Storylines
Roy arrives in Albert Square with his son Barry (Shaun Williamson) in 1994, a successful car-dealer and business associate of David Wicks (Michael French). While undertaking business arrangements, Roy meets and is instantly attracted to David's mother Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement). Recently separated from her former husband Frank (Mike Reid), who has mysteriously disappeared, Pat is unwilling to begin a new romance with Roy. However, David, sensing that it may benefit a favourable outcome between their businesses, encourages the relationship and the pair soon fall in love and move in together. The relationship suffers a setback, however, when it is revealed that Roy is unable to consummate his love for Pat because he has been impotent for many years. Although Pat is understanding, Roy nevertheless feels emasculated. Eventually they both agree that love and companionship are more important than sex. Pat and Roy's relationship blossoms until the reappearance of Frank on Christmas Day 1995, who has come home to claim his business and wife. Frank and Roy are involved in a feud over the ownership of the car lot and Frank continuously tries to convince Pat to resume their relationship. Despite Frank stirring up buried feelings in Pat and a secret one-night stand, she ends up divorcing him and marries Roy in 1996.
After David flees Walford, Roy buys his share in the car lot, and renames it Evans and son. Preferring to take a back seat, he leaves the running of the business to Barry. Unfortunately Barry is not up to the job and after grifter, Vanessa Carlton, steals Roy's hard-earned fortune, he is forced to sell his other business (Manor Wood) and come out of retirement. Roy's health suffers because of this and he gives his family a scare when he is rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack. With bailiffs knocking on the Evans' door, and with Roy unfit to work, Pat turns to Frank to bail them out. An unwilling Roy eventually accepts Frank's help. However, his animosity towards Frank continues and when his son informs him of a suspected affair between Pat and Frank, he becomes suicidal and flees Walford in a speeding car, threatening to throw himself off a multi-storey car park. However, he is found by Frank, who persuades Roy to rethink. They manage to put their differences aside and soon after, Roy and Pat forge a strong friendship with Frank and his love interest Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor). Frank becomes a 'silent' partner in the car lot, providing the needed cash while Roy deals with the running of the business.
Despite suffering with angina, Roy's torment over his inability to perform sexually prompts him to illegally buy Viagra. However, after suffering serious side effects that almost kill him, he eventually turns to counselling to fix the problem. During the sessions, it is revealed that his impotence occurred straight after the death of his first wife Doreen, who died from complications while giving birth to his daughter (who also died shortly after her birth). Roy later reveals that he was in bed with another woman at the time and he was never able to forgive himself.
Money is still tight for Roy in 2000, and wanting to give his wife a more luxurious lifestyle, he gets involved with a car scam, instigated by Frank's hostile stepson and local mechanic Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). The usually honest Roy agrees to sell stolen, re-conditioned cars for large sums of money. However, it is not long before Frank's daughter Janine (Charlie Brooks) discovers this and informs Peggy. Peggy is furious, and even more annoyed when she discovers Frank is not receiving a share of the money. Roy is eventually forced to stop the scam and the cars are all sold off at a loss. Peggy agrees to keep Frank and Pat in the dark, but soon after, she became in desperate need of money in order to pay off her enemy Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass). The scam was started again with Frank also heavily involved. However, Janine maliciously informs Dan about the scam and he in turn reported them to the police. Dan quickly informs Peggy that the police are on the way, claiming that he overheard a punter reporting the scam. Pat, Peggy and Dan manage to remove the cars before the police arrive and they avoid arrest. However, with a furious Pat now knowing about her husband's dishonesty, she goes behind his back, sells his cars for scrap and gives the money to charity. Peggy and Frank are then unable to pay Dan, while Pat throws Roy out of their marital home. Pat feels that she cannot trust Roy any longer and begins contemplating divorce. Roy spends his time drinking heavily, sleeping in the car lot's office and threatening to turn himself into the police. Eventually, when Roy attempts to move out permanently, Pat relents and allows him to stay, but tells him that it will take a long time to earn her trust again. After many weeks sleeping on the sofa, Pat finally makes up with Roy and he, along with Phil and Frank, eventually gets revenge on Dan by conning him to sign back his share of The Queen Victoria public house.
Roy faces more marital problems that year when he and Pat are on a joint holiday in Spain with Frank and Peggy. Frank seduces Pat and they end up in bed. Their affair continues back in Walford and they plan to elope. However, Pat changed her mind at the last minute and calls the relationship off. It is too late however, as Frank has already left a goodbye note telling Peggy he still loves Pat and is leaving her. This culminates in a huge showdown in The Queen Victoria where Peggy tells the punters what Frank and Pat have planned. Furious, Roy evicts Pat. However, he forgives her three months later when she threatens to leave Walford and move to New Zealand to be with her son. Despite objections from Barry, she moves back in with Roy soon after. The dynamics of the relationship change completely after this, with Roy being very much in charge.
In 2001, Jane Williams (Ann Mitchell), the woman Roy had been having an affair with at the time of his wife's death, arrives in Walford, terminally ill. She has contacted Roy because she wants to tell him that he is the father of her son, Nathan Williams (Doug Allen). The news upsets the balance in the Evans household, and his relationship with Barry severely suffers as he is devastated to learn that his father was unfaithful to his dead mother. Jane dies in 2002, leaving Nathan penniless and bankrupt. With nowhere to go, Nathan turns to Roy and soon moves in with the Evanses. The pair bond until it is revealed that Nathan has attempted to seduce Barry's wife Natalie (Lucy Speed) and set him up for the theft of money from the car lot. An angry Roy banishes Nathan from their lives and tells him he never wants to see him again. In 2003, stress finally gets the better of Roy when he discovers Pat is helping Natalie hide her affair with Frank's son, Ricky (Sid Owen). Roy feels Pat has chosen Frank over him because she helped Frank's offspring over his own. This leads to Roy's second heart attack. Roy dies intestate, leaving Pat bereft and homeless after Barry kicks her out.
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