.
Guest Character Profiles > Evelyn Farlow Paula Arundell

After having an affair with married man Frank Canning Jr, Evelyn Farlow fell pregnant but, with her parents convincing her to give up her baby, Levi, and finish university, she left her son in the care of Frank and his wife, Jackie, who already had a son of their own, Dane, and would go on to have another son, Harley. Whilst Frank's mother, Sheila, was babysitting a nine-year-old Levi one day, he was attacked by a group of youths who broke into her home in Frankston, the attack leaving Levi with epilepsy. The incident led to Levi joining the police force as an adult and, after being transferred to Erinsborough, he ended up moving in with Sheila, as well as his cousin, Kyle. With Sheila being unusually standoffish with her Levi, and after learning about the way the attack had affected Levi's mental health over the year, she admitted that the attack hadn't actually been random and that the gang had actually been looking for Kyle. She explained that Kyle had fallen in with a bad crowd as a teenager so she'd sent him to stay in Erinsborough and, a week later, the gang had come looking for him and found Levi in the house alone, while Sheila popped out for milk. Levi was shocked to learn that Sheila had lied to the police and had actually known the identities of his attackers for years.

Sheila eventually managed to fix her relationship with Levi and, the following year, his mother Evelyn arrived for a visit. Evelyn had tried to be a part of Levi's life since he was young but had a strained relationship with the Cannings, particularly with Sheila. Having made a good life for herself with a husband, more children, a career and a big house in Portland, Evelyn had an air of confidence that left Sheila uncomfortable. Believing that it was because Evelyn knew the truth about Levi's attack, Sheila tried to clear the air and, although Evelyn insisted that it was all in the past, she remained distant with Sheila. Though Levi insisted that there was no problem, Evelyn finally admitted the truth to Sheila later that night - she felt that the Cannings had never welcomed her or wanted her to be a true part of Levi's life and Sheila had done nothing to help as Jackie poisoned the whole family against her. She admitted that the family's treatment of her had left her feeling ashamed and that she'd struggled to visit him since he moved to Erinsborough, having backed out on three separate occasions. She told Sheila that she'd always felt like the whole family were judging her for one mistake with a married man, whilst nobody was judging Frank Jr for his actions.

Sheila wondered if Levi had been aware of this tension and had felt like he missed out on seeing more of his mum when he was young, but he insisted that he'd just been glad to have two families to spend time with and, although he'd been aware of tension between Evelyn and Jackie, it hadn't really affected him. Meanwhile, Levi was keeping a secret of his own from his mum - he had recently become involved in a polyamorous relationship with Amy Greenwood and Ned Willis. Though Sheila and Kyle were aware, they had agreed to keep quiet about it, as they were all worried about how Evelyn would react to this development in her son's love life. When Evelyn spotted Levi staring at Amy and Ned across the bar one day, she asked him about them and he explained that they were friends of his. Evelyn was surprised to learn this, given the age difference and the fact that Amy was a divorcee with three children, and her judgmental attitude only made Levi more sure that he didn't want his mum to know the truth. Unfortunately, Sheila had other ideas, worried about keeping the secret from Evelyn after the way she'd treated her in the past, and not entirely happy with Levi's relationship either, she decided to ask Evelyn if she'd like to stay longer, hopeful that it would increase the chance of her learning the truth.

Having decided to stay a little longer, Evelyn started asking questions about Levi's love life, wondering when he was going to find someone new, having split up with Bea Nilsson months earlier. As Levi attempted to dodge the subject, not to mention Sheila's troublemaking comments on the subject, he worried about all of the time he was missing with Amy, so when Kyle offered to keep Evelyn occupied for a few hours, Levi happily agreed. Unfortunately, having told his mum that he was working that day, Levi was caught with Amy and had to lie to Evelyn that he was working undercover and that Amy was helping with the case. When Sheila then overheard Evelyn questioning Kyle's work ethic and making digs about the Cannings, she snapped and an argument broke out, with Sheila blurting out that Levi wasn't quite as pure as Evelyn liked to think. After learning the truth about the relationship from neighbour Karl Kennedy, who'd assumed that Evelyn knew about it, she then confronted Levi about his lies and told him that she didn't understand the polyamorous relationship, claiming that it could only end in heartbreak. Amy then decided that she needed to talk to Evelyn about the situation. Evelyn admitted that she didn't want her son to have to share his girlfriend, or to be in a relationship that he felt he had to hide, nor did she want him to have to face other people's judgement. Amy insisted that all three of them had gone into things with their eyes wide open and had learnt to deal with the comments from other people, but would still like Evelyn's blessing. Appreciating Amy's honesty and directness, Evelyn agreed to talk things through with her and Levi, but when Sheila saw them all, she was disappointed that her plan to split up Levi, Ned and Amy appeared to have failed.

Evelyn quickly realised that Sheila had asked her to stay in the hope that it would affect things for Levi and Amy and another argument broke out. Sheila quickly apologised for her behaviour, making Evelyn see that, although they went about things differently, their main concern was always for Levi's welfare and happiness. Realising that Sheila was right, Evelyn agreed to have dinner with Levi and Amy and, though she made it clear that she didn't completely understand Levi's new relationship, she told him that she was leaving the next day, adding that she had also been too judgemental about things and so she was going to trust that Levi knew what he was doing and hope for the best for all concerned.

Trivia Notes
• Although it was mentioned that Evelyn had other children, it was not specified how many, or their names and ages

Episodes Featured
8689, 8690, 8691, 8695, 8696

Biography by Steve

Back