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Reference > Erinsborough News > New Neighbour

It’s a boy! Ramsay Street’s newest neighbour – Andrew Robinson (Shannon Holmes), a bouncing baby son for parents Paul (Stefan Dennis) and Christina (Gayle Blakeney) – makes his arrival on November 13.

And the arch-chauvinist, career-oriented Paul shows he is really a softie as he becomes a doting dad.

Sounding very much the proud new mother, Gayle says the soapie’s newest cast member is “just beautiful. He has dark hair like his mum and dad and he’s very cute. I think he was only 11 days old when we filmed the delivery scenes.”

“It’s as graphic a birth as you are likely to see in a show like this – filmed in the delivery room,” Stefan says. “It was emotional,” he adds.

While Neighbours has had its share of life imitating art with screen romances between characters spilling over into real life, the love affair between Stefan and Gayle had blossomed off-screen long before their on-screen romance.

“We’ve got a great rapport and on top of that, being boyfriend and girlfriend in real life does mean there’s an added chemistry (on screen),” Gayle says.

But the couple insists there are no plans to marry, even though Gayle admits that becoming a mum on-screen has made her “clucky”. She even reveals she would like to have five children.

“What’s this?” Stefan asks somewhat nervously.

“But I think I’ll probably have three and Gillian (Gayle’s twin sister) can have two and they can all play together,” Gayle adds quickly.

Gayle has a strong motherly streak. “I’d love to have a baby, but not at the moment. I know I’m good with babies and I know I’ll have my own – ideally, in about five years’ time.”

“But Stefan is content with being an on-screen dad. He says: “I think it’s great, because it’s the other end of the scale. One minutes Paul’s this high-powered business tycoon, the next he’s a doting father.”

This article originally appeared in New Idea magazine, dated November 9th 1991

Article submitted by Steve