Simon Raymond
Encyclopedia
Simon Raymond is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Andrew Lynford
. Simon was introduced in 1996 as the homosexual brother of Tiffany Mitchell
. His relationship with the bisexual character Tony Hills
featured a gay kiss that caused controversy in the UK; numerous complaints were made because of its broadcasting. Simon remained in the serial until 1999, at which time it was mutually agreed between Lynford and executive producer Matthew Robinson, that the character had run its course. The character was given a happy ending, reuniting with his former boyfriend Tony to travel Europe.
in 1996 when he came in search of his sister Tiffany (Martine McCutcheon
), after his abusive relationship
with his partner, Howard, collapsed. Their father Terry
(Gavin Richards
) was an abusive
alcoholic, while their mother Louise
(Carol Harrison
) had abandoned them when they were young.
Simon became close to Tiffany's boyfriend Tony Hills
(Mark Homer
), who had earlier been secretly confused about his sexuality
, but decided not to act on his feelings after he fell in love with Tiffany. However, while on a trip to Blackpool
, Tony was unable to control his urges any longer and kissed Simon. Simon wrestled over whether to tell his sister what had happened, but when Tony claimed it meant nothing, he kept quiet, although he spent a lot of time trying to convince Tony to confront his demons.
Simon eventually got to the point where he had had enough of Tony's denials and unpleasantness and so he decided to move out of the flat. That night, after having packed his bags earlier in the day, Simon told Tony of his intention to move out of the flat and in response Tony begged him to stay. Simon demanded to be given a very good reason why he should do so. Then followed a torturous discussion during which Tony eventually admitted his homosexuality and his love for Simon, after which they cuddled and kissed.
Tiffany (who was pregnant at the time) came home, discovered them in the act of kissing, and fled the house hysterically with Tony and Simon running after her.
Tiffany found it difficult to forgive her brother but they eventually reconciled when Tiffany settled down with Grant Mitchell
(Ross Kemp
).
Simon and Tony stayed together for a while, and Simon even reconciled with his father and mother, who both appeared in Walford in search of their children. Simon initially worked on Sanjay Kapoor
's (Deepak Verma
) market stall selling clothes, then later for his sister's best friend Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer
). Simon's idyll was shattered, however, when he found out that Tony slept with the female singer Frankie Pierre
(Sian Blake), as well as his work colleague, the reporter Polly Becker
(Victoria Gould
). Angry and devastated, Simon ended the relationship.
An old friend from Manchester, Jonathan, got in touch when he was helping another friend, Chris (Matthew Jay Lewis
), move down to London. Although Simon initially thought they were a couple, it became clear that Chris was taking a shine to Simon, with some not so subtle flirting. After breaking up with Tony, Simon immediately started seeing Chris, even though Chris wanted and 'open' relationship with freedom to see other people. Initially this seemed to be a relationship which may work, but based on previous experiences Simon started to read more into Chris' clubbing and friendships with old boyfriends and he started to become jealous. It was while he and Chris were on holiday with Tony and some other Walford residents, that Simon and Tony realised that they still had feelings for each other. The main reason for the holiday was for Simon and Chris to sort out their relationship. They did: Simon ended it as he didn't love Chris.
When Tiffany was killed in a car accident on New Years Eve 1998, Simon had a nervous breakdown
and blamed Tiffany's husband Grant for her death. This culminated in Simon abducting his sister's baby, Courtney, and taking her to Peacehaven
, where he stood by the edge of a cliff and threatened to jump with Courtney. After much abusive ranting, Grant and Tony persuaded Simon to hand Courtney back and Simon was taken home to recover. His mental health only deteriorated, however, when he discovered that his mother had been sleeping with Grant behind his sister's back (which famously led up to the events of her death that same year). Distraught, Simon accidentally set fire to his mother's flat while he was trapped inside. Simon was badly burned and was taken to hospital to recover.
Upon his return, Tony had decided that Simon was the man for him and Simon accepted the fact that Tony was not gay but bisexual. When Tony left Walford to travel around Europe
, Simon went with him. His last appearance was in 1999.
