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Roy Evans (EastEnders)
Encyclopedia
Roy Edmund Evans is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Tony Caunter
. Introduced by Series Producer Barbara Emile
in 1994, Roy was scripted as a love interest for Pat Butcher
. He remained a screen regular until 2003, when Executive Producer Louise Berridge
axed him.
with his son Barry
in 1994, a successful car-dealer and business associate to David Wicks
. While undertaking business arrangements, Roy meets and is instantly attracted to David's mother Pat Butcher
. Recently separated from her former husband Frank
, who has mysteriously disappeared, Pat is unwilling to begin a new romance with Roy. However, David, sensing that it may benefit a favourable outcome between their businesses, encourages the relationship and the pair soon fall in love and move in together. The relationship suffers a setback, however, when it is revealed that Roy is unable to consummate his love for Pat because he has been impotent for many years. Although Pat is understanding, Roy nevertheless feels emasculated. Eventually they both agree that love and companionship are more important than sex. Pat and Roy's relationship blossoms until the reappearance of Frank on Christmas Day 1995, who has come home to claim his business and wife. Frank and Roy are involved in a feud over the ownership of the car lot and Frank continuously tries to convince Pat to resume their relationship. Despite Frank stirring up buried feelings in Pat and a secret one-night stand, she ends up divorcing him and marries Roy in 1996.
After David flees Walford, Roy buys his share in the car lot, and renames it Evans and son. Preferring to take a back seat, he leaves the running of the business to Barry. Unfortunately Barry is not up to the job and after grifter
Vanessa Carlton steals Roy's hard-earned fortune, he is forced to sell his other business (Manor Wood) and come out of retirement. Roy's health suffers because of this and he gives his family a scare when he is rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack
. With bailiff
s knocking on the Evans' door, and with Roy unfit to work, Pat turns to Frank to bail them out. An unwilling Roy eventually accepts Frank's help. However, his animosity towards Frank continues and when his son informs him of a suspected affair between Pat and Frank, he becomes suicidal and flees Walford in a speeding car, threatening to throw himself off a multi-storey car park. However, he is found by Frank, who persuades Roy to rethink. They manage to put their differences aside and soon after, Roy and Pat forge a strong friendship with Frank and his love interest Peggy Mitchell
. Frank becomes a 'silent' partner in the car lot, providing the needed cash while Roy deals with the running of the business.
Despite suffering with angina, Roy's torment over his inability to perform sexually prompts him to illegally buy Viagra. However, after suffering serious side effects that almost kill him, he eventually turns to counselling
to fix the problem. During the sessions, it is revealed that his impotence occurred straight after the death of his first wife Doreen, who died from complications while giving birth to his daughter (who also died shortly after her birth). Roy later reveals that he was in bed with another woman at the time and he was never able to forgive himself.
Money is still tight for Roy in 2000, and wanting to give his wife a more luxurious lifestyle, he gets involved with a car scam, instigated by Frank's hostile stepson and local mechanic Phil Mitchell
. The usually honest Roy agrees to sell stolen, re-conditioned cars for large sums of money. However, it is not long before Frank's daughter Janine
discovers this and informs Peggy. Peggy is furious, and even more annoyed when she discovers Frank is not receiving a share of the money. Roy is eventually forced to stop the scam and the cars are all sold off at a loss. Peggy agrees to keep Frank and Pat in the dark, but soon after, she became in desperate need of money in order to pay off her enemy Dan Sullivan. The scam was started again with Frank also heavily involved. However, Janine maliciously informs Dan about the scam and he in turn reported them to the police. Dan quickly informs Peggy that the police are on the way, claiming that he overheard a punter reporting the scam. Pat, Peggy and Dan manage to remove the cars before the police arrive and they avoid arrest. However, with a furious Pat now knowing about her husband's dishonesty, she goes behind his back, sells his cars for scrap and gives the money to charity. Peggy and Frank are then unable to pay Dan, while Pat throws Roy out of their marital home. Pat feels that she cannot trust Roy any longer and begins contemplating divorce. Roy spends his time drinking heavily, sleeping in the car lot's office and threatening to turn himself into the police. Eventually, when Roy attempts to move out permanently, Pat relents and allows him to stay, but tells him that it will take a long time to earn her trust again. After many weeks sleeping on the sofa, Pat finally makes up with Roy and he, along with Phil and Frank, eventually gets revenge on Dan by conning him to sign back his share of The Queen Victoria
public house.
