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Nigel Bates is the widower of Debbie Bates, estranged husband of Julie Bates and adoptive father of Clare Bates. He made his first appearance on 17 March 1992. He is portrayed by Paul Bradley.
Backstory[]
Nigel Bates was born on the 25th May 1958. He grew up in the East End and attended school with local delinquents Phil and Grant Mitchell, who became his friends. As Nigel's family were well off, he was bullied at school. Soon, the Mitchell brothers saw off the bullies, and Nigel became respected in school.
Storylines[]
1992-1997: Arrival and marriage to Debbie[]
Nigel starts frequenting the Mitchells' home town of Walford in 1992, before finally moving there himself following the death of his mother later that year.
In 1993, he falls in love with Debbie Tyler. Debbie is estranged from her abusive husband, Liam Tyler. However, Liam returns to reunite with Debbie and to visit their young daughter Clare Tyler. He reacts with fury when he realises that Nigel is seeing Debbie and bullies both of them in an attempt to split them up. Eventually, Liam is frightened away by Grant and Phil.
Nigel and Debbie marry in 1994 and are happy until 1995, when Debbie is killed in a hit and run accident. Nigel is devastated for some time. Liam returns and fights Nigel for custody of Clare but is unsuccessful because of his history of violent behaviour towards Debbie. Nigel legally adopts Clare.
Following a long period of mourning, Nigel grows close to Lorraine Wicks and attempts to ignite a relationship.
In 1997, he meets Julie Haye, a teacher at Clare's school, who occasionally dropped into Nigel's video shop to rent French films.
1998: Romancing Julie and departure[]
Nigel and Julie's friendship blossoms into romance but Nigel remains reticent, believing he is tarnishing Debbie's honour. He almost loses Julie after she announces that she is moving to Scotland but, on the night of her departure, Nigel sees sense and pledges his love for Julie and in April 1998, he and Clare leave Walford for Scotland to be with Julie and her son, Josh Saunders.
Dot would occasionally visit Nigel in Scotland off-screen.
When Clare returned to Walford in February 2008 to stay with Dot. Nigel was meant to visit her in July 2008, but didn't arrive. This upset Clare and she confides in Bradley Branning that her and Nigel's relationship had become strained in her time away from Walford. According to Clare, Nigel had transferred his affections to Julie's son Josh as he struggled to cope with Clare's teenage dalliances.
In October 2009, Pat Evans revealed that Nigel had suffered a heart attack and Dot went to stay with him. In January 2014, Dot goes to stay with Nigel for a week.
2024-: Return to the square and dementia[]
In December 2024, a homeless and destitute Nigel returns to the square as he attends a Christmas party at the community centre, where he meets Yolande Trueman. She asks if he knows the area and he says that there are fond memories of his time in the square. On Christmas Day Nigel bumps into Phil, who invites him around and asks him what happened. Nigel claims that Julie kicked him out of their house when she met someone else and he also had lost all contact with Clare, leaving him with nowhere to go. Phil. who was suffering from depression, invited Nigel to stay with him, however it soon became clear not everything was as it seemed as Nigel was suffering from memory problems and it was revealed Julie was calling him and begging him to come home. Nigel later confessed to Yolande that he'd been diagnosed with early onset dementia and he'd actually left Julie so she wouldn't see him deteriorate.
Fight count[]
Punches[]
Total: 2 Individual characters punched: 2 Total punches: 2