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Revision as of 06:35, 19 May 2009 by 80.203.31.121 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Soap opera character| Melody Jones | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Celeste Dodwell | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 19 March 2008 Episode 4597 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 26 February 2009 Episode 4799 | ||||||||||
| Created by | Bevan Lee | ||||||||||
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Melody Jones was a fictional character in the Australian soap opera Home and Away played by Celeste Dodwell .
Introduction
We first saw Melody in March 2008. Seen as a clever, well behaved student she is also a Catholic and one of Annie Campbell's friends. Annie was trying to set her up with her brother Geoff. He was not interested at first telling Annie that she's "just not pretty like the other girls". Unfortunately Melody overheard and was rather upset. However she kept trying to get Geoff to become interested in her, but he did not feel the same way and only wanted to be friends.
Relationship with Geoff Campbell
Eventually Melody and Geoff started dating after he asked her out and revealed to her he'd realised it's what's inside a person that counts, not what they look like and told her she was beautiful. They shared their first kiss not long after and managed to evade Nicole's attempts to come between them and were quite happy together. But Melody's mother Christine extremely disapproved of the relationship and did everything she could to split them up from from taking Melody out of Summer Bay High and enrolling her in an all girls Catholic school in Yabbie Creek to putting an AVO on Geoff to keep him away from Melody. Eventually they broke up at Nicole's house party when Geoff decided they couldn't keep fighting against her mother.
Axel and Departure
Melody was at Nicole's party when Axel Hay tried to force himself onto her in Nicole's bedroom where she had been crying after Geoff broke up with her. The next day Axel climbed in to her bedroom and asked her if she remembered anything from the night before to which she replied "no" and Axel told her he didn't either. However every time she saw him she became nervous and awkward leading Axel to confront her in a bid to make her keep quiet about what had happened which was witnessed by Annie although she didn't hear what Axel was saying. Annie asked Melody what happened and she revealed all to her. Despite Melody's plea to not tell anyone Annie ended up telling Geoff who angrily tried to beat up Axel, however Aden Jefferies beat Axel up and left him unconscious on the beach whilst Geoff watched.
Melody did not want to take any action against Axel and wanted to forget the whole thing happened so Geoff spoke to Tony Holden and asked him what was the best thing to do. Tony went to the Jones' house to talk to Melody himself but ended up having a heated discussion with Christine over it. She insisted that Melody hadn't been assaulted by Axel and that if she had she would have told her about it. Because Christine wouldn't listen Tony tried to get Melody to tell her mother the truth. But Melody again denied that Axel had done anything to her. Tony had no choice but to leave.
Although not long after on the same day Melody told her mother that it was all true what Tony had said. But Christine told her not to dwell on it and that nobody would believe her if she took the case to court. An outraged Geoff told Christine that it was Melody's choice if she wanted to tell the police and not hers. Melody then decided to report Axel to the police but was upset when they told her that because Axel had denied everything and that there was no strong proof against him, they would not be doing anything about it.
When another girl made a comment that it was normal for a guy to come on to a girl whilst drunk, Melody became angry and upset and confronted Axel in the middle of the school corridor and made it clear to him that what he had done was wrong. This made him admit to the police that he had assaulted Melody and was given 100 hours community service, and Melody and Geoff got back together.
However it was clear that Melody was not completely over the trauma she had suffered from Axel and she broke up with Geoff not long after saying she needed to be on her own for a while and that she would always love him leaving Geoff devastated. She then disappeared off our screens for a little while.
Return and Breakdown
We first saw Melody back onscreen in early September in the clinic where Aden was admitted after trying to kill his father Larry. It was quite clear that her mental state appeared to have gotten worse since we last saw her. It turned out that Melody had prayed for Axel to die and when she found out he had been killed after the hit and run with Larry Jefferies, she told her mother what she had prayed for and Christine had gone beserk at her calling her an evil girl and told her evil girls go to hell, causing Melody to stop speaking and think herself as "evil". Christine wasn't allowed to visit Melody in the clinic, only her father Edward.
