Robinson family

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The Robinson family are a fictional family from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours. The family were created by Reg Watson and introduced in the first episode of the serial, broadcast on 18 March 1985. The family initially consisted of Jim Robinson (Alan Dale), his mother-in-law Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy), and his four children Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis), Julie Martin (Vikki Blanche), Scott Robinson (Darius Perkins), and Lucy Robinson (Kylie Flinker). The Robinsons have one of the largest and most complex family trees in the show's history.

Creation[]

The Robinson family was one of three central families introduced to viewers when Neighbours began in 1985, created by the show's creator and executive producer Reg Watson.^[1] Watson said the idea for Neighbours began with the Robinsons – a widower and four children. He wanted a mother-in-law to live with them, and decided that she would be supportive instead of interfering, as television viewers had come to expect.^[2] Of how the Robinson family came to be created, Watson said "I thought how interesting it would be to have a family where the children could ask their parents anything and get an honest answer."^[3]

Development[]

The Robinsons are made up of several different family groups that have married together. These are the original Robinsons, the Daniels, the Martins, the Dennisons, the Simpsons and the Duncans. The Robinsons live in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough and have roots leading back to the 1800s in that area. The family have always lived in Ramsay Street, the land once owned by former Mayor "Black" Jack Ramsay.^{[citation needed]}

Homes[]

No. 26 Ramsay Street was home to the Robinson family from 1985 to 1993.

No. 26 Ramsay Street

Number 26 was the home of the Robinson family from the show's beginning until Jim Robinson's death in 1993.^[4] The house was then owned by Jim's mother-in-law, Helen Daniels, who lived with various family members and lodgers, until her on-screen death in 1997. Following the departure of Helen's former son-in-law Philip Martin and his family in late 1999, Number 26 is home to the Scully family.^[5] In 2013, Jim's son Paul buys the house from Lyn Scully (Janet Andrewartha). He rents it to Sheila Canning (Colette Mann) until late 2015 when she buys it from him.

No. 22 Ramsay Street

Bought by Paul on behalf of the Daniels Corporation in 1986, it becomes the second family home after he marries Gail Lewis in June 1987.^[6] Paul rents the house to Caroline and Christina Alessi, before moving back in when he marries Christina. Following their departures, Paul rents the house to Christina's uncle and aunt, who live there with their sons.^[6] It was briefly rented to the Lim family, before Paul sells it to Cheryl Stark (Caroline Gillmer).^[6] In 2005, following the character's return to Erinsbourough, he buys the house from Valda Sheergold and lives there until 2013. The set then underwent a makeover in time for the reintroduction of the Willis family, who move in when Terese Willis's (Rebekah Elmaloglou) Lassiters employment deal includes the house as accommodation.^[7] Paul moves back into the house to live with Terese in 2019.

No. 30 Ramsay Street

Paul and his new wife Terry were the first known occupants of Number 30. Paul moves back to Number 26 after Terry shoots him in the living room.^[8] Matt and his mother Hilary live in the house between 1989 and 1990.

Members of the Robinson family have lived in every house in the street at one point or another. Matt alone lived in no. 26, no. 28, no. 30 and no. 32 during his years in the show.

Incest[]

In 1991, Lucy Robinson returned to Ramsay Street. In the time she had been away, Jim's illegitimate son Glen Donnelly had showed up and revealed his existence to Jim. After living together for months, the attraction between Lucy and Glen resulted in a kiss. Though their relationship was short and mostly implied, the BBC cut the plot and edited the episodes around it.^[9] However, UKTV Gold re-aired these episode in 1998 with the plot remaining intact.

A second near-incest storyline was featured in 2007, when Elle Robinson fell in love with Oliver Barnes, and they had sex, shortly before Oliver was informed by his mother that Paul was really his father. Had this been true, this would have been the furthest an incest storyline had gone in the show's history. However, the claim was disproved by a DNA test soon after.

