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; Jason Donovan), and Lucy Robinson (Kylie Flinker; Sasha Close; Melissa Bell). 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. 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. 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."
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.
Homes
26 Ramsay Street Number 26 was the home of the Robinson family from the show's beginning until Jim Robinson's death in 1993.Monroe 1994, p.165. 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. 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.
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.Monroe 1994, p.162. 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. It was briefly rented to the Lim family, before Paul sells it to Cheryl Stark (Caroline Gillmer). 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' (Rebekah Elmaloglou) Lassiters employment deal includes the house as accommodation. Paul moves back into the house to live with Terese in 2019.
30 Ramsay Street Paul and his new wife Terry Inglis (Maxine Klibingaitis) occupied Number 30 in late 1985. Paul moves back to Number 26 after Terry shoots him in the living room.Monroe 1994, p.170. 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 Robinson (Ashley Paske) alone lived in Number 26, Number 28, Number 30 and Number 32 during his years in the show.
Departure and reintroduction 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. In the finale of the 2004 season, Paul returned to the area and re-established the Robinson family in Neighbours.
Lineage expansion 2000s Following Dennis' return to the serial in 2004, the Robinson lineage was greatly expanded on. On 19 September 2005, Paul's daughter, Elle Robinson (Pippa Black), was introduced as one of three of Paul and Gail Robinson's (Fiona Corke) children, who were all born off-screen in 1989. During the pregnancy and following Paul and Gail's divorce, she moves to Tasmania, where she raises Elle, Robert Robinson (Adam Hunter) and Cameron Robinson (also Hunter). Elle's brothers were both introduced on 28 March 2006. Robert and Cameron's storyline sees Cameron killed in the crossfire of Robert's attempt to kill his father, who he had grown "withdrawn and isolated – and deeply resentful" of for leaving him and his siblings during their youth. Upon arriving in Erinsborough, Robert commits identity fraud by pretending to be Cameron, which eventually leads to Cameron's death, as he is "bumped off" by Max Hoyland (Stephen Lovatt). After killing three members of Neighbours''' Bishop family and attempting to kill Paul twice, Robert is sent to prison. Pippa Black decided to bow out of the serial in 2009. Two years later, Neighbours producers approached Jordan Patrick Smith to play the role of Paul's other son, Andrew Robinson, who was born on-screen in 1991. Smith agreed and joined the serial's regular cast on a two-year contract, which was renewed once it expired.
In February 2009, Kate Ramsay (Ashleigh Brewer), Harry Ramsay (Will Moore) and Sophie Ramsay (Kaiya Jones) were introduced as a new generation of the Ramsay family. It then emerged on-screen that Anne Robinson had an affair with married man Max Ramsay (Francis Bell), and they had an illegitimate child named Jill Ramsay (Perri Cummings). Kate, Harry and Sophie's mother. Jill's existence was kept quiet due to the feud between the Robinsons and Ramsays. Although Jill soon dies from a hit and run, the new Ramsay characters gave Paul additional family for him to appear alongside. When asked about his connection to the Robinson and Ramsay families, Moore explained, "At first I thought 'Oh my God, am I supposed to do something special?' Everyone said 'Your character's Harry Ramsay? Like Ramsay Street?' So I have those connections, but I got used to playing it after a while. It's pretty cool to be playing a part that has so much history and it's cool that we're related to so many of the original characters – Anne Robinson and Max Ramsay had an affair and had our mum."
2010s 2014 saw the introduction of powercouple Scott and Charlene Robinson's (Kylie Minogue) son, Daniel Robinson (Tim Phillipps). The character was created in 1992, but first appeared in 2014. Dennis, who played the only remaining Robinson character in the show at the time, supervised and assisted producers with auditions. Phillips planned on staying a part of the cast until at least 2017, but producers decided to write his character out with his newly wedded wife, Imogen Willis (Ariel Kaplan), but not before Sarah Ellen made her debut as Daniel's sister, Madison, a character first referenced in 1995.
In 2015, a storyline saw Paul falsely diagnosed with cancer, which pushes him to find his estranged daughter, Amy Williams, who was previously played by Nicolette Minster and Sheridan Compagnino in 1988 and 1992 respectively. It was announced in May 2015 that Zoe Cramond had passed auditions and would be playing Amy on a regular basis. Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy also revealed that Amy would be bringing her son, Jimmy Williams (Darcy Tadich), to Erinsborough, giving Paul his first grandchild. Of the family expansion, Dennis joked, "What, I'm grandfather? How did that happen? I guess if you stick around long enough, that's the next step, although the one consolation - Alan Fletcher was a grandpa before me." Around this time, Melissa Bell reprised her role as Lucy Robinson in a storyline that sees her and Chris Pappas (James Mason) agree to have a daughter, who they name Annie Robinson-Pappas (Gracie Helen Vine).
Amy begins helping twins David (Takaya Honda) and Leo Tanaka (Tim Kano) find their father and develops a romantic relationship with Leo. Amy and Leo break up and reunite a number of times before finally agreeing to a real relationship in 2017. Kim Tanaka (Jenny Young) eventually reveals to Paul that Leo and David are his kids due to a pregnancy in 1985 caused by Paul and Kim having sex in the Erins Burrow Motel. The news reaches Amy and Leo before they have sex. The moment was named "awkward… horrible… mortifying." Dennis, Cramond, Kano, Honda and Young were all aware of the outcome for the storyline when it began. Of his role, Kano stated a few years later that acting as Leo "doesn't feel like work at all."
Paul discovers that he has a granddaughter named Harlow Robinson (Jemma Donovan) when he and David visit Robert in prison. Harlow explains to her family that Robert and her mother met in Tasmania, but Harlow was raised in London. Donovan explained, "I am so happy and very honoured to be a part of a series which has been enjoyed by generations." Donovan's real life father played Harlow's great uncle, Scott, whilst her grandfather Terence played Doug Willis, and her aunt, Stephanie Mcintosh played Sky Mangel. Jemma Donovan's connection to the Robinson family was named "an unexpected surprise."
2020s David and his husband, Aaron Brennan (Matt Wilson), begin researching surrogacy in 2020 in order for them to have a child. They decide to get an egg donor from Canada, but newcomer Nicolette Stone (Charlotte Chimes) offers to be the egg donor and surrogate mother after careful consideration. Chimes described that Nicolette planned on being a "fun aunty" in the child's life. To the disappointment of Paul, as he and Nicolette do not get along well, David and Aaron begin the surrogacy process and Nicolette falls pregnant in 2021. This paves the way for Kano's reprisal as Leo, who departed the soap two years prior. Leo becomes suspicious of Nicolette's attachment to the child, so he buys a local business as a reason to stay in Erinsborough. Kano stated, "He finds a reason to stick around in Erinsborough, so that he can keep an eye on things. However, then as the storyline goes on, you start to see that Leo has a few skeletons in his closet that will come into play as well." Additionally, he commented, "That's why I was really drawn to this storyline, and to coming back to Neighbours."