Lynford described Tony and Simon's storylines as "not just focused on their orientation and about acceptance. There were issues that could have been directed at any couple struggling to survive life in a small community within a large city. It was about 'life' and the best way to live it."
Early in 1999, Simon was featured in a storyline depicting his fragile mental health, resulting from the death of his sister in the serial. This featured a storyline where he kidnapped his sister's daughter. According to Lynford, the storyline was used to address the difficulties of coping with bereavement. Lynford said, "[It was] a very strong image about family values from a gay point of view: Simon the homosexual was not destroying the family unit, but literally clinging on to the last fragment of stability within the family he had, having lost his sister, and maintaining no relationships with either his mother or father. All Simon was looking for was a constant and nurturing home life. At that time, his young niece was the only chance he had of developing that, particularly as Tony was still dabbling with girls around that time."
It was announced in December 1998 that Simon would be leaving the serial in 1999. Actor Andrew Lynford reportedly decided to leave the soap by mutual agreement with EastEnders executive producer Matthew Robinson. It was also announced that Simon's former boyfriend Tony (Homer) would also be written out. A spokesperson said, "They have mutually agreed that both characters have fulfilled their potential and will conclude their stories with a dramatic exit". In the storyline, Simon and Tony reunited and left to travel the world, which according to Lynford, was an ending that was decided upon by himself, Homer and the producers at the time. Discussing his stint in the serial in 2003, Lynford said, "I really enjoyed working there as everyone was great to work with, making it one big happy family. I knew when it was time to move on though, and it is a job I look back on with great affection."
Author Margaret Llewellyn-Jones has suggested that Simon and Tony were two of the "straight-est-looking gay boys in London". She suggested that they were not convincing to the gay audience, which she argued was because "the gayness of the characters was 'clawed-back' and that the readers of the image who see them as unconvincing use a queer reading practice. The two gay characters are signified within codes of recognition that are available to the central reader. To the queer reader they can be seen clearly as a rather dubious construction - they are a carbon copy of a 'straight' relationship where only the object of desire is different, rather than a relationship that signs itself as different. To a queer reader the gay relationship in this instance says nothing to them other than a representation of a straight relationship, what it does show is the implicit constructedness of all of the relationships present in a soap's fabric."
According to Lynford, Simon was branded "dull and boring and not fun and up beat like all gay men" by the British press. Lynford has suggested that Simon and Tony's love storyline was compared unfavourably to the more sensational depiction of gay men in Channel 4
's Queer as Folk
. Lynford commented on this and defended his character's storylines in EastEnders, "Queer as Folk aired on Channel Four. The show was well crafted as a means to shock and cause outrage by showing elements of the life led by some men in the gay community. The Tony and Simon storyline in EastEnders never set out to do that. At the time, there were champions of Queer as Folk taking the line of 'at last, real gay men on telly! Not like those two boring poofs on EastEnders. It was amusing to me at some level and saddened me at another. We were broadcast at 7:30 p.m., aimed at prime time 'family' viewing and Queer as Folk was 10 p.m. on Channel Four, a channel in the U.K. renowned for its controversial programming. We were unable to compete, not that we ever felt we had to or wanted to. It was also around this time that the stories for Simon were becoming more dramatic and, as I have said previously, removed from anything purely tokenistic."
Simon and Tony's departures in 1999 left only one gay character in the UK's mainstream soap operas at the time, that of Zoe Tate
in Emmerdale
. Gay campaigning group Stonewall
's spokesman Matt Aston commented on this, saying: "Gay characters did seem to be on the rise for a while, but now they've got a bit of a low profile. We'd like to see a few more positive role models in the media, especially to encourage young people who are coming to terms with their sexuality, as well as their friends and members of their family."
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...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Andrew Lynford
Andrew Lynford
Andrew Lynford is a British television presenter and actor. He is widely remembered for playing the role of Simon Raymond in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders and presenting Playdays for Children's BBC....
. Simon was introduced in 1996 as the homosexual brother of Tiffany Mitchell
Tiffany Mitchell
Tiffany Dawn Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Martine McCutcheon from 1995 until 1998. The character was created by the writer, Tony Jordan...
