Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Rose gets the answers she’s been seeking her whole life, as she meets the man believed to be her biological father, Samuel Edwards.
In an effort to learn more about her mixed-race ancestry, Rose (Kirsty Marillier) decided to search for the father she never knew after spending last month with her lover Mali’s (Kyle Shilling) family.
Rose did some research and discovered Samuel (Bert LaBonte) as a probable contender because he was the only black man in her mother’s undergraduate theater group. Her mother Yvette has always refused to discuss about Rose’s father.
Rose noticed right away, though, that Samuel was actually the instructor in charge of the group. Rose only needed to know that Yvette had given up on her studies when she found out she was pregnant since she refused to answer Rose’s inquiries regarding Samuel.
Rose visited Samuel’s home late at night using the police database to obtain his details on the sly, but she was unable to knock on his door.
Rose is still preoccupied the following week, wondering what to do about her father. Rose says that the best thing about composing a song in her notebook is that she can cross out the words and start again if they don’t feel right. Kirby (Angelina Thomson) is writing a song.
Taking a cue from Kirby’s (note)book, Rose chooses to send Samuel a letter. It means that Samuel may just ignore it if he doesn’t want to be around her, preventing any awkward doorstep meetings, as she explains to Mali afterwards.
With much trepidation, Rose drives back to Samuel’s house and places the letter in his letterbox—there’s no going back now!
Rose receives a call on her phone later that same day. She looks at the number and says, “It’s Samuel,” to Mali (don’t ask how she knows that already).
Rose, too shy to respond, lets Samuel leave a message. When she finally summons the bravery to listen, she discovers that he’s got a lot of questions as well and would like to meet with her that afternoon.
Rose sees her father for the first time when she returns to Samuel’s and he welcomes her outside. He acknowledges that he was surprised by her letter because he was unaware of her existence.
Although he had been married at the time, Samuel tells Rose that he genuinely loved her mother, and would have supported her if he had known about the pregnancy. But one day Yvette left the university and he never saw her again.
After Samuel admits that they made mistakes, Rose takes it the wrong way and everything suddenly becomes overwhelming for her, explaining that she’s spent her whole life not knowing who she is.
Samuel gives Rose a family bible that has a list of the five generations of the Edwards family in the hopes that it may be helpful.
Samuel asks Rose to add her name and birthdate to the bible after pointing out the names of her paternal grandparents, who are still living and would undoubtedly want to meet her someday.
Telling her that she’s now officially part of the family, Samuel assures Rose that she is welcome anytime.
When Rose returns to the bay, she explains to Mali that she has mixed feelings about the meeting. Whilst putting her name down in the bible was a highlight, she’s disappointed that she didn’t feel the immediate bond with Samuel that she’d always dreamed of.
Will Rose opt to see her father again?
The casting of Five Bedrooms star Bert LaBonte is a dream come true for Kirsty Marillier, who first encountered the actor four years ago.
“I saw him on stage in a production in Melbourne a few years ago and he was so terrific in it,” Kirsty told NZ outlet Stuff. “I went up to him afterwards and said, ‘I want you to play my dad in something.’
That was in 2019. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have to act with him in something and I need to play his daughter’, and now I have.”
Like Rose, Kirsty also has South African heritage, and understands her need to learn more about her background.
“My grandmother was adopted and actually doesn’t know who her biological parents are,” she continues. “I did think a lot about her (during filming) because we are quite close. There is something to say about being mixed race and the uncertainty that that brings.
“I’ve been lucky in a sense but Rose is very disconnected from her African heritage and I think that this really does spark a journey for her. It opened something up that she wasn’t aware that she needed and I think that can always be quite discombobulating for a person.”
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