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Trixie Tucker Wendy
Stapleton
Trixie
Carpenter (prev. Tucker) 2003-2004
Lived: 22
Ramsay Street
Marital Status: Lou Carpenter (2003-2004; divorced)
Children: Nina Tucker
Ocupation: Cabaret singer, pub singer
A
talented singer and performer, Trixie spent most of her life
touring the world, performing with her ‘husband’ and partner,
Nick Tucker. When their daughter, Nina, came along, the shows
continued, with the youngster tagging along. After Nina’s
schooling began to suffer, and with her VCE approaching, the
family began to spend more time in their new home in Erinsborough.
Trixie still spent long periods away from home, but after
a series of bad reviews, it became obvious that her career
was starting to dry up.
The
revelation that Nick had been having an affair with one of
the chorus singers from ‘Cats’ was the final straw for their
relationship, both personal and professional. After struggling
to keep these problems from Nina for a while, it became obvious
when Nina attended one of her mother’s solo shows. Trixie
had no confidence when performing on her own. After the disastrous
show, Lou Carpenter was amazed
to spot Trixie in the pub, as he had followed her early career
and developed a huge crush on the woman. He became keen to
have her perform in his pub and she was thrilled to have a
new, regular venue. However, her first performance went badly
wrong as she missed notes and forgot lyrics, until Nina stepped
in and joined her mother, rescuing the show.
With
this, Lou and Trixie announced that mother and daughter would
be forming a duo – the Tucker Twins. It all seemed ideal,
though Nina wasn’t quite so sure. Nonetheless, Lou’s enthusiasm
kept the whole project alive and it seemed that he wasn’t
only interested in Trixie on a professional level. The couple
began to spend more and more time together and when Trixie
declared that she couldn’t go on living with Nick, Lou offered
to rent number 22 to her and Nina. Trixie arranged a romantic
meal for Lou as a thankyou and the pair shared a kiss, though
he was keen not to be seen as the one to ruin a marriage.
After finding out that Nina had signed a contract with Melody
Jones and forged her signature, Trixie was furious, almost
leading to the end of the Tucker Twins. But it seemed that,
with Lou making grand plans for a new dressing room at the
back of the pub and the relationship continuing to develop,
Trixie was set to stick around. However, Lou still seemed
like he didn't want to make a commitment, but after a chat
with Trixie, in which she made it clear that things with Nick
were completely over, they kissed again. When they got home,
Trixie had a surprise in store - she and Nick had never been
legally married, meaning that Lou wouldn't have to wait for
a divorce before he could go public with their relationship.
Meanwhile, this revalation also meant that Nina was an illegitimate
child, something that Lou urged Trixie to tell her daughter...
When
Trixie broke this news to her daughter, she was angry and upset, refusing to speak to her
mother for a while and going to stay with her dad. Trixie decided to give her daughter some
time and, meanwhile, she announced to Lou that she wanted nothing to ruin their happiness and
so she proposed to him. Lou happily accepted, the couple’s joy only spoilt by the news from
Connor that Nina had gone to Bombay with Nick. Trixie accepted that her daughter was going
to take a while to get over everything that had happened and began planning her big day.
Meanwhile, she also got an offer to tour as the lead in a production of Hello Dolly, touring
Asia. An excited Trixie asked Lou to become executive producer by investing half a million dollars,
but he wasn’t so sure. She realised she’d overstepped the mark and apologised.
Soon after, Lou’s old flame Valda returned to Erinsborough to spend Christmas with her family. When Trixie realised who she was, she immediately became concerned with having a threat to her relationship with Lou. As the day of their wedding dawned, Trixie realised that Lou had been hiding something from her and was convinced that he had started seeing Valda again. However, she got a huge surprise when she was driven in the limo to Her Majesty’s Theatre, where Lou had arranged for them to have a true showbiz wedding. Despite one or two hiccups, mainly from a huge objection from Valda in the middle of the ceremony, accusing Trixie of being a gold-digger, they happily exchanged their vows in front of their friends and neighbours.
However, at the reception, things took a turn for the worse when, in the middle of the speeches, Harold was found, collapsed in the car park. Trixie agreed to stay at the pub and sort everything out while Lou went to the hospital. However, Trixie wasn’t happy with the turn of events and she made it clear that Harold had ruined her special day, leading to an argument with Connor. When Trixie returned to the pub later that evening to lock up, she caught Connor with Carmella and took her revenge by phoning Rocco to tell him of his daughter’s illicit affair. When Lou was forced to cancel the honeymoon so that he could help look after Harold, Trixie was once again upset, but she threw herself into being the perfect housewife. However, after a series of burnt muffins, ruined meals and scorched shirts, it started to dawn on Lou that Trixie wasn’t really cut out for domesticity and was meant to be performing on the stage.
He decided to secretly remortgage all of his properties and businesses in order to raise the money to fund the Hello Dolly tour of Asia. When a man came to measure up number 22, Trixie was convinced that Lou had gone bankrupt and been forced to sell up, so she started offering some of her prized trinkets to sell. However, Lou revealed his true intentions and Trixie was thrilled and immediately began to make plans. As the time came for them to leave Ramsay Street for three months, Trixie and Lou arranged a press conference in the street announcing the tour. They then went on to hold a farewell party at the pub, during which Harold made clear his discontent at seeing his best friend be whisked away by a cheap showgirl. When Harold refused to see his friend off, Trixie visited him, telling him how she’d heard wonderful stories about Harold Bishop and this wasn’t the man she’d heard talked about. Nevertheless, many of the neighbours turned out to see Lou and Trixie off as they embarked on their trip, while a dejected Harold could only watch from his driveway…
However, once in Hong Kong, things began to go wrong. Trixie was horrified when the opening night of Hello Dolly was cancelled due to very low ticket sales, but she decided to pretend to Lou that she’d been performing that day, since he was holed up in the hotel, suffering from flu. She claimed that the theatre manager, Bill Brodie, was away in Macau, so that Lou wouldn’t contact him. The next day, Trixie found out that the entire run of the show had been cancelled. She went back to Lou, who had already been in touch with Bill Brodie and knew that Trixie had been lying. He decided that they would have to go home, as their funds were now completely non-existent. But Trixie wasn’t about to let go. She managed to find a gig in a new themed club, but explained to Lou that it wouldn’t be paying much at first. He told her that she had to stop chasing pipe dreams and go back to Erinsborough with him. However, facing all the people who had told Lou that Trixie was no good for him was something Trixie couldn’t do. Feeling like she’d failed her husband, she packed up her things and slipped away during the night, leaving only a note to explain her actions.
Some months later, Trixie joined Nick and Nina in India, where she managed to finally find some stability, and rebuild her relationship with her daughter. Nina even offered to use some of the money from her new career as a Bollywood star to start paying back all of the money Trixie owed to Lou.
To read our interview with Wendy Stapleton, click here
Biography
by Steve
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