Amber Gates
Encyclopedia
Amber Gates is a fictional character
on ITV
British
drama Footballers' Wives
, loosely based on Victoria Beckham
and played by English actress Laila Rouass
.
, southeast London, but at some point moved to India to pursue a career as a Bollywood
actress. After becoming a successful actress, Amber married Conrad Gates
, a footballer and moved to Turin
, where he was located. Her career soon stalled and Amber's fame becomes reliant on her husband's. Amber claims to be a Buddhist, however she frequently engages in extramarital
threesome
s with her husband's consent. Her behaviour can be at times erratic. She usually wears eccentric Indian-style clothing.
actress who enters Series 3 on the arm of husband Conrad Gates
. Early in the season though, Conrad falls for Tanya Turner
. He prepares to leave Amber for Tanya, but then Amber discovers that she's pregnant and does everything in her power to separate the couple, including faking her own kidnapping and asking for a one-million pound ransom to see if Conrad cared about her, then faking her own suicide to gain attention. Amber fails in separating the couple, and towards the end of the season she moves back in with them. Tanya is also pregnant, so Conrad believes he will soon be a father of two. Amber also plants a bag of cocaine on Tanya and gets her sent to Larkhall prison.
partying with the rest of the football team. Amber is devastated that he didn't come and blames Tanya for not informing him of their impending births. Right after Amber gives birth, Janette Dunkley, under instruction from Tanya, takes Amber's baby and swaps it with hers, so that Conrad will not be able to prove that Tanya's baby is not his. Amber names Tanya's baby Pundarik. Janette becomes Amber's live-in maid until Pundarik's sudden, shocking death. Devastated, Amber is surprised by Tanya's show of support, then suspects that Tanya feels guilty.
She then gets paternity tests done on the living baby to prove if Tanya's baby (which is in fact Amber's) is Conrad's. The tests come out positive, but then Amber makes tests to see who is the mother of the surviving baby and it turns out to be her. On the night of his engagement to Tanya, Conrad is told by Amber that she is the mother of the surviving baby, and Amber throws Tanya out of the house, sending her on the first flight to Rio de Janeiro
, all of Tanya's shares become Amber's in exchange for her silence over the issue of the paternity.
After Tanya's departure, Amber informs Hazel Bailey that she is a member of the board now, and has a more active role in Earl's Park because Tanya signed her shares over; Hazel tells Amber that the only reason Tanya would do that would be if she had no other choice. Amber responds by saying, "Well, you know Tanya." Conrad tells Amber that he wants to get back together with her but she tells him that they can't be together until she can stand on her own two feet. Subsequently, she attempts to kickstart her career, reinventing herself as a singer, releasing the single "Banghra Bhootie." However, she discovers that the only reason that her single got released was that Conrad paid the producer to work with her. Conrad realises that a more drastic gesture is needed, and he makes a harrowingly drastic gesture indeed: He gets an elaborate tattoo on his back, emblazoning it with the names of Amber and baby Phoenix. This proves his love for Amber, and she is ready to progress in a relationship with him. Towards the end of the season, Amber fights to stop Conrad from getting transferred to Madrid, achieving little progress. She also helps Lucy Milligan
escape from her husband Bruno Milligan, despite warning her that her new boyfriend is a dangerous character. Amber turns out to be right, as Lucy is almost killed with her new boyfriend. Bruno and Conrad try and go to save Lucy, but Bruno shoots Conrad in error, leaving Amber widowed.
Amber says she'll stay with Bruno and support him, and that night she crawls into his bed and cuddles up to him, they have sex. They begin a strong physical relationship, to Lucy's dismay and Amber looks for evidence proving that Bruno killed Conrad, as she is regressed and meditates, and continues to feel that Conrad's spirit is not at rest and that his death must be avenged. She digs up Bruno's garden looking for the gun, and finds it, planting it in his bed to scare him. She then calls Bruno from Conrad's SIMM Card, several times in order to make him think that Conrad is haunting him. Her psychological torment takes its toll: as Bruno almost loses his job. Realising that now is her chance, she buys Bruno a shaving knife hoping that he will commit suicide with it. However, Bruno has been informed by Lucy that Amber is on to him, and decides to play along with her game, asking for sleeping pills. Amber is ecstatic and runs out to the pharmacy to buy the pills; while she is gone Bruno burns down her meditation shrine to Conrad and Amber has a nervous breakdown. The next morning Bruno is still alive and telling Amber that he flushed all the pills down the toilet so he wouldn't hurt himself. She is desperate to succeed in her revenge, and makes a poisoned meal. However, Bruno tries to get Amber to eat some and she continually finds excuses not to eat the food. At this point, both realise that they must confront the situation and stop playing this game with each other. Amber screamed at Bruno that he killed Conrad, and that he must pay, but Bruno tells Amber that she has no proof and to pack her bags and get out of the house before he returns from a housewarming party.
