Viv Bates made her first appearance on 25 May 2009 and last on 22 October 2019. She was portrayed by Dido Miles.
Storylines[]
Viv buys a newspaper and smiles at Billy Mitchell. Billy meets her again in the café and knocks into her, spilling her tea over her, and he buys her another. She appears later on in The Queen Victoria public house where she buys Billy a drink and comes onto him flirtatiously. Billy walks away, and she follows him, revealing her identity as the wife of Terry Bates, the man who murdered Jase Dyer. She threatens that if Billy testifies against Terry, she'll hurt Jase's son Jay Brown, who Billy is legal guardian of. After Terry is found guilty of murder on 29 May 2009, Viv visits him in his holding cell, saying she will no longer take orders from him. She removes her wedding ring and throws it at him. Terry threatens her, but she absconds, leaving him incarcerated for life. A decade later, Terry dies and Viv returns to organise his funeral. At first, Ben Mitchell refuses on behalf of Jay, who is in now charge of Coker and Mitchell, much to Viv's irritation but Jay relents and agrees to bury Terry.