Andy Hunter
Encyclopedia
Andrew "Andy" Hunter is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Michael Higgs
.
, of which he took control after the murder of Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett
) by Dennis Rickman
(Nigel Harman
). He had been married and divorced to a woman named Bev previously. He had a crush on Kat Slater
(Jessie Wallace
) and asked her out on a date in The Queen Victoria
, but she harshly turned him down. However he keeps trying and she eventually accepted his advances; and after some weeks he fell in love with Kat proposed to her while they were in New York and she accepted his proposal. On their wedding day, Alfie Moon
(Shane Richie
) ran to the church and and said he loves her and Kat left Andy for Alfie thus making Andy and Alfie enemies. However Andy gets his revenge as Alfie owes him a large amount of money. Andy blackmails Kat to have sex with him behind Alfie's back, in order to pay off the money and if she refuses, he would have Alfie killed. Alfie manages to provide the money, but Kat has already slept with Andy. When they were in bed together, Andy secretly films everything with a hidden video camera he set up, and gave the tape to Alfie in The Queen Vic.
Alfie later watches the tape out of curiosity and was heartbroken at what he sees, and confronts Kat about it, nearly ending their relationship. Andy hopes for them to split but he doesn't succeed as Alfie and Kat are still going strong, and Alfie also gets his revenge by giving Andy a tape thinking that it was the same tape that Andy sent them. However, as Andy starts to watch it, he was taken aback as he discovered it was a different tape of Alfie and Kat's wedding. After that, Andy leaves them to their relationship but still bullies Alfie. Throughout most of the ordeal, Andy has been having a relationship with Sam Mitchell
(Kim Medcalf
) whom he later married, but when Den Watts
(Leslie Grantham
) and Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett
) tricks Sam into selling the pub to Den, and signing her house over to Andy, Andy leaves her, taking Sam for every penny she had and leaving her homeless.
When Den and Zoe Slater
(Michelle Ryan
) was trying to keep Dennis and Sharon Rickman (Letitia Dean
) apart, Andy finds out what Den and Zoe are doing. In 2004, Paul Trueman
(Gary Beadle
) reproted Andy to the police for his shady dealings, which would prove to be his undoing as well. Andy takes his revenge on Paul by hiring a hitman from The Firm to kill him. Paul was killed in December 2004. Paul's father, Patrick Trueman
(Rudolph Walker
) begins searching for him and identifies his body when it was recovered. Patrick soon discovers that Andy was involved with Paul's death. Andy told Pat that he has hired a hitman to kill Paul and threatened to kill her if she said anything. Patrick tells the police that Andy was involved but there was no evidence against him. Patrick later swears revenge against him.
Andy's luck finally runs out when he tries to rip Johnny Allen
(Billy Murray
) off £750,000 and Johnny pushes him off a motorway footbridge, killing him instantly. The police were informed of Andy's death but decided that it was a suicide. He dies on the same night that Den Watts was bludgeoned to death by his wife Chrissie with Pauline Fowler
's (Wendy Richard
) doorstop. Sam is asked to attend Andy's will reading. Expecting to get all his assets and money, he callously leaves her his engagement ring saying, "To my wife, I leave her the engagement ring so she can sell it, get her roots done, and still be the dumbest blonde I had ever known", while leaving much more behind to be donated to a dogs home. He leaves the house to Pat and gives the bookies to Dennis. Johnny confessed his murder to the police in March 2006, along with ordering the murder of Dennis Rickman.
. Higgs stated that he was happy to play a villain: "They say that the devil has the best tunes, but the main thing is that the character's fully-rounded. With the so-called good guys and bad guys, they're not just good or just bad. There's a dynamic, and that's always the interesting thing to find - where's the weakness? You flesh it out and make them an interesting person."
In the hierarchy of the Firm, Andy's character was a subordinate to Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett
), but was appointed leader of the organisation for a brief time following Dalton's murder. Higgs described the differences between Andy and Dalton's leadership styles: "He's new blood, but he has a completely different sensibility about how the gang operates. Jack Dalton was quite old school. If you upset him you'd get your knee-caps broken or get killed. I think Andy plays more of a psychological game - information is power for him."
