Roy Evans (EastEnders)
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| EastEnders character | ||||||||||
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| Roy Evans | ||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Tony Caunter | |||||||||
| Duration | 1994–2003 | |||||||||
| Profile | ||||||||||
| Date of birth | 14 June 1935 | |||||||||
| Date of death | 17 March 2003 | |||||||||
| Status | Deceased | |||||||||
| Occupation | Car trader | |||||||||
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Roy Evans was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Tony Caunter.
Roy was a gentle soul, with a forgiving nature, and all he really wanted was a quiet life. However, his patience was usually pushed to the limits by the antics of his not so thoughtful family.
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[edit] Roy's beginning
Roy arrived in Albert Square with his son Barry Evans in 1994, as successful car-dealer and business associate to David Wicks (the local car-dealer). While undertaking business arrangements Roy met and was instantly attracted to David's mother Pat Butcher. Recently separated from her former husband Frank Butcher, who had disappeared under a cloud of mystery earlier in 1994, Pat was unwilling to begin a new romance with Roy. However, David, sensing that it may benefit a favourable outcome between their business', encouraged the relationship and the pair soon fell in love and moved in together.
The relationship suffered a set-back however, when it was revealed that Roy was unable to consummate his love for Pat due to the fact that he'd been impotent for many years. Although Pat was understanding , Roy nevertheless felt emasculated. Eventually they both agreed that love and companionship were more important than sex.
Pat and Roy's relationship blossomed, until the reappearance of Pat's ex-husband, Frank, on Christmas day 1995, who had come home to claim his business and wife. Frank and Roy were involved in a feud over the ownership of the car-lot and Frank continuously tried to convince Pat to resume their relationship. Despite Frank stirring up buried feelings in Pat and a secret one night stand, she ended up divorcing him and married Roy in 1996.
After David Wicks fled Walford, Roy bought his share in the car-lot, and renamed it Evans and son. Preferring to take a back seat, he left the running of his business to son Barry. Unfortunately Barry wasn't up to the job and after grifter Vanessa Carlton stole Roy's hard earned fortune, he was forced to sell his other business (Manor Wood) and come out of retirement. Roy's health suffered because of this and he gave his family a scare when he was rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack.
With Bailiffs knocking on the Evans' door, and with Roy unfit to work, Pat turned to Frank to bail them out. An unwilling Roy eventually accepted Frank's help. However his animosity towards Frank continued and when his son informed him of a suspected affair between Pat and Frank, he lost the plot. A suicidal Roy fled Walford in a speeding car and threatened to throw himself off a multi-story car park. However he was found by Frank and he persuaded Roy to rethink his drastic decision. They managed to put their differences aside and soon after Roy and Pat forged a strong friendship with Frank and his love interest Peggy Mitchell. Frank even became a 'silent' partner in the car-lot, providing the needed cash while Roy dealt with the running of the business.
Despite suffering with Angina, Roy's torment over his inability to perform sexually prompted him to illegally buy Viagra. However, after suffering serious side effects which almost killed him, he eventually turned to counselling to fix the problem. During the sessions it was revealed that his impotence had occurred straight after the death of his first wife Doreen Evans, who died from complications while giving birth to his daughter (who also died shortly after her birth). Roy later revealed that he was in bed with another woman while the unfortunate incident was occurring and he'd never been able to forgive himself since.
[edit] Car scam and marital problems
Money was still tight for Roy in 2000, and wanting to give his wife a more luxurious lifestyle, he got involved with a car-scam, instigated by Frank's hostile stepson and local mechanic Phil Mitchell. The usually honest Roy agreed to sell stolen, re-conditioned motors at his car-lot for large sums of money. However it didn't take long before Frank's daughter Janine had discovered his antics and informed her stepmother Peggy. Peggy was furious, and even more annoyed when she discovered that Frank was not receiving a cut of the money. Roy was eventually forced to stop the scam and the motors were all sold off at a loss. Peggy agreed to keep Frank and Pat in the dark, however 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 had maliciously informed Dan Sullivan about the scam and he in turn reported them to the police.
It seemed that Dan only did this to ruin their money making scheme, as he quickly informed Peggy that the police were on the way, claiming that he overheard a punter reporting their scam. Pat, Peggy and Dan managed to remove the cars before the police arrived and they avoided arrest. However with a furious Pat now knowing about her husband's dishonesty, she went behind his back, sold his cars for scrap and then gave the money to charity. Peggy and Frank were then unable to pay off Dan, and he remained in the Vic — which was what he wanted all along — while Pat threw Roy out of their marital home. Pat felt that she could not trust Roy any longer and began contemplating divorce. Roy spent his time drinking heavily, sleeping in the Portakabin office and threatening to turn himself into the police. Eventually when Roy attempted to move out permanently, Pat relented and allowed him to stay, but told him that it would take a long time to earn her trust again. After many weeks sleeping on the sofa, Pat finally made up with Roy and he along with Phil and Frank eventually got their revenge on Dan by conning him to sign back his share of the Vic.
Roy faced more marital problems later that year. When he and Pat were on a joint holiday in Spain with Frank and Peggy, Frank seduced Pat and they ended up in bed. Their affair continued back in Walford and Frank and Pat planned to elope on Guy Fawkes night that year. However, just at the last minute Pat changed her mind and called the relationship off. It was too late however, as Frank had already left a goodbye note telling Peggy he still loved Pat and was leaving her. This culminated in a huge showdown in the Queen Vic, where Peggy told the packed pub what Frank and Pat had planned. Furious, Roy chucked Pat out onto the street, shouting: "Once a tart, always a tart!"
However he forgave her three months later when she threatened to leave Walford and move to New Zealand to be with her son. Despite objections from his son Barry, she moved back in with Roy soon after. The dynamics of the relationship changed completely after this, with Roy being very much in charge.
[edit] The later years
In 2001 a blast from Roy's past arrived in Albert Square with a shocking revelation. Jane Williams, the woman Roy had been having an affair with during the time of his wife's death, was terminally ill with cancer. She had contacted Roy after all this time because she finally wanted to tell him that he was the biological father of her son Nathan Williams. The news upset the balance in the Evans household, and his relationship with Barry severely suffered as he was devastated to learn that his father had been unfaithful to his dead mother.
Jane died in 2002 leaving Nathan penniless and bankrupt. With nowhere left to go Nathan turned to Roy and soon moved in with the Evanses. The pair bonded, until it was revealed that Nathan had attempted to seduce Barry's wife Natalie Evans as well as set him up for the theft of stolen money from the car-lot. An angry Roy banished Nathan from their lives and told him he never wanted to see him again.
In 2003 stress finally got the better of Roy when he discovered that Pat had been covering an affair between Barry's wife Natalie and Frank's son Ricky Butcher. Roy believed that Pat had again chosen Frank over him because she decided to help Frank's offspring over his own. This unfortunately led to Roy's second and fatal heart attack. Roy died intestate, leaving Pat not only bereft but homeless after Barry kicked her out before his body was buried.
[edit] External links
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