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Character Profiles > Sadie Rodwell Emerald Chan

Sadie Rodwell 2022
Lived: 26 Ramsay Street
Parents: Andrew and Wendy Rodwell
Occupation: Student, Assistant at Harold's Cafe

When Zara Selwyn arrived in Erinsborough from Cairns, to live with her mum Amy, she was enrolled at Erinsborough High, where she quickly believed that she'd made two new friends - Aubrey Laing and Sadie Rodwell. The girls, however, were jealous of the interesting newcomer and had decided to do whatever they could to get rid of her. When Zara deliberately set off the fire alarm at the school, Aubrey and Sadie pretended to be impressed, inviting her into their friendship group, and into their private group chat about older student Hendrix Greyson. Having learnt that Hendrix was a neighbour of Zara's, the girls used her to get closer to him, even taking photos of him shirtless in the park. Trying to impress her new friends, Zara claimed that she and Hendrix were seeing each other, but couldn't go public because he already had a girlfriend, Mackenzie. Zara went as far as to fake texts from Hendrix, and steal a pendant he'd bought for Mackenzie, having it re-engraved to look like it was a gift for her.

Aubrey and Sadie were also plotting to make it look like Zara had been starting fires in Erinsborough, firstly a small one in a bin at the school, then another in the mail box outside 32 Ramsay Street, the home of Jane Harris, the teacher who Zara had been regularly clashing with. When these failed to get Zara sent back to Cairns, the girls escalated their plan, firstly sending Mackenzie a link to the group chat about Hendrix, getting Zara in more trouble, then setting a bigger fire at the school. It was at this point that Sadie began to feel guilty about everything, trying to make Aubrey see that they were going too far - and this proved to be the case, as the fire spread out of control. Mackenzie had gone to the school to look for Zara, to confront her about the Hendrix chat group, and the two of them became trapped in an art room, forced to climb through an air vent to escape. When Mackenzie became too weak to continue, Zara left her and raised the alarm, and a horrified Hendrix went back in to rescue his girlfriend. Though they both made it out alive, the incident left Hendrix with worse injuries than he initially realised.

Zara was blamed for the fire, but despite everything, Hendrix believed that she was innocent, and could see that Sadie was struggling with her guilt, with Aubrey pressuring her to keep quiet. Finally unable to live with what they'd done, Sadie confessed everything, with her stunned father joining her at the police station as she admitted her part in things. Sadie and Aubrey were both expelled from Erinsborough High, and Sadie apologised to Zara for her part in it all.

When Sadie's parents bought 26 Ramsay Street a couple of months later, she struggled with the realisation that she'd be living next-door to Hendrix, and that many people on the street didn't want the Rodwells as neighbours. Matters only worsened when an angry Mackenzie revealed, in a huge public outburst in the middle of the street, that the fire had left Hendrix seriously ill, and that his only hope of living beyond the next ten years was a lung transplant. Not only feeling unwelcome in her new home, Sadie was also struggling at her new school, and her parents became concerned about her low moods and poor grades. Things started to turn around when Susan and the school board were convinced to take Sadie back at Erinsborough High, believing that her remorse for her past actions was genuine, and that her schoolwork was suffering too much at her new school.

When word reached Ramsay Street that a lung donor had been found for Hendrix, and then the Rodwell family were invited to his wedding to Mackenzie, things seemed to finally be settling down for Sadie, with even her friendship with Zara back on track. But tragedy soon struck as, only a week after his wedding, Hendrix died suddenly, when his transplant operation went wrong and his body rejected the new lungs. Sadie was beside herself, feeling that she was responsible for what had happened, and she wrote a letter to grieving widow Mackenzie, who accepted it, but once alone, soon tore it up in anger. Whilst working on a school project, Sadie realised that the video camera she was using had previously been used by Hendrix to practice his wedding vows. Unsure what to do, she tried to tell Mackenzie's father Grant, who warned her off, feeling that his daughter was too fragile, and seeing Hendrix again might tip her over the edge - but when Mackenzie finally found out about the videos, they gave her some fleeting moments of comfort as she mourned her husband.

Still feeling like that she had to make up for her past actions, Sadie saw another opportunity when she found out that her dad was working on a case to catch Corey Smythe-Jones, a member of a cult called The Restoration Order, who'd kidnapped Harlow Robinson in an attempt to convert her. When Harlow backed out of the sting operation, Sadie convinced Zara to go with her, having overheard the location, and try to catch Corey themselves. The plan quickly ended in disaster when Corey caught them, knocked out Sadie and kidnapped Zara. It was only when Zara found some sleeping pills in the car and put them in Corey's water bottle, that she managed to tie him up in the back of the car and drive home to Ramsay Street, with both girls agreeing never to do anything so stupid again.

Within a few weeks, it looked like the Rodwells might be moving again, as Andrew and Wendy noticed other houses on the street going on the market and got a valuation from budding real estate agent Paige Smith. 26 Ramsay Street briefly went up for sale, but it wasn't to last long, and when everyone else on the street changed their minds about going, so did the Rodwells, and they joined everyone else on Ramsay Street for a huge party to mark the marriage of Toadie Rebecchi and Melanie Pearson.

Tenure
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Biography by Steve

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