Brenda Riley

Brenda Riley

Brenda Riley, played by Genevieve Lemon, made her first appearance on 21 August 1991. The character was introduced amid a large revamp of the show, which had seen a decline in ratings and several characters written out. Brenda's arrival preceded that of her nephew Guy Carpenter (Andrew Williams), who was introduced shortly after. Brenda becomes the "new face behind the counter" when she takes over the Coffee Shop, as Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) and Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston) leave for an extended holiday. In February 1992, David Brown of TV Week reported that after only six months in the role, Lemon would be "moving out of Ramsay Street" to begin filming a part in The Piano. Vanessa Keys of The Daily Telegraph described Brenda as "a hard-bitten woman". A writer for BBC Online said Brenda's most notable moment was "Putting Pam in a frenzy"