A third storyline aired in 2017, featuring a romantic relationship between half-siblings Amy Williams and Leo Tanaka. Their father, Paul, managed to stop them from consummating their relationship in time.^[10]

Character assassination[]

Stefan Dennis departed the series in 1992 and moved to the UK. His character, Paul Robinson, moved to the United States, a rather open-ended departure. Dennis returned in 1993 for the 2000th episode celebrations and to close the book on the character. In the week he appeared in the show, Paul set up Philip Martin, his brother-in-law, to make it look like he was defrauding Lassiters, the hotel Paul owns. After the police began investigating, Paul's conscience got the better of him. He wrote a letter that cleared Phil of all wrongdoing and escaped the country after saying goodbye to Helen. This was intended to be the character's final appearance and to this day many fans regard it as being completely out of character for Paul.

When Stefan Dennis returned to the show in 2004, most of his storylines stemmed from the fraud storyline and displayed him as a morally corrupt, hate-filled villain. Since his return, Paul has murdered Gus Cleary, set fire to and destroyed the Lassiters complex, attempted to sell Ramsay Street to American developers to turn it into a shopping centre, been a homewrecker to the Bishop family (formerly friends of his) and eventually lost his leg in a fall. A possible explanation has been offered for this behaviour: a brain tumour, which Elle believes may be responsible for everything bad he has ever done. After the tumour was removed, Paul lost 20 years worth of his memory.

Although he attempted to redeem himself, Paul was shown to have a repetitive streak of meddling in his children's relationships. In 2017, Kim Tanaka revealed to him that he had two more children with her. He has since had a tumultuous relationship with David and Leo, meddling in their respective relationships with Aaron Brennan and Terese Willis, as well as those of his daughter Amy. He has also been variously criticised by his family members for his dodgy dealings with Mannix Foster and others including Victor Cleary, the brother of Gus, and the role it played in his niece Kate Ramsay's death. These actions have accumulated for the character countless enemies including Mark Brennan, Chloe Brennan, Gary Canning, Pierce Greyson and Hendrix Greyson.

Return[]

In the finale of the 2004 season, Paul returned to the area and re-established the Robinson family in Neighbours. Since his return, he has seen Rosemary and Lucy, and his daughter Lucinda "Elle" Robinson has come to live with him. In 2006, Adam Hunter began his Neighbours career as the remaining triplets Robert and Cameron. When Cameron is in a coma, Robert (who put his brother in the coma in the first place) has come to live with his father posing as Cameron to get close to the family and fulfil his plans of revenge. Fiona Corke returned briefly in 2006 and 2007 as Gail and in 2009 the family tree was extended with Paul's long lost sister Jill (product of an affair between Anne Robinson and Max Ramsay) being found. Jill's death in a road accident means her orphaned children Katie, Harry and Sophie have now moved into Number 24. Paul's youngest son, Andrew came to visit his father at the end of 2009 and moved in with him and his wife Rebecca.

Family members[]

Jim's mother-in-law, Helen Daniels, is also considered a member of the family.

Reception[]

In her 1994 book The Neighbours Programme Guide, Josephine Monroe wrote "In the nine years that Neighbours has been going, each member of this remarkable family has endured enough trauma to put most people into an early grave! It seems these Robinson folk have invincibility running through their veins."^[11] In 2003, Inside Soap ran a poll asking which soap families were the most loved and loathed of all time. The Robinson's came third with 16% of the vote to find the most loved family of the 1980s, behind the Watts from EastEnders and the Ewings from Dallas.^[12] They were also voted the third most loathed family of that decade, receiving 11% of the vote.^[12] Roz Golds from The Birmingham Post called the Robinson family "the original heart of the show".^[3] Joe Julians of the Radio Times said the Robinsons "take no prisoners" and described the 2020 incarnation of the family as "ruthless, but strong and independent with a taste for romance, even if it doesn't always work out."^[13]

References[]

• Monroe, Josephine (1994). The Neighbours Programme Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-86369-831-6.