| Gaby Willis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Rachel Blakely | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Don Battye (1991) Ric Pellizerri (2005) |
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| Duration | 1991–94, 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 12 August 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 27 July 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | Darwin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Fashion Designer Secretary Lassiter's Hotel Manager (1994-) |
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Gabrielle "Gaby" Willis is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Rachel Blakely. She made her first on-screen appearance 12 August 1991. The character departed in 1994. Blakely reprised her role in 2005 for the show's 20th anniversary.
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Blakely was introduced to the cast as Gaby in August 1991, alongside Scott Michaelson (Brad Willis).[1] Of their casting, James Cockington of The Sydney Morning Herald said "Despite some roller-coaster ratings of late, Ten still believes there is life in Ramsay Street and is introducing some new, young residents this week. Rachel Blakely, 23, and Scott Michaelson, 20, conform to the teen hunk/spunk category that has made E Street such a fun place to visit. Gaby and Brad, as they will become better known, appear as a boutique owner and her brother."[1]
In April 2005, it was announced that Blakely had reprised her role of Gaby for Neighbours' 20th anniversary in July of that year.[2]
Gaby arrives home from Japan after completing a business course over there. She poses as the family's lawyer in order to trick one of her father Doug's (Terence Donovan) debtors into paying off a $10,000 debt in order for the family to bail her brother, Brad out of an Asian jail. After settling into the area, Gaby puts her fashion skills to good use and opens up her own Boutique called Gabrielle's. She goes into partneship with Caroline Alessi (Gillian Blakeney). Guy Carpenter (Ian Williams) and Glen Donnelly (Richard Huggett) both express in a interest in Gaby but she prefers Glen and they become a couple. Gaby and Glen split up and she uses Guy to make Glen jealous and a shouting match begins when Glen arrives at Number 24 where Guy lives. When Gaby confronts Glen about his behaviour, he proposes and she accepts. The engagement does not last as Glen suffers a fall from the roof of Lassiter's on Christmas Day and is left paraplegic as a result. He later flees Erinsborough.
Gaby's problems are not helped when her aunt Faye Hudson (Lorraine Bayly) accidentally leaves on a fan heater, causing the boutique to burn. After a rebellious phase, Gaby decides to take stock of her life after she sees Brad score a job at The Waterhole as head barman. Gaby then becomes secretary at The Robinson corporation office at the Lassiter's complex.
When Simon Hunter (Fred Whitlock), a client of Lassiter's meets Gaby, she is smitten with him and they go away to hotel in the country for the weekend. Simon attempts to rape Gaby but she flees and returns to Erinsborough to press charges. Doug finds out and is enraged. Doug and Brad confront Simon, resulting in Doug beating him up. Simon then blackmails Gaby into dropping the attempted rape charges by threatening to sue Doug, who is more than willing to wear the punishment. Gaby ultimately wants to put the matter behind her and decides not to press charges.
Wayne Duncan (Jonathon Sammy-Lee) arrives in Erinsborough and immediately makes an enemy of Gaby when he tries to get her attention in the bar and she accuses him of groping her and promptly pours beer all over him. Gaby's grandfather, Bert (Bud Tingwell) soon figures there is an obvious attraction between the two and soon sets about matchmaking. Gaby and Wayne's relationship is a rocky one as Wayne does not get on with Gaby's mother, Pam (Sue Jones) and Gaby being jealous of his close friendship with housemate Annalise Hartman (Kimberly Davies). The final straw comes when Wayne is accused of murdering Cactus, a biker who beat him up in a case of mistaken identity and Gaby doubts his innocence as Wayne is known to keep a gun in the garage. After Wayne is cleared, he breaks up with Gaby as he feels hurt by her suspicions.
Gaby later takes flying lessons and falls for her instructor Jack Flynn (Mark Pennell). Jack tells Gaby he is a virgin and she is sympathetic until a former student reveals he used the same line to get her into bed several years earlier. Jack tells Gaby that the student was bitter that he refused to sleep with her. Jack's true colours emerge when he begins making advances on Lauren Carpenter (Sarah Vandebergh) and Gaby's younger sister, Cody (Peta Brady) and she dumps him. To get over this, Gaby and Annalise go on a pre-christmas flight but suffer a crash landing which they both survive.
After her family overhear a telephone conversation, Gaby admits she is pregnant and Jack is the father. Gaby refuses to let Jack have anything to do with the baby at first, but eventually agrees to let him support the child financially. One weekend at a resort with the family, Gaby discovers she is bleeding and convinced she will lose the baby, but is relieved when she discovers the bleeding is from the placenta and she is required to rest in order to heal. Gaby eventually goes into labour and gives birth to a son. She plans to name the baby Shannon but neighbour Cheryl Stark (Caroline Gillmer) has the same idea for using the name for her daughter born on the same day. In the end, both women give their children the respective names of Zac and Louise.
Rosemary Daniels (Joy Chambers) offers Gaby the opportunity to become manager of the Darwin branch of Lassiter's and she accepts. During this time, Gaby becomes closer to Jack again and he agrees to move up North nearby. Gaby and Zac then leave Erinsborough. Annalise and her fiance Mark Gottlieb (Bruce Samazan) later visit while on a Varitey Club bash road tour. Doug and Pam later sell up and move to Darwin near Gaby. Gaby then offers Rick Alessi (Dan Falzon) a job working for her and he accepts. In 1996, Cody is killed during a shootout and she is buried with the family attending the funeral in Darwin.
When Annalise makes a documentary film about Ramsay Street feautring past residents, Gaby appears in the film outside talking of her experiences and how driven she was to climb any corporate ladder and mentions she is still managing Lassiter's in Darwin.
The BBC said Gaby's most notable moment was "Surviving a plane crash with Annalise".[3]
During a feature on Neighbours, Anna Pickard of The Guardian tried to choose the characters she would be most starstruck by if she met them. She said "It would have to be the Willis family. All of them. Pam, Doug, Adam, Gaby, Brad and Cody".[4]
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