Reception
Dennis has earned various award nominations for his role as Paul. At the 2007 Inside Soap Awards, Dennis was nominated for "Best Actor" and "Best Bad Boy". The following year, Dennis was again nominated for "Best Actor" and "Best Bad Boy". 2009 saw Dennis nominated for "Best Actor" and "Best Bad Boy" once again. In 2010, Dennis was nominated for the very first "Best Daytime Star" award. At the first Digital Spy Soap Awards ceremony, Dennis was nominated for "Villain of the Year".
During a special feature on an entertainment website published by Virgin Media, they stated that Paul in his early days was a "retro soap hunk." They branded him a "bad boy", also stating "Motivated by greed and lust, Paul manipulated his way into business and into the ladies' beds (even with a dodgy earring). Watch out ladies..." Virgin also ran a feature profiling their twenty-five most memorable television comebacks, amongst them was Paul's 2004 return and they said "Ruthless 'workaholic' businessman Paul Robinson fled Australia in 1993 to escape fraud charges only to return more sinister than ever in 2005 to burn down the Lassiter's hotel complex." Ruth Deller of entertainment website Lowculture commented on Paul stating: "He's always been a bit of a ladies' man and has had an eye for a business deal and has always struggled with whether to be good Paul or bad Paul. Ramsay Street's most prolific marry-er and father-er." She also criticises the fact Paul's false leg is never shown on-screen adding: "Paul has a wooden leg, which sometimes causes him to limp, when he remembers about it." Holy Soap have said that Paul starting the Lassiter's fire and killing Gus during his 2004 return, was one of soap opera's greatest comebacks. They also branded him a "legendary figure" of Neighbours. Josephine Monroe in her book Neighbours: The first 10 years, names Paul one of soap opera's most enduring characters.
In 2010, to celebrate Neighbours' 25th anniversary, British satellite broadcasting company, Sky, profiled twenty-five characters of which they believed were the most memorable in the series history. Paul is in the list and joke about his many wives stating: "How many of Paul's five wives can you name? No points for current wife Rebecca, ten for naming Lynn, Gail, or Christina Alessi, and 1,400 points for remembering first wife, plumber Terry Yes, Paul's been around the block." They also branded him as the reason Neighbours, in their opinion was good viewing in the 2000s adding: "It's his cackling soap villain role that we love to hate him for: his return in 2004, torching Lassiter's and befriending Dylan, marked the start of Neighbours getting awesome in the mid-noughties. Although it's probably safe to say that period was over by the time he suffered amnesia of everything after 1989." He has also been branded as a "legend character". Entertainment reporting website Last Broadcast praised Paul's development, stating: "As the kind of shady character who'd do anything to make a fast buck, he even planned to bulldoze Ramsay Street to make way for a new supermarket development. And that's not all: fraud, blackmail, murder; there is no level to which Paul wouldn't have sunk. Yet, the infamous bad boy of Erinsborough, has, thankfully, turned over a new leaf."
In her 2007 book, It's Not My Fault They Print Them, Catherine Deveny slates Paul and Dennis' acting ability stating: "Stefan Dennis as the mustache-twirling panto villain Paul Robinson, is a genius. I just wanted to yell out 'He's behind you, he's behind you!' It takes sheer brilliance to be able to act that badly". Andrew Mercado, author of Super Aussie Soaps, describes Paul as being very similar to fictional character J. R. Ewing. Paul is referred to in Emily Barr's fictitious novel "Out of My Depth", in which character Amanda is watching Neighbours, with scenes featuring Paul and Gail receiving disapproval from Harold, Amanda opines that she believes the couple are in love. Popular culture website "TV Cream" describe Paul marrying Gail for business sense was typical of his "thrusting, unscrupulous, double-dealing tycoon" persona. Jaci Stephen writing for the Daily Mail commented on Paul's obsession with Rebecca stating: "You can't help feeling that nothing short of a stake through the heart is going to keep Paul out of Rebecca's life." Stephen later said "Taking advice from Paul is like asking Charlie Sheen to be your spirit guide." Paul Kalina of The Age said Dennis as Paul lightens things up and he prances about like "a pantomime villain minus the moustache and cape." Kalina added "Erinsborough just would not be the same without him." A TVTimes columnist stated "He's no Brad Pitt and he's a devious beggar at the best of times, but Paul Robinson doesn't half get the ladies."
Read more about this topic: Paul Robinson (Neighbours)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
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“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
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“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)