Kelly Watson

Casting

Hobbs joined Home and Away in August 1995. To prepare for the role she followed doctors around Sydney's St. Vincent hospital and took notes. In an interview with Daniel Dasey from The Sydney Morning Herald, Hobbs told of how her fellow cast members labelled her "Doctor Death", following the death of Shane Parrish (Dieter Brummer).

Hobbs quit the serial in 1997.

Storylines

Kelly is first seen at Northern Districts Hospital seen treating Nelson McFarlane (Laurence Bruels), who has been badly burned in the recent bushfire. She meets Steven Matheson (Adam Willits) who is visiting Nelson and there seems to be a spark between the pair of them. When Kelly decides to move to Summer Bay to be nearer work, She and Steven rent Travis Nash's (Nic Testoni) house. Travis returns from Canada and moves in, much to Kelly's chagrin. There is visible tension between Kelly and Travis and this leads to the destruction of a tape exonerating Steven, who has been accused of murdering his nemesis Brian "Dodge" Forbes (Kelly Dingwall). Dodge kidnaps Kelly in order to lure Steven into a final showdown and leaves her tied up in the boot of his car. Travis rescues Kelly and finds her severely dehydrated. Kelly and Travis soon become close and begin a relationship. Kelly's sister Rachel (Tasma Walton) visits and is involved in a car crash that ends up killing her boyfriend, Rick (Andrew Rododera) and blames Kelly for not doing enough to save him.

While taking blood from a patient, Kelly's is pricked by a needle and is horrified to learn that the patient is HIV-positive and may be infected. News travels around town and Ailsa Stewart (Judy Nunn), although supportive, refuses to let Kelly treat her son Duncan (Lewis Devaney) when he suffers a cut. Ken Treloar (Stan Zemanek) the host of a talk show on local radio begins targeting Ailsa over her treatment of Kelly, but Kelly rings in to defend her. The tests arrive back and Kelly is relieved when they are negative. Kelly finds herself the target of a hate campaign perpetrated by Debbie Salter (Kim Lewis), a woman obsessed with Travis, who plants a funnel web spider in Kelly's bed, possibly intending to kill her. Kelly and Travis then take out a restraining order against Debbie

Kelly later finds herself in the unexpected position of mother figure when Stephanie Mboto (Fleur Beaupert) the younger sister of Travis' late girlfriend arrives in Summer Bay. After Steven is fired from teaching after his relationship with Selina Roberts (Tempany Deckert) is exposed, Kelly offers support but he turns on her and Travis and launches a verbal outburst that leads to Travis punching him and evicting him. When Ailsa's husband, Alf (Ray Meagher) undergoes an emergency bypass operation and suffers complications, Kelly is forced to operate on him in theatre after the operating doctor James McLaren (Grant Dodwell) leaves to play a round of golf. She keeps Alf alive until McLaren returns. Ailsa is annoyed and threatens to sue should anything go wrong with Alf's surgery until Pippa Ross (Debra Lawrence) points out that Kelly should never have been put in that situation.

Kelly's parents Murray (Ron Graham) and Carol (Rona Coleman) arrive, much to her shock and announce they are divorcing. Murray stays for a while and Travis asks him for Kelly's hand in marriage. Travis then proposes directly and she accepts but Kelly feels that living in a country town like Summer Bay is not for her and she decides to take a job in the city. Travis agrees to go with her but Kelly realises that city life is not for Travis and leaves alone after leaving a note for Travis saying she still loves him.

Reception

A viewer wrote into The Daily Mirror and asked "WOULDN'T it be nice if our GPs were like Kelly from Home And Away? Everytime the hospital appears, there she is, whatever the department. And anyone sick gets a home visit."