Discussing Andy's relationship with Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace
), Higgs said, "I think you do see a soft side of him with Kat. He's totally in love with her, which makes him very vulnerable. He's been married before, but the marriage didn't work out. You get the sense that there's some hurt there, some pain that's stopped him becoming involved with other women [...] he likes the spirit of her. She's no-nonsense, in-your-face and slightly larger than life. Andy likes that scared of no one approach. Kat reminds Andy of his mum, with her dark hair and feistiness. He likes the fact that she's a family girl - that's what he wants."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Michael Higgs
Michael Higgs
Michael Higgs is a British actor best known for prominent roles in two long-running television series: Eddie Santini in ITV1's The Bill, and Andy Hunter in EastEnders....
.
Storylines
Andy was an employee of The FirmThe Firm (EastEnders)
The Firm is a fictional gangland organisation in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-1980s era:The Firm, aka "Walford Investments", was first introduced to the show in 1988, and was represented by the sharp-suited Gregory Mantel , the lackeys Brad Williams and Joanne Francis , and the elusive boss Mr...
, of which he took control after the murder of Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett
Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....
) by Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nigel Harman. He entered the show on 14 April 2003 and made his last appearance on 30 December 2005, when he was fatally stabbed as the midnight fireworks began. He is part of the Watts family, though his...
(Nigel Harman
Nigel Harman
Nigel Derek Harman is an English actor, most famous for his role as Dennis Rickman in the UK soap opera EastEnders. He has worked extensively in theatre, with the stage being described as his "first love"...
). He had been married and divorced to a woman named Bev previously. He had a crush on Kat Slater
Kat Moon
Kathleen "Kat" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001. She appeared in the show from September 2000 to November 2004, then returned in May 2005...
(Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace is an English actress best known for her portrayal as Kat Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early life:...
) and asked her out on a date in The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria is a fictional Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.-Appearance and development:...
, but she harshly turned him down. However he keeps trying and she eventually accepted his advances; and after some weeks he fell in love with Kat proposed to her while they were in New York and she accepted his proposal. On their wedding day, Alfie Moon
Alfie Moon
Alfred William "Alfie" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shane Richie. He made his first appearance on 21 November 2002, and left on 25 December 2005...
(Shane Richie
Shane Richie
Shane Richie is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Early life and career beginnings:...
) ran to the church and and said he loves her and Kat left Andy for Alfie thus making Andy and Alfie enemies. However Andy gets his revenge as Alfie owes him a large amount of money. Andy blackmails Kat to have sex with him behind Alfie's back, in order to pay off the money and if she refuses, he would have Alfie killed. Alfie manages to provide the money, but Kat has already slept with Andy. When they were in bed together, Andy secretly films everything with a hidden video camera he set up, and gave the tape to Alfie in The Queen Vic.
Alfie later watches the tape out of curiosity and was heartbroken at what he sees, and confronts Kat about it, nearly ending their relationship. Andy hopes for them to split but he doesn't succeed as Alfie and Kat are still going strong, and Alfie also gets his revenge by giving Andy a tape thinking that it was the same tape that Andy sent them. However, as Andy starts to watch it, he was taken aback as he discovered it was a different tape of Alfie and Kat's wedding. After that, Andy leaves them to their relationship but still bullies Alfie. Throughout most of the ordeal, Andy has been having a relationship with Sam Mitchell
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
(Kim Medcalf
Kim Medcalf
Kim Louise Medcalf is an English actress and occasional singer.She has made occasional appearances as a singer and is best known for playing the character Sam Mitchell in the long running BBC Soap Opera EastEnders from 2002 to 2005....
) whom he later married, but when Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
(Leslie Grantham
Leslie Grantham
Leslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
) and Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett is a British actor and writer.One of his most notable roles was as solicitor Marcus Christie in EastEnders, on and off from 1990 to 2004....
) tricks Sam into selling the pub to Den, and signing her house over to Andy, Andy leaves her, taking Sam for every penny she had and leaving her homeless.
When Den and Zoe Slater
Zoe Slater
Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on the 18 September 2000...
(Michelle Ryan
Michelle Ryan
Michelle Claire Ryan is an English actress.She is best known for portraying the role of Zoe Slater on BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2007, she starred in the short lived American television series Bionic Woman...
) was trying to keep Dennis and Sharon Rickman (Letitia Dean
Letitia Dean
Letitia Dean is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Sharon Watts in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, who was one of the serial's original characters. Dean was part of the original cast in 1985 and remained in the series until 1995...
