Christina Alessi

Christina Alessi (also Robinson) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Gayle Blakeney. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 18 January 1990, when she moved into Ramsay Street with her twin sister, Caroline Alessi, played by Gayle's real-life twin, Gillian Blakeney. Christina marries Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) and gives birth to their son, Andrew Robinson. Christina departed on 5 August 1992 with Paul and Andrew, following Paul's relocation to Hawaii. Blakeney reprised the role in June 2019 and made her on-screen return on 6 September, alongside her sister.

In 1989, sisters and television presenters Gayle and Gillian Blakeney were cast as twins Christina and Caroline Alessi respectively, after they wrote to the show's producers at Grundy about making an appearance. They started filming their first scenes seven months after signing with the show. The Blakeneys had an interest in twin psychology at the time, and they worked with the scriptwriters to make sure their characters were portrayed as authenticate as possible.

The sisters' fictional backstory was detailed in both Anthony Hayward's The Who's Who of Soap Operas and Josephine Monroe's The Neighbours Programme Guide. It states that identical twins Caroline and Christina were born to an Australian mother and a second-generation Australian father, whose parents had emigrated from Italy. They have an older sister and two younger brothers, but the twins were always closer to each other than anyone else in the Alessi family. When they were younger, the twins often played pranks on their teachers and boyfriends. As they grew older, they kept "a mischievous sense of humour" and shared similar thoughts.

Caroline and Christina developed very different personalities. Where Caroline is more academic, Christina is "less driven and more reserved". She becomes "awkward" under pressure and is untidy and less organised than her sister. She is also characterised as being quieter than the confident Caroline. Christina's ambition in life was to be a good wife and mother. Monroe described her as being "homeloving and maternal". Caroline saw her as the weaker sister. The twins' differing personalities were also shown through their dress sense, with Christina adopting a "casual, girlie" style in contrast to Caroline's business suits.

Producer's created a relationship between Christina and Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis). Off-screen Blakeney and Dennis also began a two-year relationship, moved in together and later broke-up. Blakeney told Donna Hay from What's on TV that "were both actors so we didn't have any trouble separating the script from real life." In December 1990, a writer from TV Week revealed that scriptwriters were planning a series of relationship issues for Christina and Paul, which would play out in early 1991. They stated the relationship would be "tested severely" and "jealousy rears its head" when Christina accepts a blind date with another man. Writers later devised a pregnancy storyline for the pair. Paul treated the pregnancy with planning and precision. They attended maternity classes and overcome issues in the pregnancy. When Christina goes into labour, Paul's planning goes wrong when he runs out of petrol on the way to the hospital. Christina fears that she will give birth at the road side but they hitchhike in a passing ice cream van and make it to the hospital. Blakeney researched pregnancy thoroughly to prepare for the scenes. She went to an antenatal class, practised breathing exercises and spoke to new mothers. She also arranged to watch a live birth, but arrived at the hospital too late. Blakeney told Hay that "I did everything short of actually having a baby myself." Christina gives birth to a son, Andrew (Shannon Holmes) and Paul is left annoyed that his plans were ruined. Blakeney added that "the baby's safe and sound - unlike Paul's image."

Paul begins to suffer from mental health issues when his business, Lassiters begins to fail. When a client threatens him with a lawsuit, Paul becomes even more stressed. The events lead Paul to seek professional help and he checks into a psychiatric facility. He soon checks out and disappears leaving Christina and Andrew alone. Unbeknownst to Christina, Paul has fled to New Zealand where he reconnects with his daughter, Amy Williams (Sheridan Compagnino). Paul decides to return to Erinsborough and brings Amy to come and live with him, Christina and Andrew. Christina is not impressed with Paul's return and even more annoyed that Amy is with him. Dennis told a reporter from TVTimes that "Paul can't seem to put a foot right. He cracked up when his business got into deep water. Now he's putting his marriage in danger." Christina's behaviour around Amy makes her feel unwelcome and her stay gets off to a bad start. Christina and Amy's relationship remains difficult and they argue most of the time. Lisa Anthony from BIG! magazine observed two as being "at each other's throats" while Paul was caught in the middle of their bickering. Amy also stressed that she did not want to live with Paul which caused arguments between them too. One altercation leaves Amy in need of medical care when she runs in front of Paul's reversing car and is knocked down.

Producers created an infidelity storyline for the Robinson marriage. Writers developed an attraction between Paul and Caroline. For Caroline, the attraction was a dilemma of betraying her sister or missing out on a romantic opportunity. Gillian told a TVTimes reporter that Christina and Paul were having marital problems regardless of her involvement. She added that Caroline did not want to betray her sister but may regret not exploring her feelings for Paul if he and Christina broke-up anyway. The attraction culminates in a passionate kiss. Paul and Christina were having a marriage crisis because Paul's failing business deals and the brief abandonment leaving Christina to look after Andrew alone. She copes fine without Paul and upon his return tries to meddle in Andrew's upbringing. Christina does not want to abandon her marriage and forces Paul to sleep on the sofa. During the night, Caroline leans over Paul to tuck in his blanket and Paul awakes. He mistakes Caroline for Christina and kisses her. Gillian added that Caroline is "really drawn to Paul" but "terribly close to Christina" and would never want to hurt her intentionally.

At first Paul wonders whether his feelings would be reciprocated by Caroline, but the kiss confirms that his feelings are real. Despite their attraction, Paul decides to lie to Christina to save his marriage. Dennis told Chris Twomey from What's on TV that for Paul to have another failed marriage would "make him look stupid". Therefore Paul is desperate to hide the truth. Caroline struggles more with the guilt of betraying her sister and flees to Italy to mull over her feelings. Caroline's sudden departure leaves Christina "confused and bewildered". She cannot understand why Caroline would leave her when they are best friends as well as sisters. Gayle told Twomey that if Christina discovered the truth "she would go off the rails, she'd be deeply hurt that her husband and her sister had betrayed her." Gillian added that "Caroline feels terrible about what's happened and yet she's frightened by her feelings for Paul."