Amber dresses herself in war-like clothing and paint, and gets Bruno's rifle. She goes to the housewarming party and forces Bruno onto his knees, saying that she will kill him, Lucy pushes Amber out of the way just as she is about to shoot Bruno, and Amber is smashed in the head by the butt of the rifle, while at the same time, shooting Roger Webb, and subsequently blinding him. Amber is sectioned with a bleed on the brain, and sent away to a mental institution, where she is unseen for the rest of the series. However she did appear in the non-canonical ending to the series, The Last Ever, Ever Footballers' Wives.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
drama Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives
Footballers' Wives is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006...
, loosely based on Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
and played by English actress Laila Rouass
Laila Rouass
Laila Abdesselam Rouass is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Amber Gates in the British television drama Footballers' Wives and as Sarah Page in the third season of Primeval .-Career:...
.
Biography
Amber Gates was born and raised in BromleyBromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
, southeast London, but at some point moved to India to pursue a career as a Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
actress. After becoming a successful actress, Amber married Conrad Gates
Conrad Gates
Conrad Gates is a fictional character from the British TV show Footballers' Wives, played by Ben Price; he is a parody of real-life football player David Beckham.-Series 3:...
, a footballer and moved to Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, where he was located. Her career soon stalled and Amber's fame becomes reliant on her husband's. Amber claims to be a Buddhist, however she frequently engages in extramarital
Extramarital sex
Extramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than his or her marriage partner.Where extramarital sexual relations breach a sexual norm it may also be referred to as adultery, fornication, philandery, or infidelity...
threesome
Threesome
A threesome is a group of three engaged in the same activity. In relation to a sexual activity a threesome refer to the activity involving three people of any gender or sexual orientation...
s with her husband's consent. Her behaviour can be at times erratic. She usually wears eccentric Indian-style clothing.
Series 3
Amber is a BollywoodBollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
actress who enters Series 3 on the arm of husband Conrad Gates
Conrad Gates
Conrad Gates is a fictional character from the British TV show Footballers' Wives, played by Ben Price; he is a parody of real-life football player David Beckham.-Series 3:...
. Early in the season though, Conrad falls for Tanya Turner
Tanya Turner
Tanya Louise Turner Federico is a fictional television character. She is the lead character on the ITV drama Footballers' Wives, and also briefly appeared on the drama Bad Girls. Tanya is portrayed by English actress Zöe Lucker and is the only character credited for the entire series from the...
. He prepares to leave Amber for Tanya, but then Amber discovers that she's pregnant and does everything in her power to separate the couple, including faking her own kidnapping and asking for a one-million pound ransom to see if Conrad cared about her, then faking her own suicide to gain attention. Amber fails in separating the couple, and towards the end of the season she moves back in with them. Tanya is also pregnant, so Conrad believes he will soon be a father of two. Amber also plants a bag of cocaine on Tanya and gets her sent to Larkhall prison.
Series 4
The fourth series begins with Amber and Tanya living under the same roof. Tanya places a drug in Amber's orange juice one morning so that they will give birth at the same time. Later that day, Amber and Tanya both give birth to their babies. Conrad isn't there for their births as he is in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
partying with the rest of the football team. Amber is devastated that he didn't come and blames Tanya for not informing him of their impending births. Right after Amber gives birth, Janette Dunkley, under instruction from Tanya, takes Amber's baby and swaps it with hers, so that Conrad will not be able to prove that Tanya's baby is not his. Amber names Tanya's baby Pundarik. Janette becomes Amber's live-in maid until Pundarik's sudden, shocking death. Devastated, Amber is surprised by Tanya's show of support, then suspects that Tanya feels guilty.
She then gets paternity tests done on the living baby to prove if Tanya's baby (which is in fact Amber's) is Conrad's. The tests come out positive, but then Amber makes tests to see who is the mother of the surviving baby and it turns out to be her. On the night of his engagement to Tanya, Conrad is told by Amber that she is the mother of the surviving baby, and Amber throws Tanya out of the house, sending her on the first flight to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, all of Tanya's shares become Amber's in exchange for her silence over the issue of the paternity.
