Simon Wicks
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| EastEnders character | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simon Wicks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Nick Berry | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1985–1990 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 8 October 1985 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 27 December 1990 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 7 July 1965 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Single | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Barman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Simon "Wicksy" Wicks (né Beale) was a fictional character in the British BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Nick Berry.
Simon was a flash charmer, who had an eye for the ladies. He shied away from responsibility and tended to run a mile when things got too serious.
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[edit] Background
Simon (or Wicksy, as he was commonly known) arrived in Albert Square in October 1985, when he came in search of the man he thought was his father, the local market trader Pete Beale. Right from the start, Wicksy attracted the attention of the locals, who admired his flashy car (a Triumph Spitfire) and stylish dress sense, and it wasn't long before he was upsetting the 'status quo' in Walford.
Wicksy was born during Pete's first marriage to the promiscuous Pat Harris, and after their marriage deteriorated, Wicksy was adopted by Pat's second husband Brian Wicks, Simon had been estranged from Pete for some time. Pete's second wife Kathy and his other son Ian found Wicksy's arrival hard to deal with initially. The tension in the Beale household led to Wicksy deciding to move out for Kathy and Ian's sake; he moved in with the Watts family at their pub, The Queen Vic, as their live-in barman. All of the Beales came to accept Wicksy's presence in Walford, and he was soon welcomed into family.
[edit] The early years
Simon and Eddie Hunter belonged to a pop music band and before Simon arrived in the square he had borrowed money from loan sharks to keep their band afloat. The band fell apart with Simon owing "The Firm" £1500 which he couldn't pay. When the thugs eventually found him, his dad, with the help of Pete's best friend Den Watts who had 'connections', bailed him out with the money lenders. In 1986 Simon attempted to reform the band, but rivalry between the members prompted him to quit and go solo. He didn't get very far however, and by the end of the year he'd given up his dream of becoming a musician.
Wicksy's mother, Pat, arrived in Albert Square in June 1986, much to the dismay of her former husband and his family, who despised her for her past misdemeanours which had torn a rift in Pete's family and caused their marriage to break up. Not long after arriving, Pat dropped the bombshell that there was a strong possibility that Simon was not Pete's biological son and she admitted to having an affair whilst she and Pete were married, with her current husband Brian, and also with Pete's older brother Kenny, as well as Pete's best friend Den Watts. Pat admitted that she was unsure as to who Simon's real father was, and confessed that she had pretended to Pete that he was his to hide her past affairs and save their marriage. Many subsequent feuds resulted, and the revelations put a severe strain on Simon's relationship with his mother, which was already damaged due to Simon's disapproval of her nonchalant style of parenting. His father was later revealed to be Brian Wicks. Simon went to visit Brian, following this revelation, but his father was abusive towards him and so he decided that he wanted nothing more to do with him.
During Simon's time in Albert Square, he worked as a barman in both The Queen Victoria pub and the Dagmar wine bar (which was owned by James Wilmott-Brown), and he was often seen playing the pub piano and singing Cockney favourites to the regulars. Wicksy was extremely popular with the ladies, bedding Donna Ludlow, Mary Smith and even dating Naima Jeffery among others. In 1987 he dated Den's daughter, Sharon, but soon got bored when she refused to sleep with him.
His first serious relationship was with the local caterer Magda Czajkowski, who had been having an extramarital affair with Simon's boss, Den, when he poached her from him. Den was furious when he discovered that Simon had stolen his woman and he got revenge by kneeing him in the groin and sacking him from his job at The Vic. Simon moved in with Magda, but it soon became clear they wanted different things out of the relationship. He jilted her in 1988 on the advice of Den, who he was beginning to idolise.
[edit] Simon and Cindy
In 1988, Wicksy caught the eye of new Walford arrival Cindy Williams, who he carried on with whilst still seeing Donna, causing a lot of jealous bickering between the two women. Cindy wasn't like the other women in his life however, and she refused to put up with his womanising. Cindy decided to play Simon at his own game and when his stepbrother, Ian, started showing an interest, she decided to start dating him instead. Initially Cindy was only out to make Simon jealous, but Ian was on his way to becoming a successful entrepreneur and the prospect of having a comfortable lifestyle was irresistible to her. Simon was extremely jealous, even more so when he discovered that Cindy had agreed to marry Ian.
