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Character Profiles > Glen Donnelly Richard Huggett

Glen Donnelly was born as the result of an affair his mother Maureen had while nursing in Vietnam with soldier Jim Robinson. Maureen didn't discover she was pregnant until returning to Australia and decided not to try and find Jim to tell him, given that he was married with children. Consequently, Glen was raised knowing only that his father's name was Jim Robinson.

When Maureen died of cancer when Glen was twenty, Jim received bills in the post for Maureen's funeral costs from Glen. Having never heard of Maureen Donnelly, a puzzled Jim sent the bills back to Glen assuming he had gotten the wrong address. A disgusted Glen turned up on Jim's doorstep in person a few days later, and revealed that he was his son. Jim was shocked, especially since he thought the nurse he had an affair with in Vietnam was called Katherine Simpson. It transpired that Maureen and Katherine had swapped uniforms the night Jim met Maureen, and this was why Jim never knew the real name of the nurse he had slept with was Maureen Donnelly. Glen realised he had been too hard on Jim, considering he had never been aware he existed in the first place, and he was thrilled when Jim expressed his desire to get to know Glen better. When Jim invited Glen to move into the Robinson household on Ramsay Street, Glen accepted.

However, Glen found it difficult to fit into the family at first. Living at No.26 with Jim was the mother of his late wife Anne, Helen Daniels, who had to adjust to the fact that Jim had cheated on her daughter. But Helen gradually began to look on Glen as part of the family, and became something of a confidante to him in the ensuing months. The biggest obstacle for Glen to overcome was to gain the acceptance of his half-brothers and sisters. While Julie and Scott accepted Glen, Jim's eldest son Paul refused to accept the new addition to the family and he and Glen failed to get on with each other. The only Robinson sibling still in the dark about Glen's existence was Jim's youngest daughter, Lucy, who was away at boarding school. But Lucy returned home unexpectedly before Jim had had a chance to tell her, and she was immediately attracted to Glen after arriving home to find him in the living room wearing nothing but a bath towel. Glen was also attracted to Lucy, but knew she was his half-sister and refused to let anything happen. But even after Jim told Lucy about Glen, she still couldn't stop her feelings for him and they kissed. But both realised what they were doing was wrong and stopped things developing any further.

Glen landed a job as a barman at The Waterhole pub, which he was surprised at, due to the fact that the resentful Paul owned the Lassiter's Hotel Complex, where it was based. But the rugged Glen preferred working in the outdoors to behind a classy bar and soon swapped pulling pints for building sites, when he was taken on as a labourer with neighbour Doug Willis' construction firm. Romance came briefly with Gemma Ramsay. But it was when old flame Karen Constintine showed up in Erinsborough that Glen started to get serious, since Karen revealed she was pregnant with his child. Glen was initially shocked by the news that he was about to become a father, but had soon resolved to do the right thing and he and Karen became engaged. But just as the couple were taking their vows, Karen confessed that Glen wasn't the father of her baby and fled Erinsborough in shame.

It wasn't long before Glen was engaged again - this time to Doug's daughter Gaby. The two had clashed upon Gaby's return to Erinsborough from a two year business course in Japan, but when Gaby comforted Glen on the anniversary of his mother's death, a bond developed between the two and they were soon dating. After a brief split, Glen hastily proposed to Gaby after she showed signs of falling for ladies man Guy Carpenter. Gaby was thrilled by the proposal and accepted. But just as the wedding plans were getting underway, tragedy struck for Glen when he fell from the roof of Lassiter's Hotel while trying to fix a banner with Todd Landers for Paul. It resulted in Glen being left paralysed from the waist down, which devastated him. Feeling useless and a burden, he began to block Gaby out and reject her sympathy and support.

Paul, meanwhile, suddenly began to act differently towards Glen - giving him anything he wanted and frequently visiting him. But it didn't take Glen long to realise that Paul was simply terrified he would be sued by Glen. Glen initially wanted nothing from Paul other than the cost of his medical expenses looked after, but when Paul attempted to have Glen sign a document wavering his rights to sue The Robinson Corporation, a furious Glen decided to sue Paul for a massive amount of money. However, Glen found himself alienated by the whole family - most notably Jim, who begged him not to ruin Paul's business empire. Karen returned upon hearing of Glen's accident, with baby Rose in tow, and Glen turned to her for comfort and support, gradually falling in love with her again. Disgusted by the way his family had - as he saw it - turned their back on him in favour of Paul, Glen secretly agreed to take an out-of-court settlement from Paul before fleeing Erinsborough to start a new life with Karen and Rose. Both Jim and Gaby searched everywhere for Glen, but they never succeeded in locating him, and his whereabouts have remained a mystery since.

Tenure
1350-1609

Magic Moments
Episode 1350: Glen's Arrival

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