Veteran Australian actress Rachael Carpani will make her Home and Away debut on Thursday night – and her character is sure to cause a stir.
The 44-year-old McLeod’s Daughters star plays Summer Bay newcomer Claudia, whose arrival sees her sustain minor injuries in a car crash and blame a long-time resident.
“She’s portrayed in a negative way, she just comes on all of a sudden and has a certain attitude, like your brakes are failing and you end up with a broken arm,” Rachael revealed on Instagram.
‘She literally has a car accident and breaks her arm and is in a sling for six weeks, which really affects her professional and personal life, and she blames (James Stewart’s character) Justin.’
Rachael said viewers were in for a few surprises when they saw her on the Channel Seven show as her character is nothing like the sweet Jodi she played in McLeod’s.
“She’s a very interesting character at first glance, she’s a bit of a villain and very easy to judge, but I think it will be a good exercise in playing a very flawed human being.”
A newly released trailer shows Rachael’s character threatening to sue Justin (James Stewart) over the work his shop did on her car, as she claims the brakes were faulty.
The ensuing drama affects Justin’s relationship with his partner Leah, played by his real-life girlfriend, Ada Nicodemou.
Veteran Australian actress Rachael Carpani (pictured) will make her Home and Away debut on Thursday night, and her character is set to stir up some waters.
This is not the first time Rachael has appeared on the soap, as she previously had a guest role as a restaurant waitress in two episodes in 2001.
The Sydney-born actress added that she was delighted to be back in an Australian production, after working in the US for more than a decade.
The blonde beauty began her acting career in Australia in 2001 in the role of Jodi Fountain-McLeod in Channel Nine’s McLeod’s Daughters, which she played until 2009.
The 44-year-old McLeod’s Daughters star will play Summer Bay newcomer Claudia, whose arrival sees her suffer minor injuries in a car crash.
She moved to California in 2010 to further her career and appeared in several American television shows including NCIS: Los Angeles, The Glades and Stalker.
Rachael’s involvement in Home and Away has also sparked rumours that Seven could pick up the long-awaited reboot of McLeod’s Daughters, according to Yahoo!
The show originally aired on Channel Nine, but plans for a reboot fell through in 2017 due to “creative differences with a third party” and the project has yet to make it to screen.
Rachael said viewers were in for a few surprises when they saw her on the Channel Seven show as her character is nothing like the sweet Jodi she played in McLeod’s.