After Tanya's departure, Amber informs Hazel Bailey that she is a member of the board now, and has a more active role in Earl's Park because Tanya signed her shares over; Hazel tells Amber that the only reason Tanya would do that would be if she had no other choice. Amber responds by saying, "Well, you know Tanya." Conrad tells Amber that he wants to get back together with her but she tells him that they can't be together until she can stand on her own two feet. Subsequently, she attempts to kickstart her career, reinventing herself as a singer, releasing the single "Banghra Bhootie." However, she discovers that the only reason that her single got released was that Conrad paid the producer to work with her. Conrad realises that a more drastic gesture is needed, and he makes a harrowingly drastic gesture indeed: He gets an elaborate tattoo on his back, emblazoning it with the names of Amber and baby Phoenix. This proves his love for Amber, and she is ready to progress in a relationship with him. Towards the end of the season, Amber fights to stop Conrad from getting transferred to Madrid, achieving little progress. She also helps Lucy Milligan
Lucy Milligan
Lucy Lockheart is a fictional character on ITV British dramas Footballers' Wives and Footballers' Wives: Extra Time, played by English actress Helen Latham.-Series 4:...
escape from her husband Bruno Milligan, despite warning her that her new boyfriend is a dangerous character. Amber turns out to be right, as Lucy is almost killed with her new boyfriend. Bruno and Conrad try and go to save Lucy, but Bruno shoots Conrad in error, leaving Amber widowed.
Extra Time
Amber is in the hospital waiting room anxiously awaiting news on Conrad’s condition. She is then called in to a room, where we hear her scream "No!". She leaves the room and tells the nurse that he was too young to die. When she finds out that there are reporters outside the hospital, she tells the nurse that she can't answer their questions "looking like this" - then she asks the nurse to make sure her hair and makeup artists get to the hospital. She will try to answer some of their questions as she feels that is what Conrad would have wanted. She is later seen on the news telling the press she is going to focus on her music career. She asks if there are any record producers who want to help her through this difficult time. Amber cremates Conrad in an ancient-Grecian style ceremony. However the fire won't burn and she tells them they won't get a penny from her. They then use petrol bombs. Amber then collects his ashes and has them carbonised to make a diamond ring. She meets Tanya Turner's sister Anika Beevor at the bar. Bruno Milligan's son, Rees Salter, spills champagne over Conrad's ashes. She approaches Garry Ryan at the wake to offer him her new demo; she's written a song for Conrad. She later calls his office, but Anika erases the message.Series 5
At the beginning of the fifth series, months have passed since Conrad's death, but Amber is still unable to come to terms with it. Amber begins to suspect that Bruno murdered Conrad, due to the way he is acting around her. Then, while playing hide-and-seek with Angelica at the Milligans' home, Amber discovers that Bruno's rifle is missing from his gun cabinet. Amber is Lucy's maid-of-honour at the Milligans' vow-renewal ceremony, except that before the ceremony, Lucy discovers Bruno never legally divorced his first wife, so she wants nothing more to do with him. Amber surprisingly supports Bruno during this difficult time, as she says that he showed true grief over Conrad's death. She tries to get Lucy to forgive Bruno, but she has a better idea. She goes over to Bruno's and tells him that she supports him and bringing a suitcase full of his luggage from Lucy's, Bruno kisses her but Amber pulls away.Amber says she'll stay with Bruno and support him, and that night she crawls into his bed and cuddles up to him, they have sex. They begin a strong physical relationship, to Lucy's dismay and Amber looks for evidence proving that Bruno killed Conrad, as she is regressed and meditates, and continues to feel that Conrad's spirit is not at rest and that his death must be avenged. She digs up Bruno's garden looking for the gun, and finds it, planting it in his bed to scare him. She then calls Bruno from Conrad's SIMM Card, several times in order to make him think that Conrad is haunting him. Her psychological torment takes its toll: as Bruno almost loses his job. Realising that now is her chance, she buys Bruno a shaving knife hoping that he will commit suicide with it. However, Bruno has been informed by Lucy that Amber is on to him, and decides to play along with her game, asking for sleeping pills. Amber is ecstatic and runs out to the pharmacy to buy the pills; while she is gone Bruno burns down her meditation shrine to Conrad and Amber has a nervous breakdown. The next morning Bruno is still alive and telling Amber that he flushed all the pills down the toilet so he wouldn't hurt himself. She is desperate to succeed in her revenge, and makes a poisoned meal. However, Bruno tries to get Amber to eat some and she continually finds excuses not to eat the food. At this point, both realise that they must confront the situation and stop playing this game with each other. Amber screamed at Bruno that he killed Conrad, and that he must pay, but Bruno tells Amber that she has no proof and to pack her bags and get out of the house before he returns from a housewarming party.
Amber dresses herself in war-like clothing and paint, and gets Bruno's rifle. She goes to the housewarming party and forces Bruno onto his knees, saying that she will kill him, Lucy pushes Amber out of the way just as she is about to shoot Bruno, and Amber is smashed in the head by the butt of the rifle, while at the same time, shooting Roger Webb, and subsequently blinding him. Amber is sectioned with a bleed on the brain, and sent away to a mental institution, where she is unseen for the rest of the series. However she did appear in the non-canonical ending to the series, The Last Ever, Ever Footballers' Wives.