When we first met Church he was impenetrable, gruff and not afraid to use muscle to get results.
While he sometimes still gives this impression, the Church we've come to know is more compassionate and likeable, protective of those he loves and willing to go to the wall for them. We've had a rare insight into his troubled past and we understand him much better as a result.
A new love interest from within the ranks of undercover will cast an obstacle in the path of the ongoing unresolved sexual tension with workmate Angie Piper and Church's loyalties will be tested as never before in series eight.
Peter Phelps is one of Australia's busiest and best known actors. He has appeared in dozens of film, television and theatre productions, spent four years in the United States, wrote a best-selling book (a wry look at his years in Hollywood) and won an AFI Television Best Actor Award for portraying a rape victim in an episode of GP.
He was Abo Henry in the chilling Blue Murder, Les Darcy in The Les Darcy Story and Mick Webb in One Way Ticket, a telemovie inspired by a 1993 jailbreak.
He played opposite Jason Donovan in the movie Rough Diamonds and with Suddenly Susan regular Judd Nelson in the telemovie Blackwater Trail.
He was the lead in the Australian feature films Zone 39, The Lighthorsemen and Playing Beatie Bow and has starred in films in Italy and the Czech Republic. On television, Phelps was a series regular on Fire, The Flying Doctors and Baywatch. His extensive guest credits include Police Rescue, Heartbreak High, A Country Practice and Rafferty's Rules.
But nothing he has done, he says, matches the scope and opportunities of Stingers. He has relished researching the two very different perspectives of his role — the duality of a cop masquerading as a crim.
"This project gives me the chance to play so many different parts. I like that. I like to live vicariously in roles such as Abo in Blue Murder and it's the same with this show."
He was rewarded for his work on Stingers with a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor in 2002 and received a nomination for Most Popular Actor in 2000.
Peter Phelps had a big part in the feature film Lantana, which starred Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey, and also featured in Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger.
Phelps is also relishing his latest role — fatherhood. He and partner Donna Fowkes became proud parents when they welcomed their daughter, Aja Blue, in March 2003.
Peter Phelps