Ruth (Roo) Stewart (1988-1989)
Justine Clarke
Episodes: 3-339; 344-345
Parents: Alf and Martha Stewart; Ailsa Stewart (step-mother)
Siblings: Duncan Stewart; Owen Dalby; Quinn Jackson (all half siblings); Shauna Bradley (stepsister)
Children: Martha McKenzie
Marital Status: Married off screen
Occupation: Student, Macklin Employee
First appearing in Episode three of home and away, Roo's first task was to protest against her father Alf, dating Ailsa Hogan. The stereotypical teenager Roo was popular at school, doted on by her overprotective father Alf and certain that nobody could ever fill her dead mother's shoes, especially not Ailsa, who she took an instant dislike to. Unbeknown to Alf, his little princess had been boy crazy since puberty and her romances with city boys holidaying at Summer Bay had made the local boys seem dull by comparison. When she met Frank, the fact that he was a city boy added to the attraction between them and within days she was sneaking into his room for secret meetings. They decided to form a band together, shared their first kiss and began spending as much time as possible together, even paying Steven to do their homework when they were meant to be studying. Roo skipped school to be with Frank and was caught out by her furious father.
Roo was devastated to find out that Alf had proposed to Ailsa and Frank stayed over to comfort her, falling asleep in her bed. She returned home later and was caught out by her father so snuck out again and returned to bed with Frank, the suggestion being that they would sleep together but Roo put a stop to it at the last moment and they decided to wait. The next day Roo contacted her Aunt Morag, a lawyer in the city and asked her to check out Ailsa's past. She then broke into Ailsa's store and found a card from Fisher, it seemed Ailsa and Fisher once dated. Later Morag phoned from the city to reveal a nasty secret about Ailsa's past, that she killed her father and Roo spitefully announced the secret at Alf amnd Ailsa's engagement party. Alf took Ailsa's side and Frank too argued with Roo about her actions. When she was revealed to be the person behind threatening letters to Ailsa, Alf finally had enough and told her she had to go to boarding school.
We heard from Alf that Roo had been going off the rails at boarding school and when Frank went to visit her, he got into a fight with Brett Macklin, the guy she was seeing. When she returned to the bay at Easter she had changed and made lots of bitchy remarks to Frank about how she prefered 'real men with class' now. She later went the Doctors for a pregnancy test which showed positive. Deciding to return to the City, she met Brett and told him about the baby. He told her to have an abortion but Roo decided she wanted to keep the baby. Haunted by memories of her time with Frank, she ran away from Brett and returned to The Bay. When Brett followed her to the bay she confided her plan to get back with Frank, have him marry her and pass the baby off as his. She promptly put her plan into action and when Frank came round she turned on the waterworks, told him she loved him and suggested they make the most of their time alone.
Roo engineered for them to sleep together and then later for her father to catch them at it so that she had an alibi for when she came clean about her pregnancy. When Roo later teased a jealous Bobby, Bobby punched her in the stomach and Roo went to the Doctor to check everything was okay with her baby. The Doctor was shocked to realise Roo had not told anyone about the baby and warned her against her plan to dupe Frank but Roo refused to listen and planted a pregnancy test for Celia to find. After admitting to Celia that she was pregnant and the baby was Frank's, she and Celia broke the news to Frank and he agreed to marry her.
As the wedding approached Bobby sussed her lie and attempted to tell Frank but he didn't believe her. She trashed Roo's wedding dress and contacted Brett Macklin who promptly turned up in the bay with the news that he was infertile and wanted his baby. Roo was insistant on going through with her plan despite Brett confiding in her Aunt Morag. On the morning of her wedding Morag urged her to come clean and though at first Roo refused, she stopped the ceremony and raced out before telling a devastated Frank, the truth about her baby. He refused to have anything to do with her after that and a genuinely gutted Roo faced the prospect of life as a single mother.
Alf was also furious at her deceit and threw her out so she moved in with Morag but then found out that Morag was involved in a plan to hand her baby over to The Macklins. Tricked into signing her baby away Roo went mental and told everybody she had had an abortion but it was quickly revealed she hadn't. A trick by Ailsa saw her make up with Alf but their reunion was short lived when Brett turned up with a court summons demanding she hand her baby over to him. Roo also had a small role in Alf and Ailsa's break up, with Ailsa claming Roo had hidden her letter and the subsequent argument between Alf and Ailsa leading to the "knife between the shoulders" comment.