Roy faces more marital problems that year when he and Pat are on a joint holiday in Spain with Frank and Peggy. Frank seduces Pat and they end up in bed. Their affair continues back in Walford and they plan to elope. However, Pat changed her mind at the last minute and calls the relationship off. It is too late however, as Frank has already left a goodbye note telling Peggy he still loves Pat and is leaving her. This culminates in a huge showdown in The Queen Victoria where Peggy tells the punters what Frank and Pat have planned. Furious, Roy evicts Pat. However, he forgives her three months later when she threatens to leave Walford and move to New Zealand to be with her son. Despite objections from Barry, she moves back in with Roy soon after. The dynamics of the relationship change completely after this, with Roy being very much in charge.
In 2001, Jane Williams, the woman Roy had been having an affair with at the time of his wife's death, arrives in Walford, terminally ill. She has contacted Roy because she wants to tell him that he is the father of her son, Nathan Williams. The news upsets the balance in the Evans household, and his relationship with Barry severely suffers as he is devastated to learn that his father was unfaithful to his dead mother. Jane dies in 2002, leaving Nathan penniless and bankrupt. With nowhere to go, Nathan turns to Roy and soon moves in with the Evanses. The pair bond until it is revealed that Nathan has attempted to seduce Barry's wife Natalie
and set him up for the theft of money from the car lot. An angry Roy banishes Nathan from their lives and tells him he never wants to see him again. In 2003, stress finally gets the better of Roy when he discovers Pat is helping Natalie hide her affair with Frank's son, Ricky
. Roy feels Pat has chosen Frank over him because she helped Frank's offspring over his own. This leads to Roy's second heart attack. Roy dies intestate, leaving Pat bereft and homeless after Barry kicks her out.
). Actor Brian Croucher
was shortlisted for the role; however, the production decided they did not want to use him for the part of Roy, and as Caunter and Croucher shared the same agent, Caunter was suggested for the part and was successful. Croucher was later cast as Ted Hills
. Caunter has said that he was only brought in originally as a temporary replacement for Pat's husband Frank Butcher
(Mike Reid
), whose actor was taking a hiatus "but fortunately the storylines were quite good so they kept me in".
Scripted as a successful businessman, Roy moved to the soap's setting of Walford
in 1995. Caunter commented to fan magazine, Walford Gazette: "I think there was that concern in the beginning [about reasons why a wealthy man like Roy would move to Walford] but the writers created a plausible reason for him to move into the Square. He's from that environment initially; he's an East End boy. He's not a posh gent although he does know about good wine and fine dining. He really loves Pat and she didn't want to leave because her family and friends were there and by then he'd have done anything for Pat. He'd reached a time in his life when he desperately wanted a good home life with a good woman. He was already semi-retired and could afford to sit back and smell the roses, so to speak - and he wanted to smell them with Pat!"
A notable storyline in Roy's narrative is his disclosure to Pat that he is impotent. Caunter believes the writers made Roy impotent because they were concerned about Pat having sex with someone so soon after her husband Frank absconded. The dangers of viagra were explored in the storyline, when Roy, after suffering from angina, illegally buys the drug and suffers life-threatening repercussions, which leads to him attempting counselling instead.
In 2002, it was announced that Roy was being written out of the soap. Caunter said playing Roy had been "the happiest period of my career. We felt we'd done enough with Roy, and it was time for me to move on. I will miss working alongside my screen family and all the team at EastEnders, but I look forward to trying out some new roles." Executive producer Louise Berridge said, "The character of Roy has been invaluable to us. He provides a centre of stability it will be hard to replace, and represents a sense of values we must make sure we retain. I agree that it's time for the character to move on, but we will all miss Tony very much. Apart from being always the consummate professional, he is also a really lovely man, and we all wish him every success in whatever he turns his hand to next." In 2003, it was reported that Roy would depart the serial by being killed off. A source told the Daily Mirror, "He decided to leave the show but wanted scriptwriters to leave the door open for his character to return for guest spots. Sadly, the producers have closed that door by killing him off. Tony is disappointed by the way he'll be leaving Albert Square. He's a popular character and viewers will be sad to see him go." Roy suffered a fatal heart attack following the breakdown of his son Barry's
(Shaun Williamson
) marriage to Natalie
(Lucy Speed
), making his final appearance in March 2003.
