Ruth "Roo" Stewart (also Morgan) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Justine Clarke from 1988 to 1989.

After the series had finished filming their pilot episode, producers changed their minds and invited Clarke to audition for the role of Roo, which she won.

[2] Roo is the much-hated character who attempts to sabotage her father's marriage to Ailsa and who nearly fools Frank into marrying her by claiming that she is carrying his baby.

[6] In the serial's first season, Alan Bateman wanted Home and Away to tackle serious social issues and a few months later Roo became the first character to have a teenage pregnancy.

"[9] Roo's return coincides with Frank's proposal to Bobby Simpson (Nicolle Dickson), but instead of what everyone is expecting, she actually gives the couple her blessing.

[9] Clarke also revealed that the reason Roo is so accepting of Frank and Bobby's engagement is that she has a new love interest, whose identity was initially kept a secret.

Clarke told David Brown of TV Week that everyone thinks she is making it up when she declares that she is in love, until her boyfriend arrives in the Bay.

[15] After returning from an extended trip to Las Vegas to look after her injured aunt Colleen Smart (Lyn Collingwood), Roo was very secretive about her times away.

[16] In order to treat her, the doctors needed to know about her trip and her foster-daughter Maddy Osborne (Kassandra Clementi) found her passport, which revealed that she had been to Peru.

[16] Roo begins to resent her father's relationship with Ailsa Hogan (Judy Nunn) out of loyalty to her late mother, Martha (Alison Mulvaney).

Roo begins dating Frank Morgan and they start a band with Lance Smart (Peter Vroom) and Martin Dibble (Craig Thompson).

Roo contacts her aunt, Morag Bellingham (Cornelia Frances), who is a judge and asks her to do a background check on Ailsa.

With Ailsa returning to town to be Christopher Fletcher's (Ashleigh Bell-Weir) godmother, Roo fakes stomach pains to stop Alf attending the christening.

However, by hyperventilating she sends herself into premature labour and gives birth to a baby girl, who she names, Martha (Burcin Kapkin).

Roo decides to take a break from the Bay and when she returns, she reveals that she has a new boyfriend, David Lee (Anthony Wong).

Her manager, Nicholas Walsh (Robert Taylor), sends nasty letters to Ailsa and frames Roo, with help from Morag.

Colleen Smart is also shocked to see Roo and starts mentioning all the bad things she did in the past, until Alf tells her to stop.

Robert Robertson (Socratis Otto) questions Roo about Martha and Hugo Austin (Bernard Curry) for the Federal Police and she states that she has not been in contact with them.

Roo goes to the relaunch of Angelo Rosetta's (Luke Jacobz) restaurant where she gets drunk and wakes up in bed with Miles Copeland (Josh Quong Tart).

Roo invites Romeo to accompany her on a business trip to Hawaii and he brings Indigo Walker (Samara Weaving) with them.

Roo takes over the running of the Diner due to staff shortages and she starts dating Harvey Ryan (Marcus Graham), despite being warned not to by Romeo, Indi and Sid.

Roo and Harvey later get back together and she is surprised when his ex-wife, Mel (Allison Cratchley), and daughter, Lottie (Morgan Weaving), arrive in Summer Bay.

Harvey and Roo marry and they take in teen runaways Maddy Osborne and Spencer Harrington (Andrew Morley).

Nate Cooper (Kyle Pryor) discovers growths on her brain and her family learn that Roo went to Peru, where she had suffered a reaction to her inoculations.

James tells Roo that he does not want children and asks her to have an abortion, but she refuses and decides to the raise the child as a single parent.

[17] They called Roo "evil" for trying to break up Alf's relationship with Ailsa, lying to and trying to marry Frank, leaving him at the altar and later having an affair with him.

"[17] Andrew Mercado described Roo as Alf Stewart's (Ray Meagher) "Minxy teenage daughter" in his book, Super Aussie soaps: behind the scenes of Australia's best loved TV shows.

[12] A writer from Stockport Express Advertiser described Clarke's version of Roo as a "Summer Bay starlet" and remembered her as "the nasty one who pinched Bobby's husband Frank.

"[19] A Holy Soap writer stated that Roo's most memorable moment was "Bowling over her dad Alf by unexpectedly arriving back in Summer Bay after more than two decades away.

"[23] In November 2021, three critics for The West Australian placed Roo at number 29 in their feature on the "Top 50 heroes we love and villains we hate" from Home and Away.