. His relationship with the bisexual character Tony Hills
Tony Hills
Tony Hills is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Homer.-Storylines:Tony arrives in Walford from Norfolk on 7 September 1995 with his sister, Sarah Hills . He is unsympathetic and sells ecstasy with a friend, Dan Zappieri . Eventually, he quits dealing after Dan...
featured a gay kiss that caused controversy in the UK; numerous complaints were made because of its broadcasting. Simon remained in the serial until 1999, at which time it was mutually agreed between Lynford and executive producer Matthew Robinson, that the character had run its course. The character was given a happy ending, reuniting with his former boyfriend Tony to travel Europe.
Storylines
Simon arrived in WalfordWalford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
in 1996 when he came in search of his sister Tiffany (Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon is an English singer, television personality and Laurence Olivier Award-winning actress. McCutcheon had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan in the early 1990s; however, it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders that made her a household name in the UK...
), after his abusive relationship
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
with his partner, Howard, collapsed. Their father Terry
Terry Raymond
Terrence Gordon "Terry" Raymond is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gavin Richards. Terry was initially introduced briefly in 1996 as the drunken father of Tiffany and Simon Raymond...
(Gavin Richards
Gavin Richards
Gavin Richards is a British actor, writer and director. His father is music critic Denby Richards, emeritus editor of Britain's oldest classical music magazine, Musical Opinion....
) was an abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
alcoholic, while their mother Louise
Louise Raymond
Louise Raymond is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Carol Harrison from May 1998 to April 1999. Louise was the estranged mother of the characters Tiffany and Simon Raymond. She was featured most prominently in a high-profile storyline about adultery, when she...
(Carol Harrison
Carol Harrison
Carol Harrison is a British actress and writer. She is known mostly for her work on British television, in particular her role as Louise Raymond in BBC's EastEnders.-Career:...
) had abandoned them when they were young.
Simon became close to Tiffany's boyfriend Tony Hills
Tony Hills
Tony Hills is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Homer.-Storylines:Tony arrives in Walford from Norfolk on 7 September 1995 with his sister, Sarah Hills . He is unsympathetic and sells ecstasy with a friend, Dan Zappieri . Eventually, he quits dealing after Dan...
(Mark Homer
Mark Homer
Mark Homer is a British actor of stage, television and film. He is best known for playing Tony Hills in the popular British soap opera EastEnders from 1995 to 1999. His subsequent work includes guest appearances in Silent Witness and Spine Chillers, both also for the BBC...
), who had earlier been secretly confused about his sexuality
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
, but decided not to act on his feelings after he fell in love with Tiffany. However, while on a trip to Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Tony was unable to control his urges any longer and kissed Simon. Simon wrestled over whether to tell his sister what had happened, but when Tony claimed it meant nothing, he kept quiet, although he spent a lot of time trying to convince Tony to confront his demons.
Simon eventually got to the point where he had had enough of Tony's denials and unpleasantness and so he decided to move out of the flat. That night, after having packed his bags earlier in the day, Simon told Tony of his intention to move out of the flat and in response Tony begged him to stay. Simon demanded to be given a very good reason why he should do so. Then followed a torturous discussion during which Tony eventually admitted his homosexuality and his love for Simon, after which they cuddled and kissed.
Tiffany (who was pregnant at the time) came home, discovered them in the act of kissing, and fled the house hysterically with Tony and Simon running after her.
Tiffany found it difficult to forgive her brother but they eventually reconciled when Tiffany settled down with Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell (EastEnders)
Grant Anthony Mitchell is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by Ross Kemp. Grant first appeared in 1990, introduced by producer Michael Ferguson to revamp the show. Kemp remained until 1999 when he opted to leave...
(Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
).
Simon and Tony stayed together for a while, and Simon even reconciled with his father and mother, who both appeared in Walford in search of their children. Simon initially worked on Sanjay Kapoor
Sanjay Kapoor (EastEnders)
Sanjay Kapoor is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Deepak Verma.Sanjay the market trader had an eye for the ladies and a weakness for gambling...
's (Deepak Verma
Deepak Verma
Deepak Verma, is a British Asian actor, writer and television/film producer.- Career :Verma trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years . He made his television debut in the Scottish detective series, Taggart in 1992...