In 2010, in an interview with website Walford web, Berridge reflected on Roy's axing, saying that she did regret it in retrospect: "[Roy's] personality didn’t generate story material, but in his case he was also beginning to stifle Pat. John Yorke and I share a great passion for the old, wild dangerous Pat who wore the white mac and looked as if she chewed up broken bottles for breakfast, but the Pat we had [at that time] had become too safe and comfortable. She’d had her affair story with Frank – and since he was and is the love of her life, if she didn’t leave [Roy] for Frank she wasn’t going to do it for anyone else. To galvanise Pat we had to lose Roy. But I wish now we’d found some other way. Roy had a stability about him that we needed, and losing both him and Mark Fowler
within a year left us a kind of moral hole in the centre of the show. Those older ‘good’ characters have a role that extends far beyond the immediate gratification of story – as Lou Beale
did in the past."
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 Tony Caunter
Tony Caunter
Anthony Peter "Tony" Caunter is a British actor best known for his role as Jack Shepherd in the Yorkshire TV sitcom Queenie's Castle and also his portrayal of Roy Evans in EastEnders from 1994-2003....
. Introduced by Series Producer Barbara Emile
Barbara Emile
Barbara Emile is a British television producer. Emile contributed to the BBC soap opera EastEnders for several years. She first started working on the serial as script editor underneath producer Leonard Lewis, and she began producing the programme in 1992. Following the departure of Lewis in 1994,...
in 1994, Roy was scripted as a love interest for Pat Butcher
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
. He remained a screen regular until 2003, when Executive Producer Louise Berridge
Louise Berridge
Louise Berridge is a British writer of historical fiction. Before she became a novelist, she was best known as a television producer and script editor. The most famous post being the executive producer of BBC's EastEnders between 2002 and 2004...
axed him.
Storylines
Roy arrives in Albert SquareAlbert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
with his son Barry
Barry Evans (EastEnders)
Barry Evans is a fictional character played by Shaun Williamson. He appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1994 and 2004. The character was portrayed as a "buffoon." Williamson controversially left the serial after ten years in 2003 after executive producer Louise Berridge refused to...
in 1994, a successful car-dealer and business associate to David Wicks
David Wicks
David Wicks is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michael French. He originally appeared between 1993 to 1996...
. While undertaking business arrangements, Roy meets and is instantly attracted to David's mother Pat Butcher
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
. Recently separated from her former husband Frank
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
, who has mysteriously disappeared, Pat is unwilling to begin a new romance with Roy. However, David, sensing that it may benefit a favourable outcome between their businesses, encourages the relationship and the pair soon fall in love and move in together. The relationship suffers a setback, however, when it is revealed that Roy is unable to consummate his love for Pat because he has been impotent for many years. Although Pat is understanding, Roy nevertheless feels emasculated. Eventually they both agree that love and companionship are more important than sex. Pat and Roy's relationship blossoms until the reappearance of Frank on Christmas Day 1995, who has come home to claim his business and wife. Frank and Roy are involved in a feud over the ownership of the car lot and Frank continuously tries to convince Pat to resume their relationship. Despite Frank stirring up buried feelings in Pat and a secret one-night stand, she ends up divorcing him and marries Roy in 1996.
After David flees Walford, Roy buys his share in the car lot, and renames it Evans and son. Preferring to take a back seat, he leaves the running of the business to Barry. Unfortunately Barry is not up to the job and after grifter
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
Vanessa Carlton steals Roy's hard-earned fortune, he is forced to sell his other business (Manor Wood) and come out of retirement. Roy's health suffers because of this and he gives his family a scare when he is rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. With bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
s knocking on the Evans' door, and with Roy unfit to work, Pat turns to Frank to bail them out. An unwilling Roy eventually accepts Frank's help. However, his animosity towards Frank continues and when his son informs him of a suspected affair between Pat and Frank, he becomes suicidal and flees Walford in a speeding car, threatening to throw himself off a multi-storey car park. However, he is found by Frank, who persuades Roy to rethink. They manage to put their differences aside and soon after, Roy and Pat forge a strong friendship with Frank and his love interest Peggy Mitchell
Peggy Mitchell
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared on 30 April 1991, featuring in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast and was then played by...
. Frank becomes a 'silent' partner in the car lot, providing the needed cash while Roy deals with the running of the business.
Despite suffering with angina, Roy's torment over his inability to perform sexually prompts him to illegally buy Viagra. However, after suffering serious side effects that almost kill him, he eventually turns to counselling
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
to fix the problem. During the sessions, it is revealed that his impotence occurred straight after the death of his first wife Doreen, who died from complications while giving birth to his daughter (who also died shortly after her birth). Roy later reveals that he was in bed with another woman at the time and he was never able to forgive himself.
