Terry Sullivan is a fictional character

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...

 in the British Soap opera Brookside

Brookside

Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...

, played by Brian Regan

Brian Regan (actor)

Brian Regan is a British actor known for playing Terry Sullivan, one of the lead roles in the Channel 4 soap Brookside, during the 1980s and 1990s. He has also had small parts in other television series...

.

Terry first appeared a few episodes after the series began in 1982, making his debut in episode six. He was the best friend of Barry Grant

Barry Grant

Barry Grant is a fictional character in the defunct Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. He was portrayed by Paul Usher and was in the series from episode one in 1982 until 1995 with several sporadic guest appearances in 1997, 1998 and the final episode in 2003....

 having grown up with him, and in many ways Barry's mother Sheila

Sheila Grant

Sheila Grant is a fictional character from British soap opera, Brookside played by Sue Johnston. Sheila appeared in Brookside from the first episode in 1982 until the characters departure in 1990.-Character:...

 was the mother that Terry never had. Barry and Terry worked together in the building industry and supplemented their wages by stealing materials from their company. In the early days Barry and Terry got up to numerous scams, including selling dodgy video recorders and driving Barry's car into the sea to claim the insurance. Indeed in an interview the actor Brian Regan described the duo as the "likely lads

The Likely Lads

The Likely Lads was a black-and-white British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966...

 of the 80s".

In 1984 Terry and Barry got involved with the Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 gangster Tommy McArdle, who later beat them up. Terry took many months to recover and after this time Barry did one of his numerous disappearances from the close. Terry meanwhile started a relatiosnhip with Michelle. When the relationship ended, Terry moved in with Pat Hancock, a former hospital porter originally from London, and his girlfriend, nurse Sandra Maghie. Terry and Pat embarked on a new venture - a van-hire business - but the business falls foul of dirty tricks from competitors the Cleary brothers. Nevertheless, this doesn't prevent Terry from dating the Cleary's sister Vicki.

Following Sandra and Pat's (separate) departure from the Close, Terry became the lodger of solicitor Jonathan Gordon Davies at No.9. Terry then married Sue Harper (Jonathan's former secretary) on 2 August 1989, although in 1990 he learned he was not the father of her child Danny, born just weeks earlier.


Sue later had a fling with Barry Grant, who was now something of a gangster, and Terry was devastated when on 4 October 1991 she fell off the scaffolding of the Brookside shop parade, then under construction. She and Danny both died.

Terry was a suspect in the murder although Barry later admitted that he killed them, although he claimed it was an accident.

Terry did not take the opportunity to kill Barry with a shotgun that Barry passed to him. Instead he went into a gradual mental decline, culminating in him joining a cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

. He then left the close for a year before returning as Barry's new club manager in 1995.

After learning that his mother was in fact still alive and she had only left when Terry's dad had killed another person, Terry left once more moving to the Wirral

Wirral Peninsula

Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...

, where he became a regular in the Bowler Hat pub. His final appearance was the special Brookside Lost weekend video in 1997. Despite everything Barry had put him through, Terry was seemingly happy to come and help his old mate.