| Rob Thatcher | Service Record | List of Appearances |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DC Rob Thatcher was full-of-himself, mouthy, sexist and opinionated with an innate ability to wind people up. He joined the force in his mid-twenties after his father's shooting at the hands of the notorious Radford family. He also realized that his black face would open doors and give him an easy ride. He was a ducker and diver, using his colour to make sure he didn't do anything he didn't want to do. He wasn't interested in sympathizing with victims; he just wanted to nick the bad guys.
Rob made Detective Sergeant by the age of 32 and this was where he planned to stay. DS gave him enough power to boss people around and pick the best cases, but not enough to mean any real responsibility. However, Rob was then demoted to DC after he and some colleagues stopped in at a pub for a quick drink during work hours. Things got a bit rowdy and there was an incident in which a DC got into trouble. As his DS, Rob was held responsible.
All Rob's worst nightmares came true when he discovered he was being transferred to Sun Hill to work under Acting DI Samantha Nixon. Rob was Samantha's boss for a while when she was a DC but she rose quickly through the ranks to overtake him. Rob wasn't stupid and strongly suspected his transfer to Sun Hill to work under a black Superintendent was no coincidence. He knew he had to be more careful about playing the race card with Adam around. Although he shied away from race-related cases, out on the street Rob was at his most effective when dealing with cases involving black culture and he surprised his colleagues by dropping into the street patois where necessary.
Rob had a very high opinion of himself when it came to women. Despite his vociferous chauvinism, he never seemed to have any trouble getting women into bed. But he'd never had a relationship that lasted longer than a few months and although he was perfectly happy, the big Four O was looming and there came a time when he started to crave a more permanent companionship. He was married but slept around with woman including Cathy Bradford and Marilyn Chambers.
When the Radford family returned to London, Rob became hellbent on nailing them for his father's death. Disillusioned with the job, Rob went AWOL, before re-emerging with a gun in a Reservoir Dogs-style stand off between him, Irene Radford and armed police officers Rob shot and killed Irene with same gun that was used to kill his father, he then pointed the gun at the SO19 officers who then opened fire, killing him.
He was good friends with DS Phil Hunter and DCs Drummond & Perkins.
| Preceded by: DC Danny Glaze |
Sun Hill 2003-2004 |
Succeeded by: DC Jo Masters |