Money is still tight for Roy in 2000, and wanting to give his wife a more luxurious lifestyle, he gets involved with a car scam, instigated by Frank's hostile stepson and local mechanic Phil Mitchell
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
. The usually honest Roy agrees to sell stolen, re-conditioned cars for large sums of money. However, it is not long before Frank's daughter Janine
Janine Evans
Janine Butcher is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, currently portrayed by Charlie Brooks. Rebecca Michael originally portrayed the character from 1989 until 1993, when the role was given to Alexia Demetriou for three years. Brooks took on the role in 1999...
discovers this and informs Peggy. Peggy is furious, and even more annoyed when she discovers Frank is not receiving a share of the money. Roy is eventually forced to stop the scam and the cars are all sold off at a loss. Peggy agrees to keep Frank and Pat in the dark, but soon after, she became in desperate need of money in order to pay off her enemy Dan Sullivan. The scam was started again with Frank also heavily involved. However, Janine maliciously informs Dan about the scam and he in turn reported them to the police. Dan quickly informs Peggy that the police are on the way, claiming that he overheard a punter reporting the scam. Pat, Peggy and Dan manage to remove the cars before the police arrive and they avoid arrest. However, with a furious Pat now knowing about her husband's dishonesty, she goes behind his back, sells his cars for scrap and gives the money to charity. Peggy and Frank are then unable to pay Dan, while Pat throws Roy out of their marital home. Pat feels that she cannot trust Roy any longer and begins contemplating divorce. Roy spends his time drinking heavily, sleeping in the car lot's office and threatening to turn himself into the police. Eventually, when Roy attempts to move out permanently, Pat relents and allows him to stay, but tells him that it will take a long time to earn her trust again. After many weeks sleeping on the sofa, Pat finally makes up with Roy and he, along with Phil and Frank, eventually gets revenge on Dan by conning him to sign back his share of 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:...
public house.
Roy faces more marital problems that year when he and Pat are on a joint holiday in Spain with Frank and Peggy. Frank seduces Pat and they end up in bed. Their affair continues back in Walford and they plan to elope. However, Pat changed her mind at the last minute and calls the relationship off. It is too late however, as Frank has already left a goodbye note telling Peggy he still loves Pat and is leaving her. This culminates in a huge showdown in The Queen Victoria where Peggy tells the punters what Frank and Pat have planned. Furious, Roy evicts Pat. However, he forgives her three months later when she threatens to leave Walford and move to New Zealand to be with her son. Despite objections from Barry, she moves back in with Roy soon after. The dynamics of the relationship change completely after this, with Roy being very much in charge.
In 2001, Jane Williams, the woman Roy had been having an affair with at the time of his wife's death, arrives in Walford, terminally ill. She has contacted Roy because she wants to tell him that he is the father of her son, Nathan Williams. The news upsets the balance in the Evans household, and his relationship with Barry severely suffers as he is devastated to learn that his father was unfaithful to his dead mother. Jane dies in 2002, leaving Nathan penniless and bankrupt. With nowhere to go, Nathan turns to Roy and soon moves in with the Evanses. The pair bond until it is revealed that Nathan has attempted to seduce Barry's wife Natalie
Natalie Evans
Natalie Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lucy Speed between 1994 and 2004. Natalie first appeared in January 1994, depicted initially as an unhappy, insecure teenager; she was among various regular characters brought in to increase the cast following the...
and set him up for the theft of money from the car lot. An angry Roy banishes Nathan from their lives and tells him he never wants to see him again. In 2003, stress finally gets the better of Roy when he discovers Pat is helping Natalie hide her affair with Frank's son, Ricky
Ricky Butcher
Richard Francis "Ricky" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sid Owen. Introduced as a school boy in 1988, Ricky is one of the longest-running, male protagonists to feature in EastEnders. Owen originally left the role in 2000 to pursue a music career...
. Roy feels Pat has chosen Frank over him because she helped Frank's offspring over his own. This leads to Roy's second heart attack. Roy dies intestate, leaving Pat bereft and homeless after Barry kicks her out.
Creation and development
Roy was one of the introductions of series producer Barbara Emile in 1994. He was introduced primarily to be a love interest to Pat Butcher (Pam St. ClementPam St. Clement
Pamela Ann Clement , known by the stage name Pam St. Clement, is an English actress. She has played Pat Evans in the BBC soap opera EastEnders since 1986, and is now one of the programme's longest-serving cast members. St. Clement announced her intention to leave EastEnders on 8 July 2011 and will...
