Ruby Buckton
Ruby Buckton is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera "Home and Away", played by Rebecca Breeds. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 20 June 2008. Ruby was created by executive producer Cameron Welsh. When she was first introduced she appeared to hide her problems and pretends to be strong. She was characterised as a free spirited and independent girl. Her storylines have consistently followed themes such as romance, unrequited love and rejection. In what has been described as a "shock storyline" Ruby discovered her sister Charlie Buckton was in fact her mother. This had subsequent effects in her character development. She became out of place and confused about her life. It destroyed her trust in Charlie and their relationship never recovered. Ruby went on a journey of self-discovery and used men to redefine herself. Her relationship with Xavier Austin was characterised through their mutual friendship, which ended through lack of passion. She controversially fell in love with her music teacher Liam Murphy, the pair shared an emotional and creative connection through music. Yet, her advances were unrequited and it created problems with her state of mind and began binge drinking. Breeds felt the storyline differed to her romance with Xavier, as it showed Ruby "headstrong and unconfined". Breeds felt they were ill-suited to one another.
Charlie Buckton
Another story arc saw Charlie reveal that her sister Ruby Buckton (Rebecca Breeds) is in fact her daughter. Charlie gave birth to Ruby after she was raped by Grant Bledcoe (Clayton Watson), when she was younger. Both Anderson and Breeds found the storyline challenging and felt they had to get it right. Breeds said it made her nervous but was pleased with the end result. She said she had to let it affect her own emotions to effect the viewing public. "The revelation ruins their relationship, and Anderson said that Charlie was "trying desperately to bridge this gap". Breeds added "Ruby just wants to get some security back, everything she thought her life was is totally up in the air". Ruby becomes confused and starts to ask herself questions such as "Where do I stand now?" and "How do I reconcile this?" Breeds said it was a "big exploration" and a journey for Ruby, with Anderson agreeing. Anderson felt there was a beautiful element to the storyline and opined: "Although it is tragic, you feel sorry for Charlie and you can sort of understand where it has all come from." She added that everyone feels sorry for Ruby, meaning neither are wrong. Furthermore, she said, "You are just rooting for them, you just want them to get back to how they were and it is a bit of a journey." Comparing the storyline to the lesbian plot she said, "Perhaps this storyline was a little bit harder, you've seen the start of this storyline and there is a lot more to come and it wasn't easy."