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Character Profiles > Remi Varga-Murphy Naomi Rukavina

Dr. Remi Varga-Murphy 2023-
Lived: 30 Ramsay Street
Marital Status: Cara
Children: JJ and Dex
Occupation: Doctor

After someone knocked on the door of their Werribee home one day and made them an offer on the house, the Varga-Murphys - mums Remi and Cara, and their sons JJ and Dex - accepted, before JJ used Rent-A-Home to find them temporary accommodation at 24 Ramsay Street, Erinsborough. Though Cara was still eager to build them their own house back in Werribee, Remi wasn’t so keen on the idea, particularly as there were still fears that the Linwell brothers - who tradie Cara had blown the whistle on for poor working practices - were out for revenge. As Cara insisted that it would be safe to go back, Remi started to fall for the charm of Ramsay Street and when no. 30 went on the market, she suggested that they should put in an offer. Having seemingly received the OK from JJ and Dex by text message, they went ahead and bought the house.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the boys hadn’t read the message properly and weren’t quite as keen as their mums to move suburbs and change schools, with JJ having a particularly strong response to the idea. Things got worse when neighbour Wendy Rodwell accused JJ of stealing her watch. JJ had been caught in the Rodwell house by Wendy’s daughter Sadie, and he claimed that he was just looking to borrow some milk, having seen other Ramsay Street residents let themselves in and out of each other’s houses. Wendy quickly made a very public accusation of theft, with Remi and Cara leaping to their son’s defence, before explaining that they’d bought no. 30 and they would all now be permanent neighbours. Though Wendy later found the watch, the feud between the two families only worsened when Cara scored the job as Lassiters Hotel’s new Building Manager, a role that Wendy had hoped to win for herself.

When Remi’s car window was then smashed, this, coupled with an earlier incident with a fan crashing down at Lassiters after Cara had fixed it to the ceiling, made her wonder if the Linwell brothers had something to do with it. Cara was sure that the school bullies were the more likely culprits for the smashed window, but she then got a call explaining that the Linwells were being taken to court for their unsafe work practices, and Cara was a key witness. Now more convinced that Remi might have been right all along, Cara pressed ahead with her plans to testify and not be intimidated, but matters came to a head when an envelope containing white powder was delivered to the Varga-Murphys. Remi opened it, and quickly sent Cara and the boys out of the house, worried that it could be anthrax. Outside the house, Cara, JJ and Dex waited for news, as Andrew - Wendy's husband and local police sergeant - tried to keep them all calm. When Wendy found out what had happened, she felt terrible, admitting that her jealousy over the Building Manager job had led to her checking Cara’s CV and contacting the Linwells. Wendy’s guilt then led to her sneaking into no. 30 and sitting with Remi, willing to risk her life rather that allow her to go through the terrifying experience on her own. When word finally came through that the substance was actually baking powder, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but Cara took her fear and anger out on the Rodwells, saying that the two families would have nothing more to do with each other.

It was during this argument that JJ suddenly blurted out his own big secret - that he believed that Andrew might be his father. He explained to everyone, except Dex who already knew, that he’d found the diary of Philippa Wade, Cara’s best friend who had died. The diary said that 17 years earlier, Andrew had offered to give a sperm sample to Philippa and her girlfriend to give them the baby that they wanted. But after Philippa and her girlfriend had split up, she had given the sample to Cara, who’d been trying to get pregnant with an anonymous American donor. The revelations were news to both Remi and Wendy, whilst Andrew admitted his part, but said that he’d changed his mind and had always believed that Philippa had destroyed the sample. As Remi and Cara realised that it hadn’t been a coincidence that they’d ended up renting 24 Ramsay Street a few weeks earlier, as JJ had planned the whole thing, they all struggled to deal with the news, as they waited for a DNA test to confirm whether Andrew was really JJ’s biological father. The news took its toll on JJ and Dex’s relationship, with Dex furious that JJ had potentially destroyed their family, while Remi struggled to even speak to Cara after what she’d done. As the results came back and confirmed that JJ and Andrew were not related, it seemed that a lot of damage had been done, both to the trust between Cara and Remi, and to JJ, who struggled to admit that he had wanted to have a father in his life.

The whole incident left Remi struggling to forgive Cara and she decided to go and spend a few days with her parents. When she returned, JJ and Dex did their best to get their mums' relationship back on track, recreating their first date and making them both realise that what they had was worth fighting for. However, just as things seemed to be settling down for the Varga-Murphys on Ramsay Street, Cara's flighty sister Chelsea turned up. With Remi and Cara enjoying dinner with neighbours Aaron and David - a former doctor who Remi had initially struggled to get along with due to his past charge with medical manslaughter - Chelsea turned up unannounced.

Aware that Cara felt like she owed Chelsea for defending her against the bullies when they were growing up, Remi was nonetheless unhappy to see her sister-in-law, with her lack of moral compass. Remi and Chelsea soon clashed as it became clear that she was setting her sights on Cara's boss, the wealthy Paul Robinson, and had been plotting this before she'd even arrived in Erinsborough. With tensions between Remi and Chelsea causing problems at no. 30, and Chelsea making digs about the happily-married Remi and Cara settling for each other and their boring life, Cara decided to ask her sister to leave. Chelsea's next move was to persuade Paul, who was grieving for his son, David, that she should move into his penthouse to look after him and then to get him to appoint her as Acting Manager of the hotel. Though Remi, Cara and many of the other locals were upset with her actions, the Varga-Murphys soon had other things to worry about when JJ started being targeted by Slade Westall, the leader of a gang who'd been causing trouble in the area. After JJ reported them for spraying graffiti on Melanie's Drinks Divas van on Ramsay Street, JJ ended up being beaten up by Slade one lunchtime. Looking to defend himself, a terrified JJ stole a knife from Harolds cafe and took it back to school with him. When the knife was found by teacher Curtis Perkins, JJ eventually confessed, with Remi and Cara shocked to learn what their son had been going through.

JJ received a two-week suspension from school, but was still determined to find ways to defend himself and went to Andrew to ask for boxing lessons.