Home and Away star Georgie Parker has warned that despite Roo Stewart’s best attempts to patch together the missing pieces of her broken family, there may still be trouble ahead from her volatile half-brother Kieran Baldivis!
When Kieran (Rick Donald) unexpectedly turned up in the Bay just over a month ago the recovering alcoholic revealed he wanted to make amends for the hurt he'd caused his family.
Even though she’d promised mum Martha Stewart (Belinda Giblin) not to bring him back into their lives, with Martha and dad Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher) out of the Bay, Roo let him stay.
He’s lied about his sobriety in the past but Georgie has revealed to whattowatch.com why Roo was willing to take a chance on him.
“Roo is worried that even if he’s telling the truth about being sober, he might not be able to sustain it,” she explained.
“But she’s not afraid of a challenge and she pretty much tells him ‘I’ll see through you, buddy’!”
Georgie also pointed out that a lot of Roo’s determination to help Kieran comes from recognising their shared abandonment issues.
“Martha left Roo and Alf when Roo was a teenager because of her mental health issues.
“As much as she abandoned them, she also abandoned Kieran. He was raised in a household with a father who was violent. He has addiction issues in response to the trauma.
“Roo identifies with and understands his addiction and his attempts to deal with things that he has difficulty dealing with.”
Alf is horrified that Kieran is back in the Bay, considering his last appearance led to Martha having a mental breakdown! He dramatically held Martha hostage whilst in the middle of his addiction then after his arrest he did a stint in rehab.
“There’s no way that Alf is going to say, ‘Oh great, I’m glad he’s back!’” laughed Georgie.
BUT, Alf did agree to pass a letter from Kieran onto Martha, who has been recuperating from her hospital stay in her second home in Merimbula.
Much to Roo’s surprise, not only does Martha read the letter, but she turns up in Summer Bay ready to talk to her son!
After a big kerfuffle when Kieran impulsively plants a VERY misplaced kiss on a supportive Jasmine Delaney (Sam Frost), he runs off. Then there's an alarming incident as Jasmine collapses, having forgotten to take her meds.
Alf wrongly assumes that Kieran's attacked her and when Jasmine recovers and explains what's happened, it's left up to Martha to make a decision about whether to trust her son.
It sounds like Roo has taken on a bit more than she can handle...
“While he’s trying very hard to change and his heart is in the right place, it’s easy for Kieran to take a wrong step,” agreed Georgie.
“He’s ricocheting all over the place because he’s a recovering alcoholic and he has no personal boundaries.
“Rick Donald plays him as such a broken person but loveable. You never quite know if Kieran is one hundred percent truthful – he’s got that energy where anything could happen!”
“Rick is remarkably funny and incredibly kind and calm. He brings so much more to the scene than what's on the page.”
Georgie recently shared on her instagram a sweet snap of her and Cameron Daddo as fan favourites Roo and Owen.
Georgie also revealed that she would love for singleton Roo to find love again – specifically with her ex Owen Davidson! Cameron Daddo, who played Owen, quit the show at the end of 2020.
“It’s like ‘three’s a crowd’ when Martha is back in the Bay, because it’s usually just Ray and I walking around together as Alf and Roo. When Belinda’s there I’m at the back – it’s quite funny!” shared Georgie.
“That’s why I would like Roo to have a relationship so she can be her own woman with her own life with her man.
“If it’s going to happen I’d like Cam to come back because he really resonated well with the audience and he’s a lovely guy and a lovely actor.
“Down the track, if he’s not too busy and the producers thought that might be a good thing, then you never know!”
We’re rooting for a Roo and Owen (Roo-wen?) reunion!
Home and Away airs weekdays at 1:15pm/6:00pm on Channel 5.