) market stall selling clothes, then later for his sister's best friend Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer
Patsy Palmer
Patsy Palmer is an English actress. Palmer made an early television appearance on the children's drama show Grange Hill, but is best known for playing Bianca Jackson in the popular British television soap opera EastEnders. Originally in the cast from 1993–1999, Palmer returned to EastEnders in...
). Simon's idyll was shattered, however, when he found out that Tony slept with the female singer Frankie Pierre
Frankie Pierre
Maxine Francesca "Frankie" Pierre is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in a the East End of London. She appeared between 1996 and 1997, played by Syan Blake. Frankie was introduced as a "super-bitch" and home wrecker...
(Sian Blake), as well as his work colleague, the reporter Polly Becker
Polly Becker
Polly Becker is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Victoria Gould from April 1997 to September 1998.-Storylines:...
(Victoria Gould
Victoria Gould
Victoria Gould is a British actress, best known for playing the character of journalist Polly Becker on the BBC television soap opera EastEnders from 1997 to 1998....
). Angry and devastated, Simon ended the relationship.
An old friend from Manchester, Jonathan, got in touch when he was helping another friend, Chris (Matthew Jay Lewis
Matthew Jay Lewis
Matthew Jay Lewis a British actor who trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama. He has worked extensively in both commercials and TV. His TV work includes his role as Matt Ellis in five's one time flagship soap Family Affairs....
), move down to London. Although Simon initially thought they were a couple, it became clear that Chris was taking a shine to Simon, with some not so subtle flirting. After breaking up with Tony, Simon immediately started seeing Chris, even though Chris wanted and 'open' relationship with freedom to see other people. Initially this seemed to be a relationship which may work, but based on previous experiences Simon started to read more into Chris' clubbing and friendships with old boyfriends and he started to become jealous. It was while he and Chris were on holiday with Tony and some other Walford residents, that Simon and Tony realised that they still had feelings for each other. The main reason for the holiday was for Simon and Chris to sort out their relationship. They did: Simon ended it as he didn't love Chris.
When Tiffany was killed in a car accident on New Years Eve 1998, Simon had a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
and blamed Tiffany's husband Grant for her death. This culminated in Simon abducting his sister's baby, Courtney, and taking her to Peacehaven
Peacehaven
Peacehaven is a town and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. It is located above the chalk cliffs of the South Downs approximately six miles east of Brighton city centre, on the A259 road...
, where he stood by the edge of a cliff and threatened to jump with Courtney. After much abusive ranting, Grant and Tony persuaded Simon to hand Courtney back and Simon was taken home to recover. His mental health only deteriorated, however, when he discovered that his mother had been sleeping with Grant behind his sister's back (which famously led up to the events of her death that same year). Distraught, Simon accidentally set fire to his mother's flat while he was trapped inside. Simon was badly burned and was taken to hospital to recover.
Upon his return, Tony had decided that Simon was the man for him and Simon accepted the fact that Tony was not gay but bisexual. When Tony left Walford to travel around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Simon went with him. His last appearance was in 1999.
Development
Lynford has suggested that he and the writers of EastEnders intended to portray Simon as a "perfectly normal" young gay man who would entertain and educate and for whom sexuality was "no big deal".Lynford described Tony and Simon's storylines as "not just focused on their orientation and about acceptance. There were issues that could have been directed at any couple struggling to survive life in a small community within a large city. It was about 'life' and the best way to live it."
Early in 1999, Simon was featured in a storyline depicting his fragile mental health, resulting from the death of his sister in the serial. This featured a storyline where he kidnapped his sister's daughter. According to Lynford, the storyline was used to address the difficulties of coping with bereavement. Lynford said, "[It was] a very strong image about family values from a gay point of view: Simon the homosexual was not destroying the family unit, but literally clinging on to the last fragment of stability within the family he had, having lost his sister, and maintaining no relationships with either his mother or father. All Simon was looking for was a constant and nurturing home life. At that time, his young niece was the only chance he had of developing that, particularly as Tony was still dabbling with girls around that time."
