Terry Raymond

Infobox EastEnders character 2


character_name=Terry Raymond
actor_name=Gavin Richards
years=1996–2002
first=21 October 1996
last=8 March 2002
dob= 18 April 1949
status=Separated
home= Portugal
occupation= Shopkeeper
wife=Louise Simmonds (1975–1998)
Irene Hills (1998—)
daughters=Tiffany Mitchell
sons=Simon Raymond
granddaughters=Courtney Mitchell

Terrence Gordon "Terry" Raymond was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders". He was played by Gavin Richards. Terry was initially introduced briefly in 1996 as the drunken father of Tiffany (Martine McCutcheon) and Simon Raymond (Andrew Lynford). He was reintroduced as a full-time character in 1997 and remained in the serial until 2002, when actor Gavin Richards left.

History

Terry arrived in Albert Square in October 1996 when he came looking for his children Tiffany and Simon. Terry had once been a successful estate agent, but when the housing market collapsed in the 80s, Terry's fortune vanished. He began to rely on alcohol and his behaviour towards his family became abusive and violent. His marriage to Tiffany and Simon's mother deteriorated, and she had abandoned both her children and left them to take the brunt of their father's anger instead.

Prior to his arrival, Terry had attempted to contact his children by letter to inform them that his years of alcohol abuse had resulted in him being hospitalised with pancreatitis. Tiffany was unsympathetic and refused to see him. Because of Terry's alcoholism and abusive behaviour, his ties with his children had been severed long before his arrival. In the past he had beaten Simon and had pushed his pregnant daughter down the stairs, causing her to miscarry, so neither Tiffany or Simon were pleased when Terry discharged himself from hospital and arrived in Walford. An inebriated Terry was furious to discover that his daughter was pregnant again and was disgusted to find out that his son was gay. After much rowing Tiffany's boyfriend Grant Mitchell frightened him away. Terry continued to drink heavily and was warned by doctors that if he didn't stop, he would soon be dead. He decided to make another attempt at a reconciliation with his children and he came to Walford for a second time in August 1997; arriving on the day Tiffany and her husband were having their marriage blessed. After getting completely drunk, and making a scene, Terry was sent packing once again.

Later in the year Terry was re-admitted to hospital. Fearing that he was dying, Tiffany relented and went to visit him. Before they knew it, Tiffany and Simon had been put in charge of Terry's recovery and he had managed to persuade his daughter to allow him to stay in Walford with her, much to Grant's anger. Here he began a romance with fellow divorcée Irene Hills, whom he had flirted with on his previous visit. Terry soon moved in with Irene and her children, which made things difficult for Simon who was dating Irene's son Tony Hills.

Life with Irene

In 1998 Terry and Irene planned to marry, however the nuptials were interrupted when Terry's wife, Louise Raymond, gate-crashed the wedding to declare that she and Terry were still legally married. Terry had been refusing to divorce Louise for some time as he didn't want to hand over half his assets to her in the settlement. Irene was furious with Terry, but he managed to win her round and they both decided to go on their honeymoon anyway, just not as man and wife. Terry eventually did divorce Louise and went on to marry Irene secretly at a registry office in January 1999.

Terry and Irene remained happy for a while. Terry gave up alcohol and even managed to patch things up with his two children. However, Terry was devastated later that year when his daughter was killed in a motor accident by Frank Butcher, whilst trying to reclaim her daughter from her volatile husband Grant Mitchell. Terry blamed Grant for her death and hated him for his maltreatment of her whilst she was alive. However, he was forced to control his rage in order to be given access to his granddaughter Courtney.

Later on, Terry bought the local grocery store, 'The First Til Last', and he and Irene ran it together. However, Terry would often squander their profits on mundane ventures and gambling and Irene soon began to tire of Terry's incapability to understand her. It was at around this time that Troy Harvey, a college friend of Tony's, came to lodge at the Raymonds'. Troy had a penchant for older women and it wasn't long before he'd coaxed Irene into his bed. Terry discovered their sordid affair on Christmas Day 1999 and threw Troy out onto the street leaving Irene to believe that Troy had left of his own accord. He forgave Irene, and never disclosed to her that he had uncovered her affair, but she was never really satisfied in their marriage after Troy left.

In 2000, Terry decided to take Irene on holiday to Spain, but Irene's unhappiness was only magnified away from Walford and Terry decided to give her an ultimatum; she could come home to Walford and grow old together with him or leave right there and then. Irene chose the latter and left Terry to return to Walford a broken man.

A surrogate daughter

After Terry's business was vandalised by Asif Malik, Terry used the insurance money to start a letting agency with Janine Butcher. When Janine's father Frank fled Walford, Terry took her in and the two formed an unlikely allegiance. Terry began to view Janine as the daughter he never had, and Janine used this to exploit money and attention from him, even purposefully dressing in a similar fashion to his dead daughter. Terry meanwhile seemed oblivious to her scheme.

In 2001, Terry began a relationship with one of his tenants, Margaret Walker. Devious Janine didn't like the fact that Terry's attention was diverted from her and she did everything she could to ruin their relationship. Margaret was not perturbed and vowed to beat Janine at her own game, leading to numerous squabbles. When Janine discovered a photo of Margaret and another man, she immediately assumed the worst and informed Terry that Margaret was cheating on him. Margaret explained that the man in the photo was her brother who was dying of cancer, and she was paying for his placement in a drug trial in America. The relationship continued to develop despite Janine's interference, and Janine became incensed when she discovered that Margaret was planning to propose to Terry. Shortly after, Janine witnessed Margaret kissing her supposed brother, and when she discovered that Terry was intending to give Margaret £10,000, she told him that Margaret was conning him and informed him about the kiss she'd witnessed. Terry was only too quick to believe Janine's skewed version of the truth and finished with Margaret. Although sources prior to the filming of this storyline had suggested that Margaret would be a sophisticated conwoman, [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1287212.stm EastEnders welcomes George] ", "BBC". URL last accessed on 2007-07-11.] this was never actually confirmed on-screen. The ending was left ambiguous and although the man at Margaret's flat turned out to be her brother after all, he did not appear to be dying. [" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/episodes/past/episode20010824.shtml#4 Fri 24 Aug 2001] ", "BBC". URL last accessed on 2007-07-11.]

When Terry appeared to be growing tired of Janine's manipulation, she decided to change tactics and made an attempt to seduce him. Terry eventually succumbed to Janine's advances, but whilst kissing her he caught a glimpse of disgust on her face and finally understood that she was using him. Furious, Terry promptly threw her out onto the street.

Soon after, Terry decided that he'd had enough of Walford and in 2002 he decided to leave in search of his wife Irene, who was supposedly still travelling around Portugal.

References

External links

*EEcharlink|terry_r