Kevin Rebecchi
| Kevin Rebecchi | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Don Bridges | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1995, 2002-2003, 2006, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 8 February 1995 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 3 March 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former, recurring | ||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
Truck Driver Roadhouse Manager | ||||||||||||||||
| Home | Colac | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Kevin "Big Kev" Rebecchi is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Don Bridges. He made his first on-screen appearance on 8 February 1995 and made his final appearance on 3 March 2008.
Storylines
Originally hailing from West Waratah, Big Kev married Angie in 1972. He is the Father of Shane, Kevin Jr. (Stonie) and Jarrod (Toadie). He is a trucker by profession and has therefore spent long spells away from his family. Despite his small, wirey stature (which is comical in relation to his wife) Angie is very proud of her husband and, before his first appearance, made him out to be a large burly man, befitting his nickname. This resulted in a comedic moment when he finally arrived in Ramsey Street, pulling up in his huge truck rig, and stunning the residence when the much-talked about Big Kev turned out to be a tiny, thin man, who was overshadowed by Angie.
Big Kev has gained infamy as a Neighbours character, despite having only resided in Ramsay Street for a short period of time. Having been forced to leave No. 32 is 1995, when it emerged that Shane had been the Ramsey Street burglar, the Rebecchis gradually returned to Ramsay Street bit by bit in the months that followed. Angie, who had left to join Kev on the road having found it too lonely, returned to live with Stonie who had started sharing No. 32 with Mal Kennedy and Danni Stark. When Mal and Danni moved back to their respective homes, Kev came to live with Angie, bringing Toadie with him. During that time, Kev had a spat with Karl Kennedy when Toadie ran away with Billy Kennedy. A furious Karl stormed over to No. 32 when he realised Billy and Toadie had run away, and he ended up in a bitter argument with Kev over Toadie's behaviour, insisting that it was he who had led Billy astray. The boys were eventually found by the police, and Angie and Kev decided Toadie would have to return to Coral's again. Once the holidays were over, Kev set off on the road, dropping Toadie at Tindara on the way.
While he was away, Angie and Kev's marriage was tested when Angie began to fall for Mick Anderson, a pest controller. Toadie got wind of his mum's growing feelings for Mick, and confronted her about it. Angie assured Toadie that she was fully committed to his father, as she had been missing out on attention from Kev for so long. In the wake of her relationship with Mick, Angie went joined Kev in Port Keats to explain the situation to her. Kev suggested Angie move up north with him to open up a roadhouse. Angie and Stonie moved up to Port Keats to join Kev, leaving Toadie behind with the Kennedys.
Big Kev, along with Angie returned to Erinsborough in 2002 for a 30th wedding anniversary dinner with Toadie, who threw a surprise party for them. However, Toadie soon started to notice some signs of tension between his parents. Angie made it clear that she longed for a holiday away from the roadhouse and Kev. During this time they stayed at No. 30 with Toadie and his housemate, Stuart Parker. The cracks in their marriage were starting to show and Toadie decided to try to solve the problem by discussing his parents' marital problems on his radio phone-in show. When Kev and Angie heard their problems being discussed by their son live on air, they stormed down to the station to confront him. But Toadie ended up turning the faders up so that all and sundry could hear their arguing across Erinsborough.
While all of this arguing was going on, Kev overheard the lottery results on the radio, and realised that they were the numbers Angie always played. Kev slyly questioned Angie as to the family's birthdays and realised that they were the same as the winning lottery numbers. He kept the news of Angie's lottery win to himself, and changed his attitude towards Angie, being overly nice to her while he tried to retrieve the winning ticket which she kept hidden in her bra. Kev apologised to Angie for his behaviour, and begged her to give him a second chance. Angie forgave him, and the two slipped away to the bedroom. Here, Kev managed to take the ticket from Angie's bra and collected the winnings for himself. He then left with the lottery money leaving Angie a note telling her he'd see her in Rio.
Big Kev's conscience soon caught up with him and a few days later he returned and apologised to Angie. He was shocked when Angie then proceeded to run with the money herself, leaving a note which simply said "Gone Fishin'". She too returned soon afterwards having used the money to buy a camper van for the couple to travel across Australia on a second honeymoon. Although Kev was initially against the idea, he came to realise the holiday was just what he and Angie needed to get their marriage back on track, and he apologised to her for the way he had been treating her. And as they set off on their travels a few days later, Kev and Angie proved that they still had plenty of bickering to keep them going as they argued over what travel routes to take.
Kev's next return to Erinsborough -along with Angie and Stonie — was in 2003 to attend Toadie's wedding to Dee Bliss. But tragedy struck after the wedding reception when Toadie and Dee lost control of their car and veered off a cliff, plunging into the water. Kev and Angie desperately sought to comfort the devastated son Todie, but there was little they could do and they were forced to simply leave Toadie to get over the horrific ordeal in his own time.
In 2006 Angie returned to live with Toadie, claiming Kev had kicked her out after a row. Angie was tired of running the road house on her own while Kev was away. Toadie and housemates Stu and Connor O'Neill soon grew tired of her medeling and brought Big Kev down to sort out their relationship. After much arbitration from Connor and Toadie, Angie agreed to join Kev on the road and the two set out together once more, dropping the departing Stu Parker off at his parents farm on the way.
Kev and Angie returned one more in 2006 for the second marriage of his beloved sister Janelle to Kim Timmins. Kev was placed in charge of Kim's stag-night but got so drunk himself that he was unable to attend the wedding.
Kev and Angie returned again in 2008, for the wedding of son Toadie to Steph Scully.