Christina Alessi

In 1989, sisters and television presenters Gayle and Gillian Blakeney were cast as twins Christina and Caroline Alessi respectively,[1] after they wrote to the show's producers at Grundy about making an appearance.[2] They started filming their first scenes seven months after signing with the show.[1] The Blakeneys had an interest in twin psychology at the time, and they worked with the scriptwriters to make sure their characters were portrayed as authenticate as possible.[1]

The sisters' fictional backstory was detailed in both Anthony Hayward's The Who's Who of Soap Operas and Josephine Monroe's The Neighbours Programme Guide. It states that identical twins Caroline and Christina were born to an Australian mother and a second-generation Australian father, whose parents had emigrated from Italy.[3][4] The have an older sister and two younger brothers, but the twins were always closer to each other than anyone else in the Alessi family.[5] When they were younger, the twins often played pranks on their teachers and boyfriends. As they grew older, they kept "a mischievous sense of humour" and shared similar thoughts.[3]

Caroline and Christina developed very different personalities. Where Caroline is more academic, Christina is "less driven and more reserved".[5] She becomes "awkward" under pressure and is untidy and less organised than her sister.[3] She is also characterised as being quieter than the confident Caroline.[6] Christina's ambition in life was to be a good wife and mother. Monroe described her as being "homeloving and maternal".[4] Caroline saw her as the weaker sister.[4] The twins' differing personalities were also shown through their dress sense, with Christina adopting a "casual, girlie" style in contrast to Caroline's business suits.[7]

On 1 June 2019, it was announced that the Blakeney twins had reprised their roles for three episodes to air in September.[8] They filmed their scenes during the same week, before returning to Los Angeles on 7 June.[9] Of their return to the serial, Gayle Blakeney stated, "We were tickled pink to be asked back and we knew if they wanted to reprise the characters after so long, it had to be for a great storyline – which it is. We're really looking forward to filming it."[8] Christina returned in scenes set in Queensland on 6 September 2019.[10]

Christina and Caroline witness a murder and are placed under a witness protection programme, which sees them move into 22 Ramsay Street.[6] They are advised to act as one person by the police and they chose the alias 'Linda Giles'. Caroline begins working for Paul Robinson at The Robinson Corporation and proved to be good at the job, unlike Christina. During an occasion that Christina is posing as Linda, Paul discovers their secret when Caroline walked in on him and Christina. The police eventually caught the murderer after he appeared in Ramsay Street after tracking the twins down, and they were able to go back to being themselves. They then invite Paul to move in with them and he agrees. Both Christina and Caroline fell for Paul and make a pact that neither one should have him. Christina get managing the gift shop at Lassiter's Hotel, surprising Paul and Caroline by her success.

Christina decides to pursue Paul after Caroline dates Adam Willis (Ian Williams) and are delighted when Paul announces that he is in love. However, Paul is talking about Isabella Lopez (Mich White), a woman who he has gotten engaged to while he was away on business in Argentina. Christina is devastated and takes an instant dislike to Isabella. After some digging, Christina exposes Isabella's intentions of getting Paul's money and gaining Australian citizenship. Christina believed that she and Paul were going to be together, but he announces he is finished with women for good. During a holiday with Paul, Adam and Rory Marsden (Tom Jennings), Christina begins flirting with Rory to make Paul jealous, which works and Paul admits to Christina that he loves her. They get engaged and shortly after, they marry and have the reception on a cruise ship.[11] Christina thinks she is pregnant and Paul is thrilled by the news and looks forward to being a father again. However, Christina is old by a doctor that she was not pregnant and, feeling guilty about getting Paul's hopes up, she decides not to tell him and tries to sleep with Paul at every moment to get pregnant. She eventually falls pregnant and when she went into labour, Paul drives her to the hospital, but the car runs out of petrol and stopped. Paul eventually manages to persuade an ice cream van driver to take them to the hospital. Christina then gives birth to a son, Andrew Robinson (Shannon Holmes).[12]

Following Paul's nervous breakdown following financial problems, he leaves Christina and Andrew for several weeks. When Paul returns, he brings his 8-year-old daughter Amy Williams (Sheridan Compagnino) with him much to Christina's surprise. Christina and Amy struggle to get along but make up just before Amy is returned to her mother, Nina Williams (Leigh Morgan). When Caroline abruptly leaves Erisnborough, Christina is shocked and later over hears Paul and his grandmother Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy) talking about Paul and Caroline's affair. Christina throws Paul out of their house and flies to see her sister, where they eventually make up and Christina returns to Erinsborough, where she files for divorce and full custody of Andrew, but Paul convinces Christina that he loves her and Christina gives him a second chance. They renew their vows in a ceremony at No. 22 and leave Ramsay Street for a new start running a hotel in Hawaii. They later move to Brazil.[12] Their marriage falls apart in the intervening years when Paul returns to Australia to serve a seven-year-prison sentence for fraud, and they later divorce.

When Andrew (now Jordan Smith) arrives in Erinsborough to see his father, he tells Paul that after living in Scotland for eight years, he and Christina eventually settled down in Sydney.[13] Andrew begins acting up and defying Paul's wife Rebecca Robinson (Jane Hall), who calls Christina and asks if Andrew can return to Sydney. However, Christina tells Rebecca that she does not want her son to come home.

Years later, Paul finds Christina and Caroline at a resort in Queensland, where he and his fiancée Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou) have eloped to. Paul is convinced the universe is giving him a sign not to marry Terese, after his other ex-wives turned up in Erinsborough. Paul soon learns from Caroline that the wives are part of a plot orchestrated by his daughter Elle Robinson (Pippa Black). Caroline apologises on her sister's behalf and they both make amends with each other, as well as Paul and Terese. Christina and Caroline act as witnesses for the wedding and they decide to spend some time together before returning to their respective homes.

The BBC named Christina's most notable moment as being "When she took off with Andrew without Paul knowing."[14] An Inside Soap writer opined that Christina was not as smart as Caroline but the more "dim, slightly podgier twin".[15] In one story, Caroline and Christina swap identities to secure a business deal. James Cockington from The Sydney Morning Herald branded the story as a "contrived" effort and raunchy plot ploy designed to beat rival soap opera Home and Away in television ratings.[16]

• Hayward, Anthony (1991). The Who's Who of Soap Operas. Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-85112-966-8.
• Monroe, Josephine (1994). The Neighbours Programme Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-86369-831-6.
• Monroe, Josephine (1996). Neighbours: The First 10 Years. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-7181-4212-4.