Georgie Parker has admitted that the last five months for Home and Away’s Roo Stewart and her family have been 'tumultuous'!
After Roo’s mum Martha Stewart (Belinda Giblin) suffered kidney failure from a toxic gas attack at Salt, Roo put herself forward to be Martha’s kidney donor.
In a shock turn of events, Martha backed out of the transplant, much to the despair of Roo and dad Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher).
Georgie explained to What To Watch that Roo has struggled with Martha’s attitude.
“She doesn’t understand why she went to the trouble of finding out who was eligible to be a donor then when Roo was all prepped and literally ready to go to theatre she changed her mind,” explained Georgie.
“In Roo’s head it’s like she wants to leave her again.”
Martha disappeared when Roo was young and had supposedly died, but returned four years ago alive and well.
“It’s not often a mother comes back into your life after feigning her own death!” Georgie agreed.
“You can’t really imagine these women being together in many ways because not only are they so different, they don’t really know each other.
“Because Alf loves Martha, Roo wants to see her parents happy. But as a woman in her fifties she doesn’t understand how she fits into it.
“I think there’s always that complexity that informs their relationship.”
With Roo and Martha at odds following Martha’s backtrack over the op, Alf and Martha have been at their house in Merimbula.
When Roo gets a call from Alf with the worrying news that Martha’s taken a bad turn, she’s in the dark over what exactly is going on.
After discharging herself from hospital, Martha returns to the Bay with Alf, as she has something HUGE to tell her daughter…
“Finally Martha confesses that she needs Roo’s kidney!” Georgie revealed.
“It takes a while for her to feel like she can be honest with Roo, as she’s embarrassed to admit that she’s scared and she wants to live.
“Martha realises that she has this second chance with Alf and she wants to enjoy it.
“Roo is relieved but she could have done without all the drama! Things are complicated by the time that was lost, but in the end it’s fine.”
Although Martha and Roo’s transplant story focusses on their relationship, Georgie confessed she’s had some real life insight into the process of organ donation.
“It’s not really a medical storyline but I would have liked to play a bit more of that because I have a friend who was a kidney donor,” she shared.
“I knew all the steps that she had to take to get ready to be a donor and how long it took for her to recover.
“In a serial drama, of course, it’s all sped up. After the operation Roo seems to stubbornly recover quite quickly!
“But it was very helpful knowing someone who’d been through that. And also knowing that this woman, who’s a year younger than me, is in great health.”
Georgie shared that the Stewart family are finally set to get some respite after months of trauma but she did suggest there’s something BIG in the pipeline!
“The donor storyline has an interesting couple of twists and it does ultimately settle into a much happier place for the Stewarts.
But there’s something major happening at the moment that I can’t talk about!” Georgie teased.
After months of family heartbreak, we asked Georgie what’s next on the horizon for Roo…
“There are a few changes happening for Roo. Not love, as yet, but there are some changes which are fun,” she hinted.
“She does become a little bit less of the woman who’s following her mum and dad around. She has her own space!
“I’m going to be talking to the head writer in two or three months so I know there are things that are happening, but I don’t know what yet.”
Home and Away airs weekdays at 1:15 pm on Channel 5 and 6:00 pm on 5Star followed by a 'first look' episode on 5Star at 6:30 pm.
