Sir Roysten Merchant

Sir Roysten Merchant is a character in the British sitcom "Drop the Dead Donkey". Sir Roysten is a businessman and media mogul, owning several media outlets and other companies. In the first episode, he buys "Globelink News", where the staff fear that he will drive the channel down-market like all of his other media outlets. Sir Roysten is an unseen character throughout almost all of the series, and only appears in the final episode, "The Final Chapter".cite episode|title=The Final Chapter|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 6 (1998)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1998-12-09|season=6|episode=7] A cardboard cut-out image of him appears earlier in the series. [cite episode|title=But is it Art?|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 6 (1998)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1998-11-18|season=6|episode=4] The character's intitals, "R.M." are a reference to real-life media moguals Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell.

Globelink

When Sir Roysten takes over "Globelink News", he begins to make the channel more sensationalist in order to attract more views and make more money for his business empire. One is his first moves is to hire Sally Smedley as a newsreader, despite the fact she has very little knowledge of current affairs. [cite episode|title=Sally's Arrival|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 1 (1990)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1990-08-16|season=1|episode=2] Sir Roysten, who is right-wing politically, also tries to see stories include that praise politicians that he supports, such as Margaret Thatcher. This resulted in him getting Thatcher to agree to be interview by Globelink by Sally, but the interview had to be cancelled when the station had a powercut. [cite episode|title=The Big Day|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 1 (1990)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1990-10-11|season=1|episode=10]

Due to Sir Roysten being an unseen character, most of his actions are carried out by Gus Hedges, the chief executive of "Globelink News". Gus's main tasks involve preventing anything embarrassing to Sir Roysten being broadcast. One example was a documentary about Sir Roysten's arms deals. Gus orchestrated plans to prevent the story being broadcast, even getting two members of parliament to attack "Globelink's" editor George Dent, in order to prevent the documentary being shown until after Christmas. He only succeeded after broadcasting a tribute to a journalist who had just died. [cite episode|title=Don't Mention the Arabs|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 2 (1991)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1991-11-14|season=2|episode=7]

Eventually, Sir Roysten's business empire began to crumble, and as a result "Globelink" was shut down. There was also a suspicious fire at "Globelink" which was probably Sir Roysten trying to claim on insurance, but Gus denied this. [cite episode|title=A Bit of an Atmosphere|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 6 (1998)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1998-12-02|season=6|episode=6] Gus, despite his attempts to save the company, almost goes mad due to his failure. As a result, he goes to see Sir Roysten in person. He breaks into Sir Roysten's house, and confronts him, angrily telling him how much he has suffered for him. Sir Roysten gets rid of him, and contacts his maid, asking her, "Who was that man?" It is therefore clear that Sir Roysten cared little for those who worked for him.

Family

Sir Roysten is the son of another wealthy businessman, who is unnamed. He made his money selling arms during World War II, mainly to the Nazis. However, Sir Roysten and Gus have always denied these claims. [cite episode|title=Damien and the Weather Girl|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 4 (1994)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1994-12-15|season=4|episode=12] Sir Roysten is married to Lady Caroline Merchant, a novelist who often has extramarital affairs. [cite episode|title=Lady Merchant|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 3 (1993)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1993-02-11|season=3|episode=6] However, Sir Roysten also visits prostitutes. [cite episode|title=Helen'll Fix It|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 3 (1993)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1993-01-28|season=3|episode=4] Sir Roysten has three children, Octavia, Roy Junior, and Roystonia. [cite episode|title=The Gulf Report|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 2 (1991)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1991-09-26|season=2|episode=1] [cite episode|title=Beasts, Badgers and Bombshells|episodelink=List of Drop the Dead Donkey Episodes#Series 6 (1998)|series=Drop the Dead Donkey|serieslink=Drop the Dead Donkey|airdate=1998-11-04|season=6|episode=2]

References