Donna Bishop
| Donna Bishop | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Home and Away character | |||||
| Portrayed by | Nicola Quilter | ||||
| Duration | 1994-95 | ||||
| First appearance | 8 November 1994 | ||||
| Last appearance | 23 June 1995 | ||||
| Introduced by | John Holmes | ||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||
| Profile | |||||
| Occupation | Teacher School Counsellor |
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| Home | Canada | ||||
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| Father | Charles Bishop |
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| Brothers | Gus Bishop |
Donna Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Nicola Quilter. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 8 November 1994 and departed on 23 June 1995.
Quilter joined the cast in 1994. Actress Kimberley Joseph also auditioned for the part of Donna, but it was Quilter who secured the role. Quilter starred in the series for nine months, but she felt that the role had distracted her from a music career.
While working on Home and Away Quilter was stalked by a viewer who became "sexually obsessed" with her. He found out her filming schedule and repeatedly phoned her when she finished filming. He tricked her into believing it was someone close to her, but when she changed her telephone number the harassment stopped.
In December 1994, Quilter fractured a bone in her foot when a wall-mounted bed fell onto it. She was given crutches to aid her mobility while it healed. Rachel Browne from The Sun-Herald reported that Quilter's accident had "thrown production schedules into disarray" because the scripts required Donna to be using her feet.
Donna became central to a storyline highlighting domestic abuse. When Donna was introduced into the series she was given a backstory of her being the victim of violence inflicted by boyfriend Andrew Warren (Adrian Lee). Andrew was introduced into the series and Donna decides to give their relationship another go. Lee told Victoria Ross from Inside Soap that Donna is "in big trouble" being with Andrew again. He explained that men like Andrew have something that "makes them flip" and for his character, jealousy brings on his violence. "When he sees Donna with another man he just lashes out". After Andrew witnesses Donna with Rob Storey (Matthew Lilley) and Travis Nash (Nic Testoni) he hits her and Donna is left with a black eye. Lee said that he had researched the issue by looking at associated text and women who had been the victims of domestic violence. He was also "impressed" with Home and Away for choosing to portray the Donna and Andrew's story. The actor felt "edgy" about playing issue led storylines, but he was more inclined to portray this storyline as he felt it was important that the story behind the abuse was told.
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