A confused Simon then decided to give up on Cindy and started seeing his old girlfriend, Sharon Watts. However this made Cindy extremely jealous and a few months later she decided to make a play for Simon again. Simon couldn't resist and they embarked on a secret affair, often played out on the floor of The Queen Vic after closing time. This eventually culminated in Cindy falling pregnant with Simon's child. Cindy then wanted to be with Wicksy full-time, but upon realising that she was expecting, he called off their affair and told her that he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby. Cindy then went ahead with her marriage to Ian and deceived him into thinking that her baby was actually his. She gave birth to Steven on Boxing day 1989.
Meanwhile, Simon was trying to make a go of things with Sharon. Sharon's father, Den, had ordered Simon to take care of his daughter while he was in prison. When Den was supposedly murdered by gangsters, Simon provided a devastated Sharon with a shoulder to cry on and helped her come to terms with her grief. Sharon had fallen hard for Simon and she made plans to buy The Vic, so they could run it together and settle down. However, Simon found this prospect daunting and was not prepared to get involved with such a heavy commitment. He started contemplating what life with Cindy would be like and suddenly developed a paternal instinct towards his son. It wasn't long before he had ditched Sharon and reconciled with Cindy.
After a lot of sordid meetings behind Ian's back, Cindy finally plucked up the courage to confess to Ian that Steven was not his son, although she refrained from divulging who the real father was. Ian became extremely depressed, later crashing his car and injuring himself in a possible suicide attempt. Whilst he was recovering in hospital Cindy decided to move out of her marital home and in with Simon.
[edit] Feud with Ian
Upon Ian's release from hospital he was unhinged to discover that Simon, his best-friend, was the 'other man'. A huge feud between the Butcher/Wicks and the Beales/Fowlers erupted, which lasted the remainder of the year. After blood tests confirmed that Simon was Steven's real father, Ian became deranged and devoted his time to getting revenge on Simon. Simon was still working at The Queen Vic under new landlord Eddie Royle, an ex-policeman who often made his working environment unpleasant. Simon was accused of theft from The Queen Vic, when marked notes were found in his pocket; however, it was later revealed that Ian had planted them there in an attempt to get Simon arrested. Simon lost his job and became desperate for money to support his family and so he was forced to accept Ian's offer of employment at his catering company. Cindy was appalled that Simon was working for Ian, and she began to plead with him to leave Walford so they could start again somewhere else. However Simon refused to allow Ian and the other Beale's chase him out of Walford and defiantly decided to stay, even turning down a vast payoff from Ian's family, Pete, Kathy and Pauline, who offered to give him money only if he agreed to move away.
Ian pretended that he had put their feud behind him, but delighted in his new found superiority over Simon. He continued to try and frame Simon by giving him frequent bonuses and then proceeded to inform everyone that money was missing from his cash float. Realising that Ian was responsible for framing Simon earlier in the year, Sharon informed Simon that Ian was once again up to no good. Simon decided to play him at his own game. He willingly took the money Ian offered and then proceeded to tell everyone in the Vic about his kind generosity. When Ian came to the Vic soon after to tell everyone about the supposed theft, he found that everyone already knew about the money and his plan to frame Simon was ruined. Furious, Ian then tried to end Simon's life by sabotaging the brakes of his catering van, knowing full well that Simon was due to make a delivery for him the following day (Christmas day).
On Christmas morning Ian awoke and smugly looked out of his window to see Simon loading the van, but was then shocked to see that he was strapping Steven into the passenger seat! Panicking, Ian ran to the van and prohibited Simon from taking Steven and instead went with him on the delivery. As they drove to their destination, Ian constantly goaded Simon to go faster. Simon sped extremely fast down a country lane, but panicked when he realised that he was unable to slow the car down. The car careered off the road, but fortunately crashed into a huge bale of hay. Both were unharmed, but when Simon realised that Ian had drained the brake fluid, he was livid and they started brawling in the middle of the field.
Finally, Simon could stand Ian's psychotic behaviour no longer, and on Steven's first birthday on Boxing day 1990, he and Cindy left to start a new life together away from Walford; initially moving to Devon to stay with Cindy's parents there.
Since his departure, Cindy returned to Albert Square and divulged that Simon had run out on her and Steven not long after they left. It has since been revealed that he is living in New Zealand. In 2002, Simon's son Steven, who had so far been brought up by Ian, found out that Simon was his biological father, and moved to New Zealand to be with him.
It was mentioned by Steven on his return that Simon had a new girlfriend and that Simon had a troubled relationship with his son.
It was revealed that when Simon found out Steven was gay he didn't take it well resulting in Steven moving back to England.
[edit] External links
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