Melody soon ran away from the clinic because she believed her mother was there looking for her and begged Geoff to let her hide in his house, despite Nicole urging him to tell the police of Melody's whereabouts, Geoff refused to betray her and told her to hide in his room . However she soon disappeared from there and spent the night on the beach. When Nicole found her in the school, Melody explained to her that her mum had come looking for her and she had to leave quickly. Nicole managed to alert the police to where Melody was and she was taken back to the clinic. It turned out that Christine was actually in New Zealand and that Melody had been having hallucinations of her. Back in the clinic she started having hallucinations of Axel as well .
When Christine returned from New Zeland and found out about Melody running away from the clinic she blamed the doctors and was frustrated at not being allowed to visit Melody. So she asked Annie to pass on a bible to Melody from her asking Annie not to tell Melody who it was from. But when Annie took it to her, Melody knew straight away who it was from and scrawled on its pages and told Annie to take it back. Annie realised her mistake and told Geoff. They then raced to the clinic to see Melody however when they got there they were told that Christine and had come discharged her and not long after she'd enrolled Melody back in to Summer Bay High.
Return to Summer Bay High
It was quite obvious that Melody was still not fully recovered and appeared to be very fragile when she returned to school. Geoff could not understand why Christine would send her daughter back to school and ended up defending her against the school bullies who were making snide comments at her for being in the clinic. Bartlett eventually realised she was not fit to be attending school and withdrew her enrolment much to Christine's chagrin . It was also revealed that Christine and Edward had separated and that Edward had moved out of the family home.
"Eating Disorder"
Not that long after, Christine decided that Melody was ready to go back to school and even though Bartlett was not too sure about letting her come back so soon, he agreed at Christine's insistence that Melody was ok now. When she came back to school she seemed to be back to her old self again, eager to answer questions in class - although there was a distinct look about her that suggested she had either not fully recovered or she was extremely tired, she told Geoff it was the latter when he asked if she was alright. It turned out that everything was not all right; she had not eaten anything for a whole week and her mother had no idea.
Geoff was shocked when Melody told him that she was no longer taking any medication and she insisted that her mother's remedy of extra prayer sessions was enough. But then she fainted in front of him and he discovered a carrier bag of uneaten food from the whole week hidden in her wardrobe. She explained to Geoff that as well as missing her father, everything in her life was dictated for her by her mother and that she felt as though the only thing she felt she could control was whether she ate any food or not. After encouragement from Geoff she tried telling her mother. Christine did not believe her at first and when she did, she refused to get proper help for Melody and instead locked her up in her room, allowing her out only to eat and letting her only do either her schoolwork or do her prayers.
Christine goes too far
During a visit while Christine was out, Geoff was shocked by what she was doing to her daughter and when she returned, he attempted to appeal to her religious nature by suggesting they let Melody's priest come over to counsel her. Christine actually listened and agreed but when the priest arrived she made him leave. Melody became furious and verbally abused her mother for never listening to her and doing more damage than good. But Melody's outburst only hardened Christine's resolve, and she believed Melody had become possessed and decided to "fix" Melody and tried to perform an exorcism on her, but was stopped by Geoff and Miles Copeland. Miles allowed Melody to stay in the Summer Bay house while she sorted herself out.
Kidnap and moving in to Summer Bay House
Melody told Christine she wanted to divorce her and her father which made Christine make Edward to play along with her to make Melody falsely believe they were getting back together. Melody knew they were deceiving her and told them she did not want anything to do with them. The exchange turned sour and Christine slapped Melody causing her to run off.
