List of Neighbours characters (1991)

Brenda Riley, played by Genevieve Lemon, made her first appearance on 21 August 1991. 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"

Brenda is the younger sister of Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver). When Lou tells her his former flame Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston) and her husband Harold (Ian Smith) are leasing the Coffee Shop while they tour Australia, Brenda heads to Erinsborough and secures an interview. Madge and Brenda get along well, but Harold finds her coarse jokes off-putting. Madge convinces him Brenda is the best person for the job and they also rent out Number 24 Ramsay Street to her. Madge is sure she recognises Brenda from somewhere and she admits she is Lou's sister, which upsets Harold, who previously competed with Lou for Madge's affections. Harold is keen to terminate the agreement, but softens when Brenda is able to get him a $5000 discount on a campervan for the Bishops' trip and agrees to let her stay.

When Brenda looks after Harold's grandchildren Toby (Ben Guerens) and Sky Mangel (Miranda Fryer), Toby lies and tells her that he is allowed to stay up later than normal on weekends, much to Madge's ire. However, when the children are tired out the next day, Brenda explains that she wanted to them teach them a lesson that getting their own way is not always a good thing. Madge apologises to Brenda before she and Harold leave on their trip. Brenda's nephew, Guy Carpenter (Ian Williams) arrives looking for a place to stay and the neighbours are surprised when they see Brenda moving Guy's belongings in, and they think she is dating a younger man. Brenda then explains that Guy is Lou's son and did not want Harold knowing in case he became upset again. When Harold disappears after being swept off of a rock and is presumed dead, Madge goes to visit her family to get over the loss and Brenda takes over the Coffee shop indefinitely. She immediately becomes a popular fixture. However, her gossiping gets her in trouble when she unwittingly tells Felicity Brent (Rona McLeod) about Dorothy Burke's (Maggie Dence) marital problems, which Felicity uses in the local elections to discredit Dorothy, leaving her furious when she loses her seat and a feud develops.

Brenda reciprocates when Doug Willis (Terence Donovan), a married man known for flirting, catches her eye. Brenda becomes convinced he is attracted to her and that his marriage to Pam Willis (Sue Jones) is failing. Brenda and Doug begin spending together and she tries to seduce him after learning her former husband, Roy (Neil Melville), is remarrying. Brenda becomes emotional and asks Doug to stay with her that night but the plan backfires when Doug sends over Pam to talk to her. Things come to a head when Brenda kisses Doug which is witnessed by his daughter, Gaby Willis (Rachel Blakely). Pam confronts Doug and he is forced to tell Brenda that the flirting was a bit of fun. Brenda is humiliated and avoids her neighbours until Pam tells her that she has nothing against her and explains about Doug's behaviour.

When Brenda discovers Guy is taking steroids to help him in the upcoming Cross-Country race, she tries to make him see sense, but Guy refuses to listen, so Brenda threatens to take steroids herself as long as Guy continues to do so. Guy, fearful, relents and quits taking them. Brenda's problems worsen when it seems that her homemade tuna quiche is the cause of Josh Anderson's (Jeremy Angerson) sickness and she tries to recover any previously sold quiches. Brenda panics when she sees a motionless Bouncer on the floor, but he is only playing dead. Brenda is relieved to find that the quiche is not the cause of Josh's sickness but a virus going around.

Brenda and Dorothy's feud is reignited, after Dorothy tells her off for employing Toby for after school shifts. Brenda schemes by placing a personal advert in the paper's lonely hearts column under Dorothy's name. However, the plan is undone when Lucy Robinson (Melissa Bell) tells Dorothy, who then arranges for a colleague to pose as a suitor. Brenda and Dorothy later become friends after they win a radio quiz. Doug tries to set Brenda up with his workmate Nev Cusack (Jim Ewing) at a dinner party, but he is more interested in Doug's sister Faye Hudson (Lorraine Bayly). Roy arrives much to Brenda's surprise and wants to get back with her after splitting with his wife, Simone (Clarissa House), and plans to set up business in Malaysia and wants Brenda to come with him. Simone encourages Brenda to take a second chance with Roy. Feeling uncertain, Brenda tells Roy to go on without her. After a boring date with Adrian Pitt (Andrew Larkins), Brenda realises Roy is her one true love and leaves Erinsborough. Provided by Wikipedia