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Guest Character Profiles > Richard Morrison Peter Flett

Richard Morrison 1985
Marital Status: Jenny (Divorced)
Occupation: Insurance Assessor

After Danny Ramsay fell for a fake call, claiming to be from a radio competition, he and his mum Maria went out for the night, with tickets to show that he'd won for them. Whilst they were out, Brian Hardy and Toby Adams broke into the house, taking all of their valuables. Already feeling very vulnerable as she began divorce proceedings from Max, Maria was touched when the insurance assessor Richard Morrison was very kind to her, helping her to get the most money out of the situation. She was surprised when he then asked her out to dinner and, determined to start moving on with her life, she accepted. Though they had a pleasant evening, Maria soon became uncomfortable as Richard tried to discuss her divorce with her, and she ended the date but later, Richard had only just dropped her at home when he stopped at the phonebox down the street and called her, asking her out again. Although she was feeling a little hesitant, she decided to accept. The next day, Richard called by with some flowers for Maria, and met her ex-husband, Max, who assumed that Richard was only trying it on with her to get her to accept a lower insurance assessment. After Maria had made it clear that things between her and Richard were of a personal nature, rather than business, she asked Max to leave.

After another date, when Richard asked Maria to come away with him for the weekend, the new couple found themselves facing another hurdle when Danny took an immediate dislike to his mother's new boyfriend. Danny kicked up a fuss about his mum's plans, and she ended up cancelling the weekend with Richard, and staying at home. After realising that perhaps he'd gone too far, Danny apologised to his mum and suggested that she contact Richard and tell him that she'd changed her mind, but it was too late. The following week, Danny again tried to make it up to his mum by cooking dinner, but she was shocked by the mess he made, and horrified when he asked why they had so little money, realising that he'd been looking in her bank book. An argument followed, as Danny had wrongly assumed that she wouldn't be seeing Richard again, and he furiously said that she was making a fool of herself, going after all these other men when she wasn't even divorced from Max yet. A few days later, Richard came over for dinner, but Danny refused to join them. Afterwards, Richard asked Maria what she was going to do if Danny continued to behave like this, as they could never be happy if she was constantly worrying about her son's feelings. He started to think about ways that he might be able to bond with Danny, and suggested that he give him some driving lessons - Richard even offered to take Danny and his best friend Scott to a concert and pay for the tickets. Though Richard hoped that it might have helped, Danny was actually disgusted with Richard's attempts to buy him off, but decided to milk the situation anyway.

The following week, Richard again asked Maria to come away with him for a few days. Maria said that she'd have to tell Danny first, and was relived when he accepted the idea - as long as they were back in time for Richard to take him and Scott to the concert. However, on the day they were due to take their trip, Richard called the Ramsay house and left a message with Danny, explaining that he'd been held up, so had rebooked their 6pm flights for 7pm. Danny wrote it down and left the house, allowing the note to fall on the floor - which Maria then missed as she came home and rushed off to the airport. When Richard failed to arrive, she assumed that he'd stood her up, and went home, only for him to turn up later. Danny was very disappointed when they laughed off the mix-up and arranged to leave on a later flight. Upon their return, Danny's contempt for Richard had only worsened, and he was becoming convinced that if his mum's new man wasn't around, then his parents would reunite and they could all be a family again.

The following morning, Richard came to collect Danny and Scott for the concert, allowing Danny to do a little bit of the driving, only for him to crash the car into a pile of boxes as he was trying to impress a girl outside the concert venue. A damaged headlight meant that they couldn't see the whole concert, as they had to return home before dark, and a furious Maria began to suspect that Danny had done it on purpose just to upset Richard. When Maria then arranged a dinner party, to allow Richard to meet her friends Helen and Jim, Danny knew that Max would be upset and feel like he was being replaced. Hoping that Max might deal with Richard, Danny asked his dad if he could go over to the house and fix his bike, knowing that he'd stumble upon the dinner party. The plan worked - up to a point - but ended up causing more damage to Max and Jim's already fragile friendship, and only brought Maria and Richard closer together. Everyone was furious with Danny for his stupidity, but he still refused to see that he'd done anything wrong, until Jim had a word with him, and said that instead of constantly fighting his parents and their decisions, he should stop and tell them that he loves them.

The whole situation then came to a head when Richard was offered a job in Hong Kong, taking over immediately from a colleague who'd suffered a heart attack. He asked Maria to come with him, telling her that he'd need a decision the next day. He explained that he had to go to Auckland for a few days before returning and heading straight to Hong Kong, so if she wanted to come with him, she should meet him at 5pm at Brentfield Park the next day, but if she didn't want to join him, she should simply not come, and he would know her answer. After talking things through with Helen, Maria realised that she had to start living for herself, and this could be her only chance of true happiness, so, after almost missing him, Maria met with Richard and told him that she loved him and wanted to go with him. Unfortunately, she then broke the news that she wanted Danny to come too - Richard listened as she explained the truth, that Max wasn't really Danny's father. Richard admitted that he'd suspected that for a while, but that he thought no less of her, and that she would have to stop punishing herself one day. Although Richard said that he would be willing to accept Danny, he suspected that Danny would never accept him - this proved to be true, as when Danny found out what was happening, he refused to go to Hong Kong, and when Richard returned from Auckland, he was upset to learn that Maria had decided not to go away with him, because of Danny. Fortunately, Max, who had been reluctant to get involved, then came forward and agreed to move back to Ramsay Street and look after his sons, allowing Maria and Richard to make a fresh start. Later that day, Maria left in a taxi, to meet with Richard at the airport.

Less than a year later, Maria's relationship with Richard was over, and she was back living in Australia with her family. She contacted Max and asked if he'd be willing to give things another try between them, and he headed straight up to Queensland for a reunion.

Tenure
97, 98, 101, 102, 109, 110, 114, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128

Biography by Steve

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