In light of Ryan Reeves' recent departure from the DG, it’s seems fitting to write a blog about his character.
Ryan arrived at the DG in Series 3 Episode 2 Grand Theft DG, during the aftermath of the foster party. We very quickly learn that Ryan is deceitful, manipulative and only interested in looking out for number one. On arrival at the DG he is taken into Mikes office, he notices that Mike has been sent an email about him and his mental health, so he distracts Mike and whilst he is out of the room he deletes the email and pours tea over the keyboard. Ryan soon finds out that some wallets had been stolen during the foster party and he set out to find out what had happened to the wallets. Straightaway we see a devious side to him as he is clearly interested in finding the wallets for his own gain rather than to reunite them with their owners. After Mo finds the wallets in the recycling bin, Ryan moves the wallets saying they will be found if they are left in the bins and as Mo has touched them his fingerprints will implicate him in the crime. In fact Ryan does this so he can frame Johnny. Ryan plants one of the wallets in the toilet cistern in Johnny’s ensuite bathroom. Ryan does this to frame Johnny as the thief, so that he has a chance of getting Johnny’s bedroom with used to be a staff bedroom so is the biggest in the house and is the only one with an ensuite bathroom. He realises that it was Maud who stole the wallets and she confesses. He persuades her to go home and get the money she stole. When Maud returns with the money, Ryan plans to keep it for himself, but when he hears a noise outside the attic door he realises that some of the other kids are listening, so he pretends that he is keen for Maud to hand the money to the police and own up herself.
He uses the same tactics in Series 3 episode 3 Stuck with You. When Jody and Carmen are handcuffed together, Johnny finds the key to the handcuffs and it's Ryan's idea to hide the key so they can get a bigger reward later on. When Ryan realises that Toni and Billie have overheard them discussing the key, he manipulates the situation to ensure that he seems innocent. He says its up to Johnny what he does with the key as he found it. In both episode 2 and 3 is very aware of his surroundings and easily manipulates and deceives others. During series 3 Episode 6 we again see Ryan scheming for his own benefit, with no concern for others. He ropes Tyler into helping him with an insurance scam to make money. Ryan and Tyler steal the office computer and sell it at a second hand tech shop. They stage the office to look like someone broke in through the window, in the hopes that the police and insurance company will think the office was burgled and the insurance company would pay out for a new computer. However, it soon transpires that Tee had been doing a school project on the computer and hadn’t backed it up, so her project is lost. Whilst Ryan isn’t concerned by this, Tyler has a change of heart as he realises that what they have done is wrong. He admits to Jody what he and Ryan did and she helps them get the computer back. When the computer is returned, Tyler confesses to Mike and May-li that he stole it but Ryan doesn’t own up. He persuades Tyler that it is better that only one of them gets in trouble, when clearly he is only interested in protecting himself. In Episode 9 Ryan breaks into the office and goes through all the residents’ personal files on the computer so that he knows the details of each person’s past. Whilst going through the files he realises its Harry’s birthday and texts him a happy birthday message. Later he receives a reply saying HELP. So he goes to investigate and realises that Harry and his foster brother Finn are very unhappy and being mistreated by their foster parents. Mike doesn’t believe him when he says that the foster parents are being abusive, so Ryan decides to help them escape on his own. It is only when Harry finally tells Mike what happened that he is believed. We see two very different sides to Ryan in this storyline, the deceitful and manipulative side as he breaks into the office and looks through personal files, clearly so he can use that information to manipulate the Dg kids, and also a more caring side as he genuinely concerned for Harry and willing to do whatever it takes to help him and Finn.
