DC Terry Perkins

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Detective Constable Terrance 'Terry' Perkins is a character in ITV cop-drama The Bill. He is played by Bruce Byron.

The character of Terry Perkins was first introduced in a guest role as a DC at Barton Street, investigating the rape of DCI Jack Meadows's wife. Not long afterwards, Terry was transferred to Sun Hill as the resident SORO (Sex Offenders Register Officer). Working in the Community Protection Unit, Terry went on to build a strong relationship with DS Ramani DeCosta, whom was in charge of the department. After quickly having proven himself to be a well and capable police officer who was generally just there to get the job done and not kick up a bit fuss Supt. Adam Okaro elected him to go undercover in prison in an attempt to infiltrate a ring of paedophilia. In a staged group counciling scene featuring Ramani, Terry told his cover story - he'd forced a boy to perform sexual activity on him by threatening his brother with a knife. Initially seeing how the operation was really getting to him, Ramani put two and two together and discovered the truth - Terry and his brother Ben Perkins had been sexually abused when they were kids, which was a strong motivation for Terry to become an SORO in the first place. Realising he was perhaps not best suited to be working on crimes that hit so close to home, Terry was transferred back to divisional CID.

Terry's past once more came back to haunt him when evidence came to light suggesting his nephew Bradley had been on the receiving end of sexual abuse from Ben. After the family managed to give them the slip, Terry tracked them down and to his horror discovered his suspicions had been true - Ben had been sexually abusing his son. Almost a year later, Ben went on trial and was found guilty, where he ended up behind bars. Realising that his family needed support, Terry ended up in a relationship with Ben's wife Lucy. Ramani view this relationship as wrong, and their disagreement subsequently ended her and Terry's friendship. When Ben was released from prison, he discovered Terry had been sleeping with his wife and struck him in the face, before cutting ties with him. Realising he didn't love Lucy and had just been trying to support her through a rough patch, Terry soon cut ties with her himself.

After settling back down into Sun Hill with his personal crisises out of the way, Terry suddenly found himself developing a romantic attachment towards close friend and colleague Ramani. After renewing their friendship, Terry was shocked off of his feet by the revelation that Ramani had accepted a job with the Child Abuse Investigation Team, subsequently ending any chance he could have for a relationship with her.