Veteran Australian actress Rachael Carpani will be making her debut on Home and Away

on Thursday night, and her character is set to ruffle some feathers.

The McLeod’s Daughters star, 44, is playing Summer Bay newcomer Claudia,

whose arrival sees her receive minor injuries in a car crash – and blame a long-time resident.

‘She’s introduced in a negative way, comes blasting in with a bit of an attitude. As you would if your brakes failed and you ended up with a broken arm,’ Rachael revealed on Instagram.

‘She literally has a car accident and breaks her arm and finds herself in a sling for six weeks, which really affects her professional and personal life – and she blames [James Stewart’s character] Justin.’

Rachael said viewers were in for some surprises when they watched her on the Channel Seven show, as her character is nothing like the sweet-natured Jodi she played on McLeod’s.

‘This is a really interesting character on the surface, she’s a little bit of a villain and very easy to judge, but I think this will be a good exercise in playing a very flawed human being.’

A newly dropped trailer shows Rachael’s character threatening to sue James Stewart’s Justin over work his garage performed on her car, as she claims the brakes were faulty.

The ensuing drama impacts Justin’s relationship with his partner Leah – played by real life girlfriend Ada Nicodemou.

Veteran Australian actress Rachael Carpani (pictured) will be making her debut on Home and Away on Thursday night, and her character is set to ruffle some feathers

It is not the first time Rachael has appeared on the soap opera, as she previously had a guest role as a diner waitress in two episodes in 2001.

The Sydney-born actress added she was thrilled to once again be appearing in an Australian production, after working in America for over a decade.

The blonde beauty began her acting career in Australia in 2001 in the role of Jodi Fountain-McLeod on Channel Nine’s McLeod’s Daughters, which she played until 2009.

The McLeod’s Daughters star, 44, is playing Summer Bay newcomer Claudia, whose arrival sees her receive minor injuries in a car crash

She moved to California in 2010 to further her career and appeared in several US TV shows, including NCIS: Los Angles, The Glades and Stalker.

Rachael’s stint on Home and Away has also prompted rumours that Seven could pick up a long-awaited reboot of McLeod’s Daughters, according to Yahoo!

The show originally aired on Channel Nine, but reboot plans fell through in 2017 due to ‘creative differences with a third party’ and the project has not yet come to screen.

Rachael said viewers were in for some surprises when they watched her on the Channel Seven show, as her character is nothing like the sweet-natured Jodi she played on McLeod’s