Roo was then contacted by Gordon Macklin, Brett's father, a wealthy property developer. The Macklins had found out that Brett was infertile because of some illness so the child Roo carried was his only chance of an heir so were keen to be involved with Roo's baby. With Alf and Ailsa now separated, Roo was determined to keep it that way and faked labour pains to prevent them meeting up at Christopher's christening. Rushed to hospital by Alf she was given the all clear and then promptly went into labour for real. During the labour she shocked Alf by calling out for Frank and admitted she still loved him and was planning to get him back. After a difficult labour she gave birth to a daughter only for Gordon Macklin to decide he only wanted a grandson and so wanted nothing to do with his new grandaughter. Brett Macklin though had fallen in love with his daughter and blackmailed Roo into letting him raise her. When Alf found out her plans he lost his temper and Roo raced out seeking comfort from Frank, who hugged her just as his girlfriend Bobby came in.
When Brett, realising the game was up, kidnapped Martha and a devastated Roo considered killing herself before the police called to tell her that Brett had turned up with Martha. Reunited with her daughter Roo forgave Brett and in a conversation they decided that, though they both loved Martha, neither could really take care of her and that she'd be better off adopted into a real family. She took a break from the bay and returned with a new boyfriend called David, who Alf and Ailsa were convinced was made up. He later turned up in the bay to the surprise of Alf and Ailsa who found that he was chinese. Alf and Celia were both predjudiced towards him and David decided to return home rather than face their prejudices and later broke up with Roo.
She got a job as Stacey Macklin's secretary and went on a date with Martin but ended up spending most of the night with Matt instead. She was devastated when Ailsa received more threatening letters and the finger of suspicion was pointed at her with a furious Alf throwing her out and refused to forgive him when he realised his mistake.
Roo soon discovered that Bobby was actually her niece following Alf's revelations that Morag was Bobby's mother. Soon after Roo was set up by Nicholas to look like she was trying to break Frank and Bobby up, leading to Frank confronting Roo on one occasion. Roo then went to Phil, worrying that she might be trying to break Bobby and Frank up without even knowing about it. Philip told her she had nothing to worry about, but soon after Alf and Ailsa received a letter left again by Nicholas which included Ailsa and Graham together.
Alf suspected Roo and told her to get out of the house. She was no longer his daughter after pulling a stunt like that and Roo again moved in with Morag at Celia's House. Roo believed Frank must have done it as revenge and then blamed Bobby. To try and avoid suspicion Nicholas started to get chummy with Roo. Philip and Stacey soon uncovered Roo's innocence and told Alf the news. Alf and Ailsa went to apologise to Roo, but so hurt was she by them refusing to trust that she was innocent in the first splace, she told Alf that she no longer had a father anymore. Following the completion of rennovations on the Blaxland Mansion, Morag and Roo move in together. Roo's uncle Richard, Morag's husband, tried to warn Roo off Morag, however Roo ignored him.
Morag tried to get Roo involved in some of her spying and following the revelation that Fisher was Bobby's father, Roo made amends with Alf, although she stayed living with Morag.
Roo soon got together with a new man in town Simon Yates. Morag was unsure of Simon and began doing some digging on him, finding out that he was a convicted criminal. When Celia's store was burnt down, the suspiscion wrongly fell on Simon. Roo was hurt at Morag doing this and moved out to live with Celia. Simon left the bay leaving Roo a note telling her of his criminal past, but he returned the following week.
Dodge, sensing that he might get away with burning the store down, then set Simon up by trying to corner him as trying to commit arson on Morag's mansion. Alf and Ailsa bailed Simon out and then let him stay at the Stewart House. However Roo's heart was broken when Simon realised he was would never be welcome in Summer Bay and left in the middle, dropping a note through Celia's letterbox.
Frank then told Roo that he had feelings for her. Roo quit her job at the Macklin offices, saying that she was no longer able to work together. Alf was unhappy at this and soon after Frank told Bobby that he still had feelings for Roo. Bobby went to confront Roo, whoever Roo denied there had ever been an affair. Roo then was hassled on the streets by Revhead and Skid after this, but Carly and Bobby came to her rescue. After that event she went to meet Frank in the city and they decided to start life afresh in the city. Roo returned for Duncan's christening a few weeks later. By 1992, Roo and Frank were no longer together and she was later known to have married someone else.
In 2001, Alf went to stay with Roo for a month following Ailsa's death. In 2004, unhappy with life in Australia, Duncan blackmailed Tasha to pay for his flight to stay with Roo in America, a move which Roo accepted. In early 2005 Roo had an accident, causing Alf and Morag to come over to see her. Roo had recently got in contact with her daughter, and when Alf and Morag returned to Summer Bay, Martha returned with them.