Later Christine kidnapped Melody by bundling her in to her car and mowed down Geoff as he tried to stop her by standing in front of the car as she tried to drive away. Geoff survived and Melody gave up on her mother and told her she does not want to have any contact with her at all. Miles decided to adopt her and let her live in the Summer Bay House permanently
Fight for Geoff
Melody began trying to win Geoff back as she believed they were meant to be together but unbeknown to her Geoff and Nicole had feelings for each other and was angry and heartbroken when she walked in on them kissing. Although Annie and Ruby tried to talk some sense in to her and assure her there were other guys out there and even tried to set her up with another boy from school, she refused to back down. She started showing a more devious side to herself when she told Bartlett about Nicole driving without a license, simply to make Nicole lose her position as school captain, and then she turned up at the Halloween party dressed in exactly the same costume as Nicole and kissed Geoff whilst the lights were out for a second who thought he was kissing Nicole. A furious Nicole blurted out that her and Geoff had slept together to make Melody see how much they are serious about each other. However this just made Melody believe that Nicole was "corrupting" Geoff.
The "New" Melody
Melody started wearing make-up and changing her dress sense; wearing more revealing clothing to appeal to others and thinking it would make her "fit in" and that boys would notice her. She also started to develop a bit of an attitude . Her new look caused her to get eyed up by the school bully Matthew Lyons, who started to chat her up in the Surf Club one evening and she happily hung out with him whilst her friends looked on, worried. Later she invited him back to her house, and gave him the chance to go in to her bedroom, but Miles caught them after getting a tip-off from Kirsty and was livid.
Melody then started seeing Matthew much to the displeasure of her friends and Miles. He began to influence her in a bad way by getting her to start drinking with him. Her schoolwork began to suffer and she gave attitude to Bartlett but made out she was sorry afterwards when really she wasn't, telling Matthew that "when you've always been the good girl you can get away with anything".
Later a young guy named Karl who had been doing community service with Aden invited her and Matthew to a party on the beach that night, which she accepted. However at the party things got out of hand. Melody began to get drunk and Karl's friends locked Matthew in one of the caravans under the pretence of going in there to get more drinks; and Karl started to kiss Melody and tried to take things further. She tried to get away but couldn't due to her drunken state and she was rescued by Nicole. But the next day Melody accused Nicole of only helping her to impress Geoff and called her a "vacuous cow".
She got more angry and upset when she discovered that Matthew only started going out with her to get back at Ruby for the video prank she played on him. Matthew insisted that as he got to know Melody better he'd developed genuine feelings for her. But Melody told him she didn't feel the same way and broke up with him but said they could still be friends.
Although she was no longer seeing Matthew, Melody still pushed her friends away and still had issues regarding her self esteem.
The "Good Citizen"
After a bit of convincing from Miles; Bartlett awarded Melody with a Good Citizen award. Miles had hoped this would help Melody gain some sense of self worth. However earlier when Matthew failed to hand in an essay on time to Miles he had talked Melody in to writing it for him and she agreed. Miles found out after she had won her award when another copy of the essay fell out of her bag. When he confronted Melody about it, she insisted that Matthew forced her to do it but Matthew said he had not forced her and when he confronted Melody afterwards she told him Miles had threatened to throw her out of the house (which was not true). This made an angry Jai blurt out some home truths to her.
When Jai revealed to Miles about what Melody had been getting up to recently he grounded her for two weeks - after she'd managed to talk Geoff in to taking her to the senior formal instead of Nicole! When she protested to Miles about the formal he put his foot down and said she couldn't go.
The Formal (2008 finale)
Melody tried to get in to Miles' good books by doing extra chores when she wasn't asked and offered to do anything that was needed around the house. But Miles realised she was merely sucking up to him to simply get what she wanted.
Later when hanging out with Matthew on the evening of the formal because she couldn't go, he offered her some drugs he'd gotten off Xavier Austin, which she took. When Jai and Annie discovered her they assumed she was drunk and made Matthew leave. However the drugs had now had a big effect on Melody's state of mind and she got dressed for the formal and made her way down there convinced that she was still Geoff's date.
When she attempted to pull Geoff away from Nicole he told her to go home and she left after Aden told Miles he'd walk her home and Melody told Geoff she hated him before she went. When Aden got her home, he told Jai and Annie to keep an eye on her but she managed to slip away again and made her way back to the formal.