). Actor Brian Croucher
Brian Croucher
Brian Croucher is an English actor and director perhaps best known for his role as Ted Hills, which he played from 1995 to 1997, in the soap opera EastEnders....
was shortlisted for the role; however, the production decided they did not want to use him for the part of Roy, and as Caunter and Croucher shared the same agent, Caunter was suggested for the part and was successful. Croucher was later cast as Ted Hills
Ted Hills
Ted Hills is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Brian Croucher. He was introduced in 1995 as the patriarch of the Hills family, who were the extended family of established character Kathy Beale. Ted was axed in 1997....
. Caunter has said that he was only brought in originally as a temporary replacement for Pat's husband Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
(Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
), whose actor was taking a hiatus "but fortunately the storylines were quite good so they kept me in".
Scripted as a successful businessman, Roy moved to the soap's setting of Walford
Walford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
in 1995. Caunter commented to fan magazine, Walford Gazette: "I think there was that concern in the beginning [about reasons why a wealthy man like Roy would move to Walford] but the writers created a plausible reason for him to move into the Square. He's from that environment initially; he's an East End boy. He's not a posh gent although he does know about good wine and fine dining. He really loves Pat and she didn't want to leave because her family and friends were there and by then he'd have done anything for Pat. He'd reached a time in his life when he desperately wanted a good home life with a good woman. He was already semi-retired and could afford to sit back and smell the roses, so to speak - and he wanted to smell them with Pat!"
A notable storyline in Roy's narrative is his disclosure to Pat that he is impotent. Caunter believes the writers made Roy impotent because they were concerned about Pat having sex with someone so soon after her husband Frank absconded. The dangers of viagra were explored in the storyline, when Roy, after suffering from angina, illegally buys the drug and suffers life-threatening repercussions, which leads to him attempting counselling instead.
In 2002, it was announced that Roy was being written out of the soap. Caunter said playing Roy had been "the happiest period of my career. We felt we'd done enough with Roy, and it was time for me to move on. I will miss working alongside my screen family and all the team at EastEnders, but I look forward to trying out some new roles." Executive producer Louise Berridge said, "The character of Roy has been invaluable to us. He provides a centre of stability it will be hard to replace, and represents a sense of values we must make sure we retain. I agree that it's time for the character to move on, but we will all miss Tony very much. Apart from being always the consummate professional, he is also a really lovely man, and we all wish him every success in whatever he turns his hand to next." In 2003, it was reported that Roy would depart the serial by being killed off. A source told the Daily Mirror, "He decided to leave the show but wanted scriptwriters to leave the door open for his character to return for guest spots. Sadly, the producers have closed that door by killing him off. Tony is disappointed by the way he'll be leaving Albert Square. He's a popular character and viewers will be sad to see him go." Roy suffered a fatal heart attack following the breakdown of his son Barry's
Barry Evans (EastEnders)
Barry Evans is a fictional character played by Shaun Williamson. He appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1994 and 2004. The character was portrayed as a "buffoon." Williamson controversially left the serial after ten years in 2003 after executive producer Louise Berridge refused to...
(Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson is an English actor, singer, media personality and occasional presenter, best known for his former role as Barry Evans in soap opera EastEnders and as a version of himself in BBC sitcom Extras.- Career :...
) marriage to Natalie
Natalie Evans
Natalie Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lucy Speed between 1994 and 2004. Natalie first appeared in January 1994, depicted initially as an unhappy, insecure teenager; she was among various regular characters brought in to increase the cast following the...
(Lucy Speed
Lucy Speed
Lucy Renee Speed is an English actress known for her television roles as Natalie Evans in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, and DS Stevie Moss in the ITV1 police drama series The Bill.-Early life:...
), making his final appearance in March 2003.
In 2010, in an interview with website Walford web, Berridge reflected on Roy's axing, saying that she did regret it in retrospect: "[Roy's] personality didn’t generate story material, but in his case he was also beginning to stifle Pat. John Yorke and I share a great passion for the old, wild dangerous Pat who wore the white mac and looked as if she chewed up broken bottles for breakfast, but the Pat we had [at that time] had become too safe and comfortable. She’d had her affair story with Frank – and since he was and is the love of her life, if she didn’t leave [Roy] for Frank she wasn’t going to do it for anyone else. To galvanise Pat we had to lose Roy. But I wish now we’d found some other way. Roy had a stability about him that we needed, and losing both him and Mark Fowler
Mark Fowler
Mark Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark was an original regular character in the series starting February 1985 but became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made...
within a year left us a kind of moral hole in the centre of the show. Those older ‘good’ characters have a role that extends far beyond the immediate gratification of story – as Lou Beale
Lou Beale
Louise Ada "Lou" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War....
did in the past."