Development
Shortly before she arrived on screen, Marlene purchased Number 24. She sent her grandson, Sam (Richard Grieve), along to inspect the house hoping he would also meet his cousins who were living in Ramsay Street. Marlene eventually arrived in Erinsborugh and sought a reconciliation with her daughter, Cheryl (Caroline Gillmer), who she had left when she was eleven. Josephine Monroe, author of Neighbours: the first 10 years, said Cheryl had "demonized her mother in her mind" and wanted nothing to do with her. However, as she got to know Marlene a little better, Cheryl admitted she quite liked her although she could bring herself to call her "mum". Marlene sold cosmetics, before opening a bric-a-brac store. She liked to invent a background story for all the items that passed through the "wacky" shop. Monroe described Marlene as a bit scatty and always on for a scam or a bet.
In 1996, Marlene embarked on a whirlwind romance with Colin Taylor (Frank Bren). Shortly after Colin returns to Erinsborough, he sets out to win Marlene's heart. When asked what "lively" Marlene could possibly have in common with Colin, O'Sullivan told Inside Soap "They just hit it off in a big way. There's no big passion but they do have similar interests. Although she's surrounded by a loving family, it's nice for her to have someone of her own vintage around to care for her." The pair grow closer and O'Sullivan said they have a happy bond and it is definitely love between them. Dave Lanning of The People commented on the storyline, saying the Neighbours plotliners must have been on magic mushrooms when they decided to pair Marlene with the "terminally boring" Colin.
Read more about this topic: Marlene Kratz
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
“I can see ... only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.”
—H.A.L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)
“I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)