Yvonne Jeffries

Alison Quigan was approached by producers to take on the roll of Yvonne, the mother of established character, Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne).[3] Quigan was delighted at the idea of full-time acting and accepted.[3] In 2010 Alison Quigan decided to quit the show and found it easy considering the recent departures of two of the three Jeffries girls, Tania and Libby, she stated; "The family had come to a finish. It was time for the show to move onto another family and me onto other projects."[4] She later went on to state the family had "run out of steam" and questioned the number of affairs Yvonne was depicted to indulge in.[3] In January 2011 it was announced Yvonne was leaving the show.[5] The storyline saw Yvonne accept a job offer from best friend Shobna Kumari and move to Australia.[5] She made her last appearance on 9 February 2011. In May 2012 it was announced that Yvonne would be returning to the show alongside the remaining members of the Jeffries family to commemorate Shortland Street's 20th anniversary.[6]

Yvonne and her husband Ian (Jeffrey Thomas) visited their eldest daughter Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne) in November 2004 and Yvonne expressed concern at Ian's health. He was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Yvonne returned the following year when she won the position of the hospital's receptionist. The son Yvonne and Ian adopted out at birth, Hamish Flynn (Phil Brown) made contact and Yvonne struggled to cope with Maia's sexuality. Yvonne and Ian separated when she announced her intention to never return to their farm home and she suspected him of having an affair. Ian and Yvonne reconciled shortly before he killed himself and Yvonne was shocked to learn Hamish was not her son at all but a conman. She later met her real son and his children. Yvonne had a short lived relationship with Sammy Diamond (Andy Anderson) and was devastated when she lost several friends to the serial killer dubbed The Ferndale Strangler.

In 2008 Yvonne started to date Fraser (Peter Daube) but was injured by his wife Deborah (Susan Curnow), who had Alzheimer's disease, and following surgery, developed cancer from a faulty skin graft. The cancer was removed but her relationship with Fraser ended when she discovered he planned to murder his wife. In 2009 Yvonne was disgusted to learn Maia was a killer and met Ben Goodall (Shaun Edwards-Brown) in a bank heist. Yvonne set Ben up with her daughter Tania (Faye Smythe) but by the end of the year, the two were in a highly controversial relationship themselves. Tania forgave Yvonne when she nearly died due to meningitis, but Ben unfortunately died from a brain hemorrhage. In 2011, Yvonne's best friend Shobna (Leela Patel) returned and offered Yvonne a job. In February, Yvonne departed alongside Maia and grandson Peter (Liam Sharma) to live in Sydney. Yvonne, Maia and Jay returned in May 2012 en route to a Jeffries family reunion for Yvonne's birthday. They ended up staying for a longer period when Libby's (Fleur Saville) husband Gerald Tippett (Harry McNaughton) suffered heart failure.

Despite the characters constant drama, she quickly became a fan favourite.[4] Writer Victor Rodger found Yvonne a particularly pleasant character to write for, stating; "I like writing for Yvonne very much, she sort of reminds me of my mum."[13] The characters matriarchal archetype, saw comparisons to past characters; Marj Neilson, Barb Heywood and Moira Crombie.[14] Quigan found the reaction to Yvonne's relationship with Ben interesting, stating; "I was quite surprised people had such strong opinions about it. Some were absolutely horrified but others are thrilled that she actually gets a young man. I have enjoyed Yvonne being at the centre of something and she’s had a lot of tears so it’s quite nice that she gets a bit of love."[8]