Rachel Jordache first appeared in Brookside in 1993 when she moved into No 10 with her mum Mandy and older sister Beth. After Beth’s death Mandy moved away but Rachel stayed in the close living with David Crosby and his wife Jean.
Later Rachel worked at Bar Brookie where she met
Christian. At first Rachel was unsure about dating Christian
as he had previously been going out with her friend Katie
Rogers, but Katie said it was not a problem so soon Rachel
and Christian were going out on regular dates and getting
along really well.
Their relationship progressed very quickly and Rachel soon found herself in love with Christian, so when he asked her to move in with him she readily agreed.
Soon after this Christian started becoming very
jealous and moody when he saw Rachel talking to other men at
work particularly Mike Dixon, resulting in many arguments.
Christian continued to Sulk about this for some time before
suddenly snapping out of his bad mood when he asked Rachel
to marry him. Despite his possessive behaviour Rachel was
still besotted with Christian so willingly accepted his
proposal.
The wedding
arrangements caused problems between the couple as Christian
wanted to organise everything himself and resented any help
given by Rachel’s friends. The wedding itself didn't go
quite according to plan when Christian’s best man David
Crosby mislaid the wedding ring. Julia Brogan saved the day
when she agreed to loan Christian her ring for the ceremony.
Rachel soon had a taste of
things to come when within hours of the wedding Christian
raged at her about others interfering with their wedding,
blaming Rachel for accepting her friends help.
In the months ahead Christian continued to dominate Rachel in the way she looked and dressed making her believe any problems were her fault even though Rachel did everything possible to please him.Rachel continued to accept this way of life until one day Christian started to pry into her past experience with her father, saying that she must have encouraged him and that it was her fault that she was abused.
This was
the last straw for Rachel, she now realised that Christian
had a really nasty side to his character. After months of
torment Rachel decided she could take no more of his abuse.
One morning after one of their rows, when Christian tells Rachel he is going to have a bath she waits until he is in the bath then tries to electrocute him by plugging a heater into the mains and throwing it in the bath. This attempt fails when she discovers the flex isn't long enough, instead she secures the bathroom door handle so Christian can’t get out.
Christian shouted at Rachel to let him out but she ignores him, turns up the Stereo and goes to work. Rachel leaves him shut in the bathroom for several days, taking no notice of his pleas to be let out.
Rachel finally confides in her friend Jacqui Dixon what she has done. With the help of Jacqui’s brother Mike they release Christian, who despite being without food or water for several days is quite well. They tell Christian to leave Rachel and after a final tirade of abuse at Rachel he leaves, never to be seen again