under his locum anaesthetist occupation, luke found himself temporary employed at shortland street hospital and was infuriated that sophie mckay (kimberley crossman) and nate adamson (damien harrison) had named him as the ferndale strangler online. his odd behaviour soon aroused the suspicion of others, mainly brenda (katherine mcrae) who was mysteriously murdered. luke returned when he opposed ethan pierce's (owen black) bid for head of surgery and got a full-time job at the hospital. he and ethan continued to clash and luke was under investigation when ethan was shot to death. luke performed hypnosis on alice piper (toni potter), allowing her to realise maia jeffries (anna jullienne) was the killer. luke returned again and showed attraction to new surgeon, gabrielle jacobs (virginie le brun). gabrielle brutally rejected luke and he considered resigning. luke returned and instantly started a feud with isaac worthington (matt minto) over the treatment of his crush on tania jeffries (faye smythe). he returned once again and his feud with isaac was finally put to rest. luke attempted to admit his love to tania, but lost her to brother rafe (simon london).