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Guest Character Profiles > Gretchen Brook Amelia Bishop

When Andrew Rodwell started seriously considering tracing his biological family, but admitted to wife Wendy that his was worried that his parents wouldn't turn out to be good people, she decided to do a little research. Knowing that Andrew had been born in Sandy Point, to a naval family, she managed to work out the most likely people he was related to and contacted Gretchen Brook, who she believed to be Andrew's biological sister. They met up in secret, and Gretchen confirmed that Andrew was indeed her brother. She explained that her parents, Steven and Barbara, had been teenagers when she'd fallen pregnant with Andrew and had decided to give him up. They'd stayed together and gone on to have two more children, Gretchen and her brother, and she then told Wendy that Barbara had died. When Wendy asked about Steven, Gretchen told her that he was still alive, but had struggled with alcoholism after leaving the navy and it was still a problem, adding that he was a nasty drunk and she no longer had anything to do with him. Upon hearing this, Wendy decided that it might be better for Andrew not to know about any of it, with Gretchen in agreement, but telling Wendy that she was happy to hear that her older brother was doing well and had a wife who loved him enough to do all this for him.

When Andrew found out what Wendy had done, he struggled with the whole thing, particularly the news that his birth mother was dead and his father wasn't a nice guy. As the strain was felt in the Rodwell house, Wendy told daughter Sadie what she'd done, with Sadie's best friend Holly Hoyland also listening in. Holly quickly began to wonder if Gretchen had been completely honest, suggesting that they couldn't simply take her word for it. She decided to do some investigating of her own, later reporting to Andrew that she'd tracked down Steven Brook and spoken to him, claiming to be a journalist, and believing that he was actually a decent man. She told Andrew that she would accompany him to Sandy Point so that they could meet Steven and find out the truth. Though reluctant, Andrew decided to make the trip, where they spotted Steven and Gretchen on their boat. Andrew approached and introduced himself, relieved to find that Steven was very happy to finally meet him. Gretchen then explained that her dad had lung cancer and she'd lied to protect him, fearing that his health couldn't cope with the shock. Andrew was then happy to hear that Steven's latest test results were better and they quickly started to bond over shared interests, with Gretchen suggesting that they could all meet up again when they were ready.

A couple of weeks later, Andrew attended a Brook family event in Sandy Point, taking along some family photos and happy to start getting to know his biological family. With Wendy and Sadie unable to attend due to work commitments, Steven and Gretchen were happy to accept an invitation to Sadie's 21st birthday party, which would mark the first time Gretchen and Wendy had seen each other since their initial meeting. As Steven and Gretchen then arrived at the party, there were warm greetings for Andrew, but things were still tense between Wendy and Gretchen, a situation that only got worse as they all waited for Sadie's grand entrance. As Wendy made an innocent comment about how it was a shame that Andrew hadn't met Steven sooner, Gretchen took this as a dig at her for lying and the two women were soon arguing about things. Gretchen insisted that she'd only ever had her father's best interests at heart and that she'd been worried about bringing new people into the family, particularly if they'd turned out to be difficult and demanding like Wendy. Wendy then declared that Gretchen was clearly only interested in new family members on her own terms and Gretchen decided that she and Steven were leaving and would have to meet Sadie on another occasion.

Over the weeks that followed, phone calls between Gretchen and Wendy allowed them to patch up their differences, but there was a far bigger storm already brewing in the Rodwell marriage, as Andrew had begun an affair with Holly. Whilst they planned to leave Erinsborough together after ending their respective relationships, it proved far easier for Holly to split up with Max, her boyfriend of only a few months, than for Andrew to end his marriage of more than 20 years. As Andrew and Holly talked about moving down the coast, closer to Gretchen and Steven, she decided to get things moving along and got in touch with Gretchen via social media, casually suggesting that they could meet for coffee the next time she was working in the city. Much to Holly's surprise, Gretchen suggested meeting that day and, when Andrew saw her, he wrongly believed that Wendy had invited her after he had previously asked her not to. Whilst an oblivious Gretchen was happy to have coffee with both Holly and Wendy that morning, the incident ended up causing problems for Andrew in both his relationship with Wendy and with Holly. Holly was left upset when Andrew asked her to speak to him before she came up with ideas like inviting Gretchen, whilst Wendy was left concerned by Andrew's overreaction, worried that he still resented her for the way she'd gone behind his back to track down his biological family. Seeing this an a good excuse to start pulling away from her, Andrew told her that he did still hold some resentment and that she would need to be patient with him while he worked through his issues.

Episodes Featured
9258, 9264, 9277, 9320

Biography by Steve

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