Gina Buchanan (River City)

Infobox soap character
name = Gina Buchanan
portrayer = Libby McArthur
series = River City
colour = #0000FF;
spouse = Archie Buchanan
parents = Malcolm Hamilton (father)
Rosie Hamilton (mother)
siblings = Eileen Donachie (sister)
children = Ruth Green (daughter)
Joanne Rossi (daughter)
grandchildren = Franco Rossi Jr. (grandson)
Romeo Rossi (grandson)
Eilidh Green (granddaughter)
nieces/nephews = Brian Henderson (nephew)
Kirsty Henderson (niece)

Regina "Gina" Hamilton (previously Rossi and Buchanan) is a fictional character in the BBC Scotland soap "River City" played by Libby McArthur.

Background

Gina always did let her heart rule her head. The oldest daughter of Malcolm and Rose Hamilton, her mother's death affected her considerably and she began to mother her much younger sister Eileen. Occasionally she would let her hair down, often leading to disastrous results. Gina was vulnerable as a young woman and this resulted in her falling pregnant by her boyfriend and first love Graham Mitchell. After the birth of their daughter Ruth Graham walked out on them and she raised her on her own, something that came naturally to her due to her practically raising Eileen.

Gina later met the Italian Franco Rossi and found herself swept off her feet by him. They married, he adopted Ruth as his own daughter, and a couple of years later she gave birth to their daughter Joanne. Franco provided stability to Gina and she was heavily dependent on him, whilst at the same time he allowed her to grow and confidence and just be herself. Unfortunately Franco's life was cut short, leaving Gina widowed and raising her two daughters alone.

History

Gina appeared as one of the original members of the Sheildinch community. She was seen to be caring for her elderly father Malcolm and two daughters Ruth and Joanne, whilst also running her successful business; the Oyster Café. Despite at first having a feud with Scarlett Adams, the pair became best friends and began working together at the café and more recently on 20 June 2008 Gina was Scarlett's bridesmaid at her wedding to Jimmy Mullen. As well as with Scarlett Gina proved to be a confidante to the majority of the residents in Sheildinch, a job which she relished.

Above all the most important thing to Gina is family. However the Rossi family has had numerous ups and downs over the years. Gina's youngest daughter Joanne largely consumed most of Gina's time and attention, which led to a neglected Ruth's behaviour growing increasingly eratic and after fighting for custody of Joanne's son Franco as well as pushing Gina down the stairs that resulted in her being in a coma for weeks, Ruth was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Gina tried to help her daughter through this time, but in the end Ruth took off for Italy. She later returned and much to Gina's shock announced that she was married! Gina also had to contend with the fact that her daughter Jo was having an affair with her half brother Luca Rossi. In the end it was revealed that Luca actually wasn't Franco's son so Luca and Jo were cleared of being accused of an incestuous relationship, but Gina still found it hard to cope with especially when Jo discovered that she had fallen pregnant by him.

After becoming estranged from Jo, Gina met her former school friend Archie Buchanan and they became really close. Archie was smitten with Gina but she was unsure of starting up a romance, as her last relationship resulted in her partner Marcus raping her. However in the end Gina overcame her fears and had sex with Archie, resulting in a stormy relationship. Their path wasn't smooth as Gina had to come to terms with Archie's affair with her sister Eileen and after marrying him she had to endure many battles with Archie's fiery widowed mother Liz Buchanan.

Gina and Liz soon became friends after settling their differences, but Gina's marriage was doomed for more tragedies. Archie was arrested for embezzlement and he tried to con Gina into re-mortgaging her beloved café. When this did not work for him he decided to perform a fake suicide and instead run off to Hong Kong with his new lover Niamh in October 2007. However both Liz and Gina caught him out before Archie could leave with Niamh and in his anger he began to strangle Gina. Liz came to her daughter-in-law's defence and hit Archie over the head, leading everyone to believe he was dead. Gina then took Liz under her wing and decided against phoning the police, as she knew that Liz would be arrested for manslaughter. Instead she enlisted Eileen's help in disposing of Archie's body over a cliff. However unbeknownst to everybody Archie was still alive and whilst Gina and Liz had been pretending to the residents of Sheildinch that he had committed suicide, a bewildered Archie returned on Boxing Day 2007 much to the horror of his mother and wife. As if this wasn't enough for Gina, her daughter Joanne also returned with her newborn baby Romeo and other son Franco.

Archie returned under the name of Douglas. He has suffered from amnesia due to the fall from the cliff and had no recollection of Archie or any past events. Gradually Gina began a friendship with Douglas, who was infatuated with her. They began a romance much to her family's horror, but when Archie's former colleague Fi Kydd, who had phoned the police over Archie's embezzlement, returned to Sheildinch his memories came flooding back and he became Archie again. However in order to be set free from his pending trial he went under the persona of Douglas so that Gina and Liz would give him good character witnesses. However he terrorised Fi during her time back in Sheildinch, which resulted in her death. More and more people began to realise that Archie was back, but Gina remained oblivious. The result was that Gina became estranged from her sister and daughter Joanne, who forbade Gina from seeing her grandchildren.

Gina eventually saw the light after watching Jimmy and Scarlett's wedding video, which contained footage of Archie and his mother Liz in a fight at the wedding, which resulted in Archie revealing his true persona. Prior to this Gina had renewed her wedding vows to "Douglas".

After Archie was found not guilty at his trial, Gina decided that she'd had enough of playing the fool and threw both him and his mother out of her father's home. She eventually forgave Liz and also reconciled with her sister Eileen and daughter Jo before renting out Billy Davies's flat. On 5 August 2008 she revealed that she had filed for divorce, citing unruly behaviour, and had also changed her name back to her maiden name.

Family

ee also

* River City

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/rivercity/characters/ River City Cast]