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Unseen Character Profiles > Clifford Barnes

Clifford Barnes
Born: c. 1961
Marital Status: Pamela Barnes
Children: Oliver (Adoptive) and Sebastian [Will Griggs]
Family Tree: Barnes

Clifford Barnes was the owner of a prosperous hotel chain, which employed one Alan Napier. When Alan’s daughter, Rebecca, fell pregnant to an unknown man at just 16, Clifford and his wife Pamela seized the opportunity to finally get the child they thought they could never have. Rebecca gave her child, Oliver, to the Barnes’, in the hope that he would have a better life with them and believing that she would still see him often as she worked for the Barnes family. But Rebecca found it too hard to watch Oliver being brought up by others and she accepted money from Clifford and Pamela to leave.

Clifford and Pamela had believed that they could not have children, but two years after their secret adoption of Oliver, Pamela fell pregnant with their son, Sebastian. Oliver was neglected in favour of their ‘real’ son and although Clifford and Pamela left their hotel empire to him upon their deaths in 2006, they had never encouraged him to take it on. So Oliver set off around the world, travelling, and he gave up his inheritance to his brother. However, Sebastian, decided he wanted some freedom before he took over and so he adopted the name Will Griggs and stole his brother’s backpacking stories to move into no 30, Ramsay Street in October 2006. Eventually, it all came out and Sebastian ran away, leaving his brother in the street instead.

Oliver discovered his true parentage when Alan Napier, who had continued working for the Barnes’ until they died, fell ill. Alan had been helping Oliver to retrieve his inheritance from Sebastian and admitted that he believed Oliver had been treated unfairly by his parents. Then Alan collapsed, suffering a heart attack, and was admitted to hospital, where her finally admitted all. Oliver set off to find his real parents, struggling to come to terms with what Clifford and Pamela had done.

Trivia Notes
• In episode 5256, Clifford Barnes was briefly portrayed by Anthony Wemyss when Oliver watched an old home video of himself and his parents
• Anthony Wemyss appeared twice previously in Neighbours. Both roles were in 2005, for just one episode. In the first, he played Jeff Mass, a reported who asked Lyn how she felt about Steph committing euthanasia. In the second, he played Alan Graham, a counsellor who spoke to Alex Kinski following his diagnosis with leukemia

Biography by Sian