Ed Bailey got the shock of a lifetime when his brother, Ronnie, revealed he could be Michael's biological father. Trevor Michael Georges told us how Ed feels about the heartbreaking situation, and what the repercussions could mean for the builder.
Since Ronnie arrived, we've seen Ed have mixed emotions about spending so much time with his brother, and tensions ran high when Ed declined a night out to the casino, very much aware of his past addiction. "You've got to find a balance between that old desire and addiction, and the character that's realised the wealth of what he's replaced it with," said Trevor. "He's not feeling like he's losing out from not gambling, he's just aware how much he could've thrown away."
However, Ed might find it's easier said than done to turn Ronnie down. "I don't think he's strong enough to beat Ronnie, because Ronnie's got all that energy and adrenaline. Ed's a bit battered, he's come through the wars, he's dealt with his own addiction, he's started to get back on his feet with the business, and just at this point, suddenly his son has issues with his sexuality, and the other son has issues with procreation in general, and his wife has been hiding secrets for thirty years. For a fellow who really thinks he's getting back on his feet, it's aggravating and it's upsetting to see he can't get a proper break. For all the good he's constantly trying to do, he still keeps getting knocked down and that's hard for Ed."
Since Ronnie's revelation about Michael potentially being his, Ed has been left in turmoil. "I think Ed's logical enough to work out that just the timeline of what happens mean that nobody's actually guilty of anything, up to the point that the wife he's been living with for thirty years has kept quiet about it, and that's left him very, very confused," said Trevor. "They are such a wonderful couple, and their relationship is built on so much experience and mutual understanding.
"He's got no secrets left, but that's what counterbalances it- he had the gambling secret for long enough and Ed's smart enough to know not to shoot himself in the foot being a complete hypocrite and understands that everyone around him has had to tolerate things as well. He's always going to temper his responses to anything that's thrown at him, even if it is something as extreme as a sense of betrayal because he knows he's no angel."
Ed will always see himself as Michael's father, but other people questioning this is what will hurt Ed the most. "He has to point things out to Michael that he thinks is obvious, which is: 'I'm the one whose always been here'. It's like a complete stranger coming up to your family with a bit of invented gossip, and everyone in your family being ready to believe it, despite the fact they see you everyday. Why should some complete stranger be able to come in, say something derogatory, and it suddenly be law? That's the bit that makes [Ed] feel uncomfortable and unsafe."
Ed and Aggie often balance each other out in their lives, but with Aggie not around at the moment for Ed to talk to about this situation properly, could Ed be set on a downward spiral? "It's interesting because if he did, you wouldn't blame hm, and that's where we are with Ed at the moment," Trevor told us. "He has got every justifiable reason to fall apart. He also has had twenty years of being a counterbalance to what is a pretty strident wife. When she decides to let rip, she really goes for it, and so that's what's created the peacemaker within him. He's the Yin to her Yang. He balances things out, and he knows that's his job because if both of them go off, then all hell is let loose, and no one will ever recover.
"It's his regular position, is to be the peacemaker in order to make sure everybody stays on the same even keel. They don't get pulled one way or another, they'l never go too far from centre and I think that's his compass, no matter what he's going through. What challenges come, I would like to think no matter how bad it gets and how close he gets, Ed's got that little bit of special strength."
With Ed's family life being thrown in the air, viewers have also recently seen him take on Paul Foreman as an apprentice at the builder's yard, a relationship which Trevor thinks Ed could learn a lot from. He said: "I'm loving working with Peter [Ash], who's such a fabulous actor and they're two oddball characters who may well come together to become something quite special between them, just because they're an odd couple.
"Paul's a great excuse for Ed to show how magnanimous he can be and how generous he can be and help him through things. There's a lot for Ed to learn from Paul and the couple of scenes at the very beginning of the relationship, I think Ed was a little over-confident that having known his son is gay for about five minutes, he now thinks he's an expert in all the issues of being gay, so it's great having Paul there who's going to definitely educate him a little more, because Ed's got a long way to go, he just doesn't know it."
Sophie Williams
