Search Results - Carpenter, Jill

List of Home and Away characters introduced in 2010

Amber "Rabbit" Copeland, played Mitzi Ruhlman, made her first screen appearance on 27 January 2010. Rabbit was Ruhlman's first television role. The character was introduced to help bring "a little fun" back into Miles Copeland's (Josh Quong Tart) life. When asked how the idea for Rabbit came about, Tart revealed "I was very keen to get a bit more magic into the character of Miles. He came in with a great sense of magic and I think we wanted to capture that again." The actor explained that the concept of Miles having Rabbit in his life brings all sorts of questions about psychology and mental illness in the equation. He added that the storyline was something young children could enjoy because Rabbit is "feisty and mischievous" and there is an innocence to it all.

Rabbit appears to a hungover Miles Copeland, after he spends the night on the beach. She later appears at Summer Bay House and tells him she is staying for a while. During a game of cards, Rabbit tells Miles of her visions of fire and people hiding under tables. Miles does not take her seriously, but when he arrives at the Pier Diner, he finds the place under siege from drunks who have set it alight. Rabbit is visibly shaken, but Miles convinces her the visions are a good thing. She later tells Miles he will die if he falls asleep. After falling asleep at school, Miles is nearly killed by a ceiling fan. A spate of graffiti attacks occur in the Bay, including at the Caravan Park and Surf Club. Miles notices the writing is done in Amber and spots Rabbit. When he catches up with her, she denies doing anything. Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons) begins having strange dreams involving Rabbit dressed as a rabbit eating a carrot. Rabbit tells her that Miles is unwell and then presents her a vision of her late son, Byron Fisher (Nathianiel Davey) at the age of eleven. Rabbit also tells Marilyn that she will die too.

Marilyn has another dream involving Rabbit being drenched in water. She awakes and finds Miles adding graffiti onto a van in the park and realises Rabbit's real name is Amber. Miles confesses that Rabbit is actually his daughter, who died in the Boxing Day Tsunami five years earlier along with her mother, Louise. He has been seeing visions of her for several months. After Miles visits Michael Patton (Jack Campbell) for a psychiatric assessment, he is prescribed some medication, but Rabbit begs him not to take it. However, Miles takes the pills and Rabbit disappears for a while. She reappears when he stops taking the medication. Miles struggles to keep Rabbit's visions quiet resulting in an outburst at school, which gets him suspended. Rabbit has another premonition involving Elijah Johnson (Jay Laga'aia), Leah Patterson-Baker (Ada Nicodemou) and several school children in danger on an excursion. She and Miles then discover the group are unconscious due to an exposed gas main on the site. Miles manages to break down the door and save them. Miles and Rabbit part ways on the beach, after he sees a vision of Louise at the water's edge and goes towards her. Rabbit stops him and states that her mother will look after her and she heads to the sea, disappearing from Miles' life.

A reporter from the ''Daily Record'' praised Rabbit because they believed that ''Home and Away'' lacked "a spooky little girl called Rabbit". They added that "ever since she first appeared the show has been terrific". The episode featuring Miles finally letting go of his visions of Rabbit won the Australian Writers' Guild Award for "Best Episode in a Television Serial" in 2010 and was presented to the episode's writer, Sam Meikle. Provided by Wikipedia