.
Character Profiles > Caroline Alessi Gillian Blakeney

Caroline Alessi 1990-1992, 2019
Lived: 22 Ramsay Street
Parents: Frank and Margaret Alessi
Siblings: Christina
Family Tree: Alessi
Occupation: Assistant Manager of The Robinson Corporation and Lassiter's Hotel

Career minded and confident, Caroline Alessi was the elder of twins (sister Christina was born twenty five minutes after her) born to second generation Italian immigrant Frank Alessi and his Australian wife, Margaret. The identical twins were always very close and grew up as best friends as well as sisters. As teenagers, they would play pranks that only twins can, like swapping classes to fool teachers and tricking boyfriends.

But while Christina was always more reserved and less driven, Caroline was far more outgoing and confident and more academically successful at school. Upon completion of her HSC, Caroline started working in big restaurants and hotels. But after the twins witnessed a murder in 1990, they were placed under the witness protection programme, and advised to pose as the one person - Linda Giles - as an extra precaution. The twins moved into No. 22 Ramsay Street, not far from their parents home. Caroline landed a job as Paul Robinson's number two at The Robinson Corporation, and assistant manager of Lassiter's Hotel, under the guise of Linda, while Chrissie stayed indoors as much as possible to avoid the twins being seen together in public. However, as Chrissie began to tire of hiding out all day, Caroline agreed to let her act as Linda from time to time, leading to bewilderment on Paul's part when 'Linda' would suddenly become useless around the office. After Caroline failed to realise Christina was posing as Linda one day, she walked in on her and Paul at the office, and the twins were forced to reveal the truth to Paul. The murderer they were hiding from was caught soon after, and Caroline was finally free to devote her full attention to the job at Lassiter's.

Paul moved into No. 22 with the twins after they figured it would do no harm to have a man around the house, and as the girls got to know him better, both realised they were attracted to him. At first, the twins battled for his affections, but eventually agreed on a 'hand's off' pact to avoid any tension between them. Instead, Caroline started dating Paul's father, Jim, who was 20 years her senior. The relationship caused so much controversy among the neighbours that they agreed to cool things off, and Caroline began dating student doctor, Adam Willis, from No. 28 instead. But Adam was always struggling to make ends meet with the expenses of life as a medical student, and as a result, found himself feeling beneath Caroline who was used to a few more luxuries. The couple eventually split, but remained good friends.

While Caroline had been seeing Adam, Christina had started seeing Paul, and they eventually married, with Caroline as bridesmaid. Feeling restless in Erinsborough, Caroline was delighted when Paul's aunt Rosemary Daniels offered her a top job with her company, the Daniels Corporation, in New York, and she readily accepted. But while in New York, Caroline uncovered a plot within the Daniels Corporation to discredit Paul and immediately phoned Paul to inform him. Grateful for Caroline's loyalty, Paul persuaded her to return to work for him at The Robinson Corporation complete with a wage increase. Caroline agreed, but on her return to the office, she clashed with her replacement, Martin Tyrell, who mistook her for a secretary and asked him to get him some coffee. A feud developed between the two, but while working alone at the office one afternoon, Martin came to Caroline's aid when she started having severe pains in her stomach. She quickly realised that she was experiencing sympathetic labour pains for Christina, who had been taken into hospital that same day to give birth. Martin brought Caroline home, and waited with her for news of Chrissie. After Paul phoned to tell them Christina had given birth to a baby boy, Andrew, Caroline and Martin got caught up in the excitement and kissed. They embarked on a relationship, but Caroline soon discovered that Martin was married with two children. He assured Caroline that he and his wife were separated, however, but Caroline felt hurt and betrayed when she showed up at Martin's apartment one night to find his family there, and it transpired that they had never separated at all. Caroline was then left heartbroken as Martin chose to stay with his family.

Caroline grew closer to Paul when they got trapped in the bush overnight after their car broke down on the way back to Erinsborough from a business meeting. Throughout their ordeal, it became clear to the two that a certain chemistry existed between the two of them, but they buried their feelings to avoid causing any upset to Christina. Things came to a head one night, however, when Paul was banished to the sofa after an argument with Christina. Caroline came downstairs during the night to get a drink of water, and Paul initially mistook her in the dark for Christina, pulling her to him to kiss her. But even after he realised it was Caroline, Paul kissed her again, and Caroline was delighted that at last, they had both acted upon their feelings. But Caroline could not cope with the guilt she felt whenever she was around Christina afterwards, and matters were complicated further when her cousin, Marco, overheard Caroline talking about her feelings with Paul in the Coffee Shop one day. So, when the chance of running a hotel near her family in Italy arose, Caroline quickly packed her bags and made plans to leave Erinsborough. Christina was devastated by her sister's departure, particularly the speed at which she had left. It was only a few weeks later when Christina overheard Paul confiding in his grandmother, Helen, that she realised what had happened between Caroline and Paul.

An angry and hurt Christina flew to Milan to confront Caroline, and after a lot of soul searching, the twins reconciled their differences. Caroline still opted to stay in Milan, however, because she had finally began managing a hotel of her own - something she had always wanted.

It would be almost three decades before Paul and Caroline came face to face again. Christina was in Queensland, where she’d been persuaded by Paul’s daughter, Elle, to show up at a resort where Paul and his latest fiancee, Terese, were planning to get married. Having already arranged for Paul’s other ex-wives, Gail, Lyn and Rebecca, along with a reminder of his dead first wife, Terry, to show up, Elle hoped that this would be the final nail in the coffin for the engagement, and that Terese wouldn’t end up badly hurt like all of the other women. Having learnt of the scheme, Caroline had tried to talk her twin out of it, but when that failed, she’d followed Christina to the resort, telling her that she shouldn’t be interfering in a relationship she knew nothing about. As the plan appeared to have worked, and Paul called off the wedding, Caroline went to see Terese and told her that it was all a set-up. Christina and Paul were then summoned to the room, where the twins explained that Christina, along with Paul’s other ex-wives, had been getting information and tipping each other off, and Paul was stunned to learn that Elle had been behind the whole thing, and that another of his children, Leo, had also been in on it.

As Paul and Terese tried to come to terms with the lengths his children had gone to, in order to stop the marriage, Caroline and Christina were also finding it difficult to be around each other. Caroline made it up to Paul and Terese by arranging a celebrant so that the wedding could go ahead, with her and a reluctant Christina as witnesses. Before the day was over, the twins also managed to address the tension that had lingered between them for years, with Christina admitting that, watching Caroline’s career go from strength to strength had made her jealous, and she’d blamed her twin’s affair with Paul, feeling that things might have turned out differently if that never happened. Having opened up to each other, Caroline and Christina decided to stick around in Queensland for a little longer, and finally do some of the sisterly bonding they’d been missing out on for years.

Tenure
1119-1676, 8185-8187

Biography by Moe

Back