When she arrived the speeches were being held and everyone was sharing a few laughs over what was being said. But Melody who was still under the influence of drugs thought everyone was laughing at her and stumbled off outside locking the doors behind her.
Jai and Annie had by now noticed she was missing and asked Kane Phillips to give them a lift to the formal to find her and bring her back. Kane reluctantly agreed, but when they arrived, the car nearly collided with Melody who stood still frightened at the car and Kane had to swerve away to avoid her and crashed right in to the building where the formal was being held. Gas started leaking from the car and the everybody was still trapped inside the building.
Aftermath of the Formal
Despite the fact that she managed to cause a lot of mayhem at the formal, the only major casualties were Kane and Belle. However Melody soon faced the consequences for what she had done and after Miles, Bartlett and the Police were informed of what really happened of the formal, she did not face any legal charges but was expelled from Summer Bay High.
Behaviour Problems
after the recent troubles she'd gotten herself in to, Melody continued to deliberately be disobedient to Miles. Rachel came up with a theory that because Melody was so used to living under harsh discipline (courtesy of her mother) she associated harsh punishment with being "loved". After deciding she was too much of a burden on everyone at home, Melody spontaneously decided to run away. She packed her bags and left a note for Miles and hitched a ride with a lorry driver south towards Melbourne.
Street life and Archie Maddock
Melody discovered living on the streets was not as easy as she first thought when her bag (which contained all her possessions) was stolen when she spent the night at a homeless shelter. Later the next morning she met a homeless young man named Archie Maddock who was willing to give up his breakfast for her and covered for her when Charlie Buckton asked if he had seen her. Later he saved her from getting cut with a smashed bottle and gave her his blanket to keep her warm during a cold night. The next morning he got a corn cob for breakfast and offered to by her a hat that she liked. Archie saved from thugs by giving her money and telling her to go, only to get a beatng himself, when Miles Copeland and Charlie found Archie he seemed angry with Miles, telling him "Melody didn't belong on the streets" and said he gave her "doll money" to buy a ticket a flinders street station. as Miles and Charlie went to leave he told Miles to tell Melody he says "Hey". When Miles found Melody she was in a church. When he did as Archie requested she asked if he was ok. Melody then returned to Summer Bay with Miles and Charlie, the last time we saw Archie he seemed rather upset that Melody had gone.
Face to Face with her Mother
Melody had found out her mother was back and tried to avoid her, when she found out her grandmother came with, Melody invited her to dinner. Christine told Melody that her grandmother had a side to her Melody had not seen yet that she would not like, Melody found out her mother was telling the truth when her grandmother blurted out that she was a clumsy evil girl like her mother. Christine came to pick her grandmother up. That night Christine came back telling Melody her grandmother had had a stroke and she was in hospital, just as they were about to leave; Christine got a call from the hospital, and was told that she had had another stroke and died.
Melody Leaves The Bay
The next day after Melody's grandmother had died, Melody had revealed to everyone that she wanted to stay in New Zealand with her mother for good. After bidding farewell to her loved ones in the Bay, Melody left Summer Bay for New Zealand for a fresh start with Christine.
Melody to Return To The Bay
Confirmed by a Seven Network source Melody returns to Summer Bay in June
References
- http://www.seven.com.au/homeandaway/feat-interview-080915-celeste-dodwell
- http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/soaps/home-and-away/coming-next/melody-returns-to-the-bay/3830
- http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/soaps/home-and-away/coming-next/melody-starts-seeing-things/3878
- http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/soaps/home-and-away/story-so-far/geoff-tries-to-help-fragile-melody/3879
- http://www.tv3.co.nz/Tuesday-November-5/tabid/224/articleID/59724/cat/28/Default.aspx
- http://www.seven.com.au/homeandaway/feat-general-081020-melody
- http://www.seven.com.au/homeandaway/feat-general-081110-new-look
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