Zoe Cullen (River City)

Zoe Cullen (played by Laura McMonagle) is a fictional character in the BBC Scotland soap, "River City".

Background

Zoe was seen as a rebellious teenage girl, but in reality she was hitting out because of her harsh home life. She lived on a rough council estate with her mother, who was a heroin addict, and her younger sister. It was through all of this that she became a strong and mature young woman determined to make a better life for herself and her sister.

toryline

Zoe arrived in Sheildinch as part of a popular clique of rebellious teenage girls. She caused havoc throughout Sheildinch, most notably blackmailing Vinnie Shah over his heroin addiction so that she could raise enough money to get her mother and sister off the council estate they lived on.

She began to calm down a little when her mother Patricia committed suicide by overdosing on heroin. She and her sister Nicki were then taken in by Alice Henderson. However Zoe soon began causing problems for everyone again when she succumbed to temptation and began a steamy affair with Alice's then boyfriend Mac. Zoe then proceeded to take Mac away from Alice by moving into a place of her own with him, but when she discovered that he was a paedophile and had developed feelings for a teenage Nicki she threw him out and tried to make amends with Alice.

After Alice left Shieldinch, Zoe decided to get her life back together. She resumed living at Alice's former home with Nicki and Alice's son Deek Henderson and applied for a university course in nursing. Things went smoothly for a time, but Zoe's constant partying, clubbing and holidaying caught up with her and she soon found herself strapped for cash.

Much to her horror, she was later convinced to become a prostitute in early 2008 so that she could afford her university course. Things came to a head for her when she began prostituting herself to Marty Green, husband of her friend Ruth Green, whilst at the same time struggling with feelings for Rory Murdoch. She eventually began dating Rory, but also reluctantly continued having sex with Marty as he was her best client.

However she had unprotected sex with Marty and as a result contracted syphillis. She was then left stunned when an unknowing Ruth confided in her that she also had contracted syphillis and was worried that Marty was having an affair. Out of guilt Zoe proved to be there for Ruth when her marriage to Marty fell apart and was releaved when he left Shieldinch. However he returned when he discovered that Ruth was pregnant with his baby and after Ruth falsley informed him that she'd aborted their baby out of spite he maliciously informed her that Zoe was the prostituted who gave them both syphillis. Since then Ruth has been trying to make Zoe's life hell, whilst Zoe is still unaware that Ruth knows of her sordid past.

Family

*Mother: Patricia Cullen (deceased)
*Sister: Nicki Cullen

ee also

* River City

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/rivercity/characters/ River City Cast]