| Richard Cole | |
|---|---|
| EastEnders character | |
| Portrayed by | Ian Reddington |
| Created by | Tony Jordan |
| Introduced by | Leonard Lewis |
| Duration | 1992–94 |
| First appearance | 23 July 1992 |
| Last appearance | 21 July 1994 |
| Classification | Former; regular |
| Profile | |
| Occupation | Market Inspector |
Richard Cole (also known as "Tricky Dicky") is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Ian Reddington between 1992 and 1994.[1]
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Richard Cole arrived in Walford in 1992 as the new Walford market inspector. He was known as a corrupt man who would pull every trick in the book to make money and he was not well liked by the community. He was also a notorious womaniser who had various brief flings. He briefly dated market trader Rachel Kominski in 1992, but antagonised her later when he decided to give her permanent market pitch to his newly arrived friend, Sanjay Kapoor. In 1993 he slept with 17-year old Bianca Jackson, and when he dumped her shortly after, she and her friend Natalie vandalised his flat. Later he had a longer-lasting romance with Kathy Beale, which soured when she discovered that he was taking a cash bribe and allowing a mobile hot dog van to trade in direct competition to her café.
Richard made various enemies, including Alan Jackson who he reported for benefit fraud, Arthur Fowler whom he caused to lose his job as market sweeper, and the lovers Mandy Salter and Aidan Brosnan. Richard bought a property to let out for rent; Mandy and Aidan were squatting in one of the bedsits at the time and Richard evicted them, leaving Aidan homeless and suicidal over Christmas 1993. However, Richard's main rival was Kathy's son Ian Beale. Richard relished winding up Ian by flirting with Ian's wife Cindy. Richard spread rumours about having an affair with Cindy, implying that he was the father of Cindy's unborn twins, which caused various problems in the Beale marriage for a while. Later, Richard orchestrated the closure of Ian's catering business the "Meal Machine" by reporting him to environmental health.
In revenge for this in 1994, Ian forced Richard to flee Walford when he found out some unsavoury things about his past. Richard had been a former planning officer for the council in Doncaster; he and a colleague, Neil Bradley, had taken monetary bribes, but when they were caught, Richard framed his colleague, leading to the colleague's imprisonment. After Ian took photographic evidence of Richard and threatened to inform Bradley where Richard was, Richard disappeared, leaving his belongings/property in Sanjay's possession. Bradley showed up in Walford the following week and was dismayed to find Richard gone. He told Sanjay to tell Richard that when he found him, he would kill him.
Producers Leonard Lewis and Helen Greaves took over control of EastEnders in 1992 and introduced a number of new characters.[2] Most of them, such as Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) and Christine Hewitt (Lizzie Power), were introduced gradually, making an initial appearance and then joining the programme as full-time characters a couple of months afterwards.[2] EastEnders' writer Colin Brake has suggested that this allowed the producers and writers to see their new characters brought to life by their actors before committing them to longer contracts.[2] The one exception to this procedure was the introduction of character Richard Cole, the soap's new market inspector, who joined the cast as a regular character without gradual introduction.[2]
The character was conceived by writer Tony Jordan.[2] Richard was designed to be "a bit of a lad, a charming womanizer" and the original character's biography scripted him with as a uniform-wearing Cockney from London.[2][3] However, when Sheffield-born actor Ian Reddington read for the role, the production team liked his portrayal so much that they altered the character's backstory so they could accommodate Reddington's Northern-English accent.[2] The character was nicknamed "Tricky Dicky" both in the show and the British press and become a prominent soap womanizer and villain for the two years he appeared;[2] he had flings with various female characters, most notably Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) and Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer).[4]
Tricky Dicky has beed described as a "lothario",[5] as well as "corrupt, shifty and slimy as they come".[4] Author Kate Lock suggests that Tricky Dicky was aptly named, stating "he was sly, underhand and ruthless, both in his business dealings [...] and with women." She adds that he was "good-looking in an oily sort of way, but dropped his girlfriends once he'd got another notch on his bedpost."[6]
Reddington left EastEnders in 1994. On-screen, Richard become embroiled in a feud with Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and decided to flee Walford. In was reported in 2009 that the BBC were intending to reintroduce Richard Cole, 15 years after he last appeared. A source allegedly told The People, "[Richard] has unfinished business with Beale and it will add some tension to Walford".[7] However, this was subsequently denied by the BBC.[8]
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