) apart, Andy finds out what Den and Zoe are doing. In 2004, Paul Trueman
Paul Trueman
Paul Trueman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gary Beadle between 2001 and 2004. Gary was introduced as part of the already established Trueman family. He was portrayed as a bad boy. Beadle left the role in 2004, following a suspension, reportedly for failing...
(Gary Beadle
Gary Beadle
Gary Beadle is an English actor, best known for playing Paul Trueman in EastEnders and Gary Barwick in Operation Good Guys....
) reproted Andy to the police for his shady dealings, which would prove to be his undoing as well. Andy takes his revenge on Paul by hiring a hitman from The Firm to kill him. Paul was killed in December 2004. Paul's father, Patrick Trueman
Patrick Trueman
Patrick Neville Loftus Alfonso Trueman is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Rudolph Walker. He made his first appearance on 13 September 2001.-Backstory:...
(Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker, OBE is a British character actor. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Walker came to the United Kingdom in 1960....
) begins searching for him and identifies his body when it was recovered. Patrick soon discovers that Andy was involved with Paul's death. Andy told Pat that he has hired a hitman to kill Paul and threatened to kill her if she said anything. Patrick tells the police that Andy was involved but there was no evidence against him. Patrick later swears revenge against him.
Andy's luck finally runs out when he tries to rip Johnny Allen
Johnny Allen (EastEnders)
Jonathan "Johnny" Allen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Billy Murray.-Storylines:Johnny Allen was a businessman and retired gangster, who grew up in Walford but moved away to start up an empire of his own which he named J.A. Enterprises...
(Billy Murray
Billy Murray
Billy Murray may refer to:* Billy Murray , British actor* Billy Murray , American baseball manager* Billy Murray , Irish American singer* Billy Murray , American boxer-See also:...
) off £750,000 and Johnny pushes him off a motorway footbridge, killing him instantly. The police were informed of Andy's death but decided that it was a suicide. He dies on the same night that Den Watts was bludgeoned to death by his wife Chrissie with Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...
's (Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
) doorstop. Sam is asked to attend Andy's will reading. Expecting to get all his assets and money, he callously leaves her his engagement ring saying, "To my wife, I leave her the engagement ring so she can sell it, get her roots done, and still be the dumbest blonde I had ever known", while leaving much more behind to be donated to a dogs home. He leaves the house to Pat and gives the bookies to Dennis. Johnny confessed his murder to the police in March 2006, along with ordering the murder of Dennis Rickman.
Creation and development
Higgs auditioned for the role in April 2003 and won the part of EastEnders new "bad guy", who made his first appearance in July that year as a member of the gangster organisation known as The FirmThe Firm (EastEnders)
The Firm is a fictional gangland organisation in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-1980s era:The Firm, aka "Walford Investments", was first introduced to the show in 1988, and was represented by the sharp-suited Gregory Mantel , the lackeys Brad Williams and Joanne Francis , and the elusive boss Mr...
. Higgs stated that he was happy to play a villain: "They say that the devil has the best tunes, but the main thing is that the character's fully-rounded. With the so-called good guys and bad guys, they're not just good or just bad. There's a dynamic, and that's always the interesting thing to find - where's the weakness? You flesh it out and make them an interesting person."
In the hierarchy of the Firm, Andy's character was a subordinate to Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett
Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....
), but was appointed leader of the organisation for a brief time following Dalton's murder. Higgs described the differences between Andy and Dalton's leadership styles: "He's new blood, but he has a completely different sensibility about how the gang operates. Jack Dalton was quite old school. If you upset him you'd get your knee-caps broken or get killed. I think Andy plays more of a psychological game - information is power for him."
Discussing Andy's relationship with Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace is an English actress best known for her portrayal as Kat Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early life:...
), Higgs said, "I think you do see a soft side of him with Kat. He's totally in love with her, which makes him very vulnerable. He's been married before, but the marriage didn't work out. You get the sense that there's some hurt there, some pain that's stopped him becoming involved with other women [...] he likes the spirit of her. She's no-nonsense, in-your-face and slightly larger than life. Andy likes that scared of no one approach. Kat reminds Andy of his mum, with her dark hair and feistiness. He likes the fact that she's a family girl - that's what he wants."