Bobby Simpson (Home and Away)

Bobby was born in Summer Bay as the illegitimate daughter of Morag Bellingham (Cornelia Frances) and Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn). Morag kept the pregnancy a secret. She was adopted by Doris and Al Simpson (George Leppard; Terence Donovan), who she moved with to the city when she was two years old. Al was a violent alcoholic was imprisoned seven years for petty crime. Meanwhile, Doris and Bobby returned to Summer Bay to stay with her grandparents. By this point, Bobby had begun rebelling and earned a reputation as a wild child. When she was fifteen, her mother Doris died of cancer, and her grandparents sold their store to Ailsa. Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher) soon felt sympathy for her and got her a job at the store and allowed her to live behind his boatshed, she resented Alf being an authority figure to her but slowly warmed to Ailsa.[2]

Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa Fletcher (Vanessa Downing) arrive with their foster children to take a look at the caravan park, Bobby is hiding in one in of the vans with the help of Neville (Frank Lloyd) and Floss McPhee (Sheila Kennelly), after being accused of breaking into Donald Fisher's house. Neville and Floss try to keep her away from Alf and the Fletchers, as they do not want any more trouble. Bobby sees Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) snooping, Bobby tries to make an escape but knocks over little Sally in the process. Bobby tries to get Sally to keep quiet and runs off. She is later caught by Tom and Frank when Sally identifies the girl who pushed her, and is placed under citizens arrest by Fisher who has been searching for her due to his suspicions about her robbing him. She is then handed over to the police.

Bobby decides to harass the Fletcher girls at the beach and blames their family for her earlier arrest. The night the Fletchers move into the caravan park house, one of the vans burst into flames. The blame is immediately pointed at Bobby, but she is adamant she has done anything wrong. Fisher tries to have her arrested again as he wants to see justice, but Tom and Pippa refuse to press charges as they believe Bobby is innocent. Pippa starts to feel sorry for Bobby and offers her a chance to live in one of the caravans free of charge, which Bobby refuses, as she does not want to be seen as anyone's charity case. However, Steven Matheson (Adam Willits), comes to her defence when she is harassed by Lance Smart (Peter Vroom) and Martin Dibble (Craig Thomson) on the beach. Bobby soon befriends Steven and as a result she decides to accept Pippa's offer. But Carly Morris (Sharyn Hodgson), objects to Bobby staying in the caravan park and a fight breaks out between them just as a man from community services stops by to assess the Fletchers living arrangements. Bobby feels guilty that she might be responsible for splitting the family up, so she goes to the city to convince Tarquin Pearce (John O'Brien), the man from the department not to take the kids away from Tom and Pippa.

Pearce is so impressed with what Bobby told him, he not only wants the Fletchers to stay together, he also persuades Tom and Pippa to take on Bobby as their sixth foster child. She later moves in with them and quickly settles in and becomes a part of the family. Now reformed and living in a stable home, Bobby and Ailsa decide to set up a new business, The Bayside Diner. She also develops feelings for her foster brother Frank, but he is in love with Roo. Bobby and Roo clash on many occasions, whilst Bobby is secretly jealous. Bobby evens starts dreaming she is marrying Frank and rubbing it in Roo's face. Bobby is delighted when Roo and Frank seem to be having a rough time. Frank and Roo however then agree to get married, which makes Bobby even more angry. On the day of their wedding, Roo starts having second thoughts. Frank is devastated to find out Roo has jilted him. Bobby decides she will be there for Frank in his time of need.

After a while, their friendship starts developing into feelings. Frank decides they have to make a move and they start a relationship of their own. Bobby constantly worries however that he is on the rebound; this makes her cry a lot and let her usual strong image fade. Frank decides to show his commitment to Bobby and asks her to marry him. Delighted, Bobby accepts the offer. On the day of their wedding, Bobby's birth mother Morag secretly turns up to the wedding; at this point, Bobby still is not aware of the identity of her biological parents. Their marriage starts to face problems and Bobby refuses to let go of the thought he is on the rebound. So after constant disagreements, Frank decides to leave Summer Bay for New York City to reconcile with Roo. Bobby is distraught to realise she was right all along.

She attempts to trace her birth parents, without giving a thought for her foster parents' feelings. After a series of hurdles, Bobby decides she has tried hard enough and gives up. Morag is admitted to hospital and Alf decides to tell Bobby his secret because he feels the timing is appropriate. Bobby is shocked at the secret because it means Morag was in fact her mother. Bobby is very angry when she finds out the truth and continues to pester Morag even after she is released from hospital. After a while, she gives in and reveals all to her. Bobby is more upset to find out Donald is her father because they have previously hated each other. Initially neither can handle the situation, but eventually the two decide to put their past differences aside and develop a close father-daughter relationship. When she discovers she is pregnant, she tells everyone but Donald; she tries to but is scared of what he will think. He is annoyed when he finds out and Bobby thinks he disapproves, but Donald tells her he is proud of her. At one point, Donald resigns from his job because of problems at the school so she enlists Pippa and Grant Mitchell's (Craig McLachlan) help to get his job back. After coming to terms with the prospect of being a mother, Bobby develops stomach pains and is devastated to find out she has suffered a miscarriage. When she gets her head together, she decides to take a leaf out of Pippa's book and looks into the prospect of fostering a child of her own.

After a series of hits and misses, she wonders if it is the right thing to do. However, this all changes when she finds a young boy named Sam Nicholls (Ryan Clark). The two get on really well in the end and form a close relationship. Bobby and Sam's delight is soon put to an end when his biological father, Greg Marshall (Ross Newton), turns up in Summer Bay; after finding out their address from someone, he turns up and announces he is here to take Sam back home. Bobby is terrified at the thought of losing Sam, and she refuses to let Greg near him. Eventually, Bobby and Greg become close and start a relationship and they marry, much to the happiness of Sam.

When a fair is held, Bobby's friend Adam Cameron (Mat Stevenson) wants to go for a boat ride with her and Luke Cunningham (John Adam). Suddenly, the boat collides with a large piece of driftwood in the water and overturns, causing everyone fall out of the boat and into the water. Bobby is then found but is in a coma, attempts are made to save her but she is found to be brain dead. After a few days, Bobby's friends and family each say their goodbyes to her, before the decision is made by Greg to turn off her life support machine. The whole town is affected by her death. Even her estranged mother Morag finds it hard to come to terms with. Adam is not charged with causing her death, but despite it being accidental, he is still treated like an outcast as he becomes hated by most of the Bay's residents and he is only forgiven after he saves Sam from a fire. He leaves soon after. When Ailsa is going through a rough time in 1995, she starts hallucinating due to the medication she is prescribed. One night, Ailsa hallucinates and Bobby's ghost suddenly appears before her on the fridge door, telling Ailsa that Alf cares about her.