It was announced in December 1998 that Simon would be leaving the serial in 1999. Actor Andrew Lynford reportedly decided to leave the soap by mutual agreement with EastEnders executive producer Matthew Robinson. It was also announced that Simon's former boyfriend Tony (Homer) would also be written out. A spokesperson said, "They have mutually agreed that both characters have fulfilled their potential and will conclude their stories with a dramatic exit". In the storyline, Simon and Tony reunited and left to travel the world, which according to Lynford, was an ending that was decided upon by himself, Homer and the producers at the time. Discussing his stint in the serial in 2003, Lynford said, "I really enjoyed working there as everyone was great to work with, making it one big happy family. I knew when it was time to move on though, and it is a job I look back on with great affection."
Reception
In 1996, a gay kiss between Simon and his sister's boyfriend Tony was aired in EastEnders. The clip was shown before the 9pm watershed and it was edited down from 2 seconds to half a second because it was felt there would be viewers who would not be expecting to see that "kind of material at that time" and the BBC did not want to "startle" viewers. Nevertheless, the broadcast of the gay kiss evoked numerous complaints from viewers to the BBC. A BBC spokesperson said, "It's true to say it has caused considerable reaction." Lynford has opined that the decision to cut the kissing scene by a second or two broke its rhythm, and he suggested that the producers of the soap opera were disappointed that the BBC bosses ordered the scene to be cut. He has commented, "The producers on the show at the time were disappointed the powers-that-were took the decision to cut the kiss down. At the time we felt it was shying away from the journey the two characters were taking." However, Lynford has said that in hindsight, it made little difference to the scene's impact, which he described as "astounding". He added, "Government ministers and even the Church of England took to commenting on that episode and its content."Author Margaret Llewellyn-Jones has suggested that Simon and Tony were two of the "straight-est-looking gay boys in London". She suggested that they were not convincing to the gay audience, which she argued was because "the gayness of the characters was 'clawed-back' and that the readers of the image who see them as unconvincing use a queer reading practice. The two gay characters are signified within codes of recognition that are available to the central reader. To the queer reader they can be seen clearly as a rather dubious construction - they are a carbon copy of a 'straight' relationship where only the object of desire is different, rather than a relationship that signs itself as different. To a queer reader the gay relationship in this instance says nothing to them other than a representation of a straight relationship, what it does show is the implicit constructedness of all of the relationships present in a soap's fabric."
According to Lynford, Simon was branded "dull and boring and not fun and up beat like all gay men" by the British press. Lynford has suggested that Simon and Tony's love storyline was compared unfavourably to the more sensational depiction of gay men in Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Queer as Folk
Queer as Folk (UK TV series)
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies...
. Lynford commented on this and defended his character's storylines in EastEnders, "Queer as Folk aired on Channel Four. The show was well crafted as a means to shock and cause outrage by showing elements of the life led by some men in the gay community. The Tony and Simon storyline in EastEnders never set out to do that. At the time, there were champions of Queer as Folk taking the line of 'at last, real gay men on telly! Not like those two boring poofs on EastEnders. It was amusing to me at some level and saddened me at another. We were broadcast at 7:30 p.m., aimed at prime time 'family' viewing and Queer as Folk was 10 p.m. on Channel Four, a channel in the U.K. renowned for its controversial programming. We were unable to compete, not that we ever felt we had to or wanted to. It was also around this time that the stories for Simon were becoming more dramatic and, as I have said previously, removed from anything purely tokenistic."
Simon and Tony's departures in 1999 left only one gay character in the UK's mainstream soap operas at the time, that of Zoe Tate
Zoe Tate
Zoe Tate is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Leah Bracknell. She appeared between December 1989 and September 2005.-1989–2001:...
in Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
. Gay campaigning group Stonewall
Stonewall
The word Stonewall may refer to* a stone wall* a verb meaning "to refuse to cooperate, especially in supplying information" -Games and entertainment:* "Stonewall structure" of pawns in the chess opening theory:** Stonewall Attack...
's spokesman Matt Aston commented on this, saying: "Gay characters did seem to be on the rise for a while, but now they've got a bit of a low profile. We'd like to see a few more positive role models in the media, especially to encourage young people who are coming to terms with their sexuality, as well as their friends and members of their family."