Craig Parker returns to Shortland Street as Guy, who is now a self-help guru who sells how-to-parent books.

Craig Parker returns to Shortland Street as Guy, who is now a self-help guru who sells how-to-parent books.

Craig Parker used to think he'd never return to Shortland Street. When producer Jason Daniel asked if he'd be interested in reprising his role as Guy Warner, Parker turned him down. "Then he rang and went through the storyline and it was really quite fun and different from the Guy we knew," says the actor, who came back from London for the part.

"He's still Guy but there's other stuff that's been dumped on him."

Parker is back to help to celebrate the soap's 15th birthday. Only this time, his hair is not quite as big.

Fans will recall a truck plunging through the clinic walls, killing Guy's partner, Carmen, played by Theresa Healey, with whom Parker says he's still in touch.

Her death had a particularly horrifying effect on Guy: he became a self-help guru in the style of Dr Phil. For the past decade he's been forging a successful living touring the world flogging how-to-parent books, and showing up on chatshows. When he turns up at the Warner family home, he causes dramas for his brother Chris while trying to set up his own TV show.

"I hate that stuff," says Parker. "I think it's the worst symptom of people not taking responsibility for themselves. Why go on a syndicated show and talk about your most private issues? People so crave fame and notoriety and will sell their souls for it."

Guy is also back in town with another interesting accessory - his daughter, Tuesday. She does most of the parenting in their relationship as Guy never got over Carmen and went on to a string of failed relationships.

This time he's back for just a few weeks, which suggests he's become the bad guy. But Parker says it wasn't a stretch to return to the role.

"After playing Guy for four years it's locked in. No matter how much time passes, you remember. But I did look at my audition tape from 1992 the other day and that was quite scary. Lots of big hair, big shoulder pads. We thought we looked terribly cool back then but there was quite a lot of gel, quite a lot of height."

Back on set, Parker wasn't the pimp daddy you might expect, despite being surrounded by a new cast, other than Michael Galvin, who plays his brother Chris.

"It's a really strong cast of actors at the moment. There have been periods where that hasn't been the case. The great thing about working on that show was that you get to know everyone so well. There's 100 people working out there every day and the tension is huge so you become like a very, very close family - far too close at times.