Grant Mitchell is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Craig McLachlan.
A rival network made him an offer which involved television and film work and McLachlan signed the deal.
[5] McLachlan initially divided his time between filming Sydney and completing music work with his rock band Check 1-2, in Melbourne.
"[3] McLachlan told a reporter from The Age that his character is very similar to fellow fictional teacher John Keating, from the film Dead Poets Society[6] Grant "really digs" teaching and his pupils.
[4] In his book Home and Away special, Clive Hopwood describes Grant as the "hunky teacher at the local school with unorthodox teaching methods, and one or two skeletons rattling quietly in the closet.
"[10] As Andrea Black wrote in the Home and Away – Official Collector's Edition, McLachlan "never needed an excuse to flex his muscles" during his time in the show.
McLachlan said that it depended on the audiences perception of the word unorthodox in deciding whether or not Grant's method of teaching did not follow tradition.
In one storyline, Grant has to contend with a school girl crush when Emma Jackson (Dannii Minogue) becomes attracted to him.
[5] Grant later begins a relationship with Jane Holland (Josephine Mitchell) and they made an "arresting couple" which was a main storyline during 1990.
[17] Grant arrives in Summer Bay and signs up for the town's Ironman competition, which Adam Cameron (Mat Stevenson) and fellow newcomer Ben Lucini (Julian McMahon) are also taking part in.
He quickly begins clashing with principal Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn), who is uncertain about Grant's teaching methods - such as getting the class to dance before the lesson in order for them to be energized, and re-enacting the Eureka Stockade.
They later move in together but then regret it when Grant prefers spending time with his friends Ben and Matt Wilson (Greg Benson) to being at home with Jane.
Grant helps new arrival Blake Dean (Les Hill) adjust to life in the Bay, and trains him for an Ironman contest.
Grant later has his own problem with Blake when he and his girlfriend Sophie Simpson (Rebekah Elmaloglou) leave their dorms to spend time together on a school trip.
He returns some months later looking for a job and helps a grieving Sophie, whose boyfriend David Croft (Guy Pearce) has just been killed in a car accident.
[20] One month after his first appearance, Robin Olover of The Sydney Morning Herald said that Home and Away were already promoting McLachan as their "golden boy".
[22] Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald said that Grant was one of the characters from the "golden years" that made Home and Away feel "very mid-'80s".
[23] A writer from TV Guide branded Grant the "human bicep" who, alongside Adam splashed around the waters of Summer Bay in their "merrily macho way".