a doctor and I have grown up in and around hospitals," he says. "The funny thing is when I tell my family this show is based in Ward 17, because to them that is the psychiatric ward."

…as Mitch Stevens

Mitch was born and bred in country NSW. His dad ran his own timber business and his mother was an accountant. He and his young sister Lucy never wanted for anything and they made up what might be considered a model family. Mitch's mother returned to work when the children were in primary school, and it was impressed upon Mitch at an early age that he was responsible for the care of his little sister.

Lucy used to taunt Mitch with the fantasy that one day she would die so that he would get in trouble with their parents. She had a terrible habit of playing dead—Mitch would find her floating face down in the pool or hanging from a tree. He loved Lucy dearly and would rush to her aid every time, only to be humiliated when she bounced back to life. One day this ritual became a nightmare when he found Lucy sprawled on the bedroom floor. By the time he realised she was not breathing it was too late and Lucy was pronounced dead from an electric shock. The word 'blame' was never used but it hung in the air.

Mitch had always had been a bad boy at school because he was very bright and loved to learn but resented being taught. After Lucy's death, he threw himself into study, earning a record HSC mark and easy entrance into the top university to study medicine.

When Mitch arrived as an intern at All Saints his bad behaviour escalated. It was as if he was pushing the establishment to kick him out. They would have gladly done so, except that he was brilliant with the patients. He was, and is, a brilliant diagnostician—a combination of easy rapport, an eye for detail and an almost spiritual intuition sorted out clues about a patient's condition long before any pathology results came back from the lab. Sick of the hierarchy, Mitch left All Saints and spent several years overseas gaining experience in other hospitals and active service with a United Nations team in Africa.

But now he is back and he infuriates Terri. He is late for rounds, eventually turning up unshaven. He leaves the ward without passing on information and doesn't write up orders. He is not a team player but almost all the staff come to love him, even Von.

There is a reason for Terri's uncharacteristic sharp manner… Terri and Mitch had a passionate affair when she was a young nurse and he was an intern. He was Terri's first and only physical relationship. She fell hopelessly in love with him, and for a while she totally forgot her calling to enter a religious order. Mitch loved Terri deeply but refused to acknowledge it.