Karen Dean is the sister of Blake Dean and half-sister of Roxanne Miller. She appeared on the show from July 1990 (Episode 589) until August 1991 (Episode 842). She made some guest appearances in 1993. She last appeared in Episode 1175. Karen was played by Belinda Jarrett.
Biography[]
| Karen Dean | |
|---|---|
Character Profile
| |
| Birthday: | 1975 |
| Birthplace: | Sydney |
| Father: | Les Bagley |
| Mother: | Margot Dean |
| Siblings: | Blake Dean Roxanne Miller (half) |
| Spouse: | None |
| Children: | None |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Played By: | Belinda Jarrett |
Backstory[]
Karen Dean was born in 1975 to Les Bagley and Margot Dean, who never married. Karen had a brother Blake, also born to Les and Margot. Although Karen could be wayward, she was generally a good kid.
1990-1991[]
In July 1990, Blake and Karen arrived in Summer Bay to look for Ailsa Stewart, their mother's former cellmate. Karen and Blake persuaded Ailsa and her husband Alf to take them in.
Karen started causing trouble and befriended petty thief Sophie Simpson. She then made a play for Steven Matheson. Karen tried various methods to get time alone with Steven but they backfired, so she sent him an anonymous love letter. Steven assumed Sophie wrote the letter but she set him straight. Ailsa discovered Karen's feelings for Steven after she denied it. The truth was revealed and Steven told Karen he was flattered but it could not work because of the age gap between them.
Karen began to feel left out when Blake and Sophie begin dating. In November 1990, Karen was assaulted by nasty teacher Alan Stone and he was eventually transferred to another school. When Haydn Ross came to live in Summer Bay, she tried her best to woo him. It didn't work out and instead Haydn began to date Sophie.
In January 1991, Karen led a protest against the felling of a tree planted by Alf Stewart's grandfather Angus. It was to be removed so the school could build a new library. Eventually, a compromise was reached with Donald Fisher and the tree was saved.
Karen starts to go off the rails
Karen's self-esteem took a nose-dive and she became jealous of Sophie's ability to attract seemingly any guy she wanted. Sophie tried to help by matching her up with Blake's friend Mark McGregor. Mark genuinely liked Karen but once she found out that Sophie had been operating behind the scenes, that was end of that. Angered, Karen tried to prove that she could have any guy she wanted and foolishly went on a road trip with two hoons. She had to be rescued by Michael, Blake and Haydn who had gone in search of her. Karen's friendship with Sophie was never the same again, and it highlighted a less pleasant side to her character. A couple of months later, she befriended Sophie's new foster sister Tracey Turner. Tracey was a two-faced manipulator who was planning to oust Sophie from the Ross household. It didn't take Tracey long to turn Karen against Sophie and to use her in one of her ploys.
It turned out Karen had a male admirer of sorts. While at first she wasn't interested in local bad boy Maurice "Revhead" Gibsonwho made it clear he wanted to get to know her better, she eventually gave in. She decided he wasn't that bad a person after all and they became an item, much to Alf and Ailsa's horror. This was a turning point in Karen's life. She became a much more difficult, unpleasant person and it fractured her relationship with the Stewarts. As her downward spiral continued, she started to steal from Alf's store. She also helped Revhead carry out a series of burglaries, including a raid on Alf's store where he was knocked unconscious.
In August 1991 Karen stole Blake and Haydn's car and collided with David Croft's car, killing him. Although she tried to blame Adam (who had got into the stolen car and tried to reason with her) for the accident, she was later left with no choice but to confess. She was jailed for two years. Ailsa, no stranger to prison herself, came back from visiting her and said she was worried at what Karen had become. There was a hardness about her which made her feel she would continue to run into trouble with the law.
1993[]
Karen in her final appearance (1993)
Karen was given parole in early 1993 and returned to Summer Bay. Ailsa's prediction was on the money - she had learned nothing from her stint in prison. She was still the horrible person she had become prior to her jailing and was quite catty to Blake's girlfriend Finlay. She started a fight in a nightclub and stole some money from Ailsa before fleeing to back to the city.
Blake managed to track her down and the pair had a heart to heart. She wished they could be friends again, like they had been before. Blake decided to move to the city, get a place with her and help get her back on her feet again. She was last seen in Episode 1175 (February 1993) but was occasionally mentioned after that. On a later return visit to Summer Bay, Blake said that she had married an accountant and started a family.
Memorable info[]
Birthday: 1975
Full Name: Karen Dean
First Line: "So, this is Summer Bay. What do we do now?" (to Blake)
Last Line: "Blake, I just want us to be mates again like when we were growing up...I dunno, I'm just sick of feeling like everything I do is wrong and everything you do is right."
Family[]
Father Les Bagley
Mother Margot Dean
Siblings Blake Dean (full), Roxanne Miller (half, same father)
Uncles/Aunts Kevin Bagley, Alec Dean