First Appearance: Episode 1 (1982)

Last Appearance: Episode 584 (1985)

Known Family: Husband - Brian O'Donnel (d. 1984); Daughter - Fee O'Donnel (by Terry Hansen, as a result of rape)

Key Relationships:
Romance with Wayne Hamilton; Engagement to John Palmer; Marriage to Brian O'Donnel; Aborted marriage to Wayne Hamilton; Romance with Robin Elliott; Romance with Alan Brandon

Key Storylines:
Jill Taylor is a teenage prostitute who is rescued from the gutter by Fiona Thompson and brought to live with her at her boarding house in Manly. She settles in to her new life happily and Fiona becomes like a surrogate mother, Jill herself having been orphaned as a young child.

Jill becomes involved with Wayne Hamilton, but the relationship doesn't last long. She and John Palmer then get together and set up home in Melbourne - but when John joins the airforce and Jill recognises one of his colleagues as a former client of hers from her days on the game, she deliberately breaks-off what has become an engagement so that John won't be embarrassed by her.

During a drive up to Woombai, Fiona and Jill pick up a hitchhiker - Brian O'Donnel. After discovering that he's an illegal immigrant on the run from the IRA in Ireland, Jill agrees to marry him so that he can stay in Australia. Unfortunately, Brian then goes on the run again after learning that the authorities have been tipped-off about his being in the country unlawfully - and, to Jill's horror, she's visited by the police a few weeks later and is told that Brian has been killed in a car accident.

Having moved back to Sydney, Jill is astonished when a woman - Beth Newman - turns up, claiming to be her mother. Her story is very plausible and Jill is all-too-willing to believe it. Beth gradually talks Jill into getting back together with Wayne - and she does. They even go so far as to walk up the aisle - only for Brian to turn up at the end of the ceremony and demand to know what's going on! It transpires that he was mugged and his wallet stolen, and it was the thief who was killed in the car accident. Jill leaves Wayne and returns to Brian. They move away to South Australia, but one day Jill wakes up to find a note from Brian telling her that he's decided to return to Ireland to avenge his brother's death. Jill heads back to Sydney and learns a few weeks later that Brian has been killed in an IRA attack in Belfast. Jill also learns that Beth isn't really her mother after all, but a woman paid by Wayne to pretend she was in the hope that Beth would talk Jill into getting back with Wayne.

Moving up to Woombai, Jill suffers further horror when she's raped by local larrikin, Terry Hansen. She finds herself pregnant and agonises over whether to have an abortion. She finally decides to keep the baby - but is then astonished to discover that Terry is Fiona's long-lost son - meaning Jill is pregnant with Fiona's grandchild! She gives birth to a daughter whom she names Fiona - or Fee for short. In the meantime, Jill manages to come to terms with her hatred for Terry and gradually begins to let him into her life and to be involved with his daughter.

Brian's father, Sean O'Donnel, turns up in Australia. Upon discovering that Jill has had a baby, he assumes that the child is Brian's, and he asks Jill to move to Ireland and live close to Brian's family. Jill finds herself unable to tell Sean the truth about Fee's conception, and she is all set to go and live in Ireland when Terry kidnaps Fee and refuses to return her until Jill tells Sean the truth. Jill admits the truth to Sean reluctantly. A furious Sean returns to Ireland alone.

Jill becomes involved with PR man, Robin Elliott - but also finds herself in the firing line from his jailbird wife, Kathleen, when she's released from prison: Kathleen refuses to give up on her marriage to Robin and tries her utmost to get Jill out of the way. She goes so far as to drive her car straight at Jill - but Robin spots what's going to happen just in time, pushes Jill out of the way and throws himself in front of the car instead. He's left with multiple injuries and ends up in a coma. He lies in hospital for several months until nurse Cheri Nolan performs a mercy killing and puts him out of his misery.

Devastated about the way she seems to be a jinx around everyone she comes into contact with, Jill decides to return to prostitution: the one thing she thinks she's good at. She's only been back on the game for a few weeks, though, when Fiona manages to talk some sense into her. Jill takes Fee up to Woombai to see Terry, who's landed a new job there, and ends up settling down and staying.