Home and Away star breaks silence on new character's dark behaviour

 "It's a complicated issue with a complicated young woman."

Home and Away actor Georgie Parker has explained new character Eliza Sherwood's dark behaviour.

Parker's character Roo Stewart took the youngster in earlier this year after her foster home burned down, and she's exhibited some strange behaviour lately.

On top of her obsession with weaponry, death, and Harper Matheson's baby, this week's Aussie-pace scenes see her asked by Alf to go get his medicine when he suffers chest pains.

She dawdles and eventually lies, saying she couldn't find it, but in reality, she has it in her pocket.

Speaking to Australia's TV Week, Parker said: "Roo has been doing everything she can within her means to reach Eliza, but as the audience has seen, Eliza has a lot of deep issues and it's a complicated issue with a complicated young woman."

"[Roo] knows there's something very unusual about this young woman, but I approached [the storyline] how a foster carer would," she added.

"We don't know how much she has been exposed to or seen, so when people go through traumatic times or are perhaps abused, they do come out with strange coping mechanisms and ideas about things. They are isolated simply by their experience.

"Roo is giving Eliza the benefit of a lot of doubt, because she doesn't know where she's come from."

Parker said that people are often in danger when around Eliza, but stressed that she doesn't want to "demonise" the character.

"It's our responsibility in taking on this kind of foster care storyline. But it's clear Eliza has learnt to disengage from trauma but is fascinated by it," the actor concluded.

Home and Away airs weekdays at 1.45pm on Channel 5, with repeat screenings at 6pm on 5STAR and first-look screenings at 6.30pm on 5STAR. Selected classic episodes are available via Prime Video in the UK.