In series 3 episode 14 Ryan goes into Tee’s room during a game of hide and seek and can’t resist looking at her phone when she receives a text. The text is from Johnny telling her is leave has been cancelled so he can’t come to visit her. Ryan deletes the text because he doesn’t want the bowling trip organised for Johnny’s visit to be cancelled. Tee later realises what Ryan did but has no proof except for Sasha seeing him with the phone. In an effort to prove that he is a liar and not to be trusted, she goes to his old care home and meets Laces who has lots of stories to tell about how Ryan used to ruin everyone’s birthdays by tearing their birthday cards and selling peoples presents. Ryan says that this was because Laces and the other kids bullied him and tore up a birthday card his sister gave him the day he went into care. But Laces insists that it was Ryan who was the bully. Ryan gets revenge on Tee by making a recording of her talking about the other kids and then editing the recording to make it seem as if she was saying mean things about them. This causes Tee to have a big fall out with her best friend Carmen. In episode 20 we again see Ryan being nasty and manipulative as revenge for a perceived wrongdoing by someone else. Ryan gets annoyed when Mike doesn’t take him to a skateboarding contest as he busy dealing with Kazima’s application for asylum. Ryan is upset that he is not able to go to the contest as he wanted to see his foster brother Owen. In revenge Ryan then tells the papers that Kazima was a pick pocket whilst living on the streets to discredit her and get her asylum application rejected. When the others find out what he did, he again twists the situation pretending that he told the papers about Kazima’s criminal past to show how desperate and difficult her situation had been. The others are not fooled by his lies and as punishment he has to sell his skateboard and donate the money to a refugee charity.
In series 4 we learn more about Ryan’s past. In episode 5 Ryan’s younger sister Chloe comes to visit him at the DG and the rest of the DG kids learn that she is a wheelchair user due to a childhood accident where she fell out of a window. Tee and Sasha eavesdrop on a conversation between Ryan and Chloe and realise he pushed Chloe out of the window. When Mike tries to put an end to the gossip, Ryan overhears him and believes he revealed the information regarding Chloe’s accident to the DG kids. However this was not the case, Mike was just trying to protect Ryan and Chloe. As part of a journalism competition Tyler decides to research Chloe’s accident to use the story for an article. He finds an old newspaper article that mentions how the local shopkeeper saw Ryans mum drop her shopping and run to Chloe after she fell out of the window. Tyler and Mike speak to the shopkeeper and it is revealed that Ryan’s mum was not in the flat at the time of the incident, she had been out shopping and had left Ryan and Chloe alone. Ryan was a young child and shouldn’t have been left home alone with a toddler. So clearly the incident was not his fault and as no-one other than his mum had witnessed him push Chloe, and she couldn’t have seen this, it is clear the she made it up. It is evident that Ryan's belief that he had pushed Chloe out the window had made him believe he was a bad kid and had prompted his bad behaviour in his previous home and at the DG. This is highlighted again in Series 7 Episode 12 when he says that he has done rotten things because he thought he was rotten. Finding out that he was not to blame for Chloe’s accident is a turning point for Ryan. Although we continue to see mean and manipulative behaviours from Ryan, there are glimmers of hope as he at times shows a caring side towards other characters and from late series 5 begins to show remorse for some of his actions and a desire to change.
Chloe later moves into the DG and we see a different side of Ryan. He clearly cares deeply for his sister and even measures the communal areas to make sure her wheelchair can fit through. However, he still continues to be selfish and controlling, and tells the other dg kids to stay away from Chloe. This contrast between being evil and manipulative on the one hand and caring and supportive on the other is seen repeatedly throughout series 3, 4 and 5. It is clear that caring for Chloe from a very young age has led him to be good at looking after and connecting with younger children. He settles the simulator baby in Risky Business, when neither Jody nor Floss could, by singing to it and rocking it to sleep. He is shown to have a close relationship with Harry rescuing him from his nasty foster parents when no one else believes he’s in trouble. In Series 3 episode 14 he helps Harry with the domino race, by telling Finn he has to go and speak to Mike, so Harry has more time to set up his train of dominos. In series 4 episode 8 Ryan witnesses Mike shouting at Harry, he reassures Harry and takes him outside to play football. He even stays behind from the outing in series 4 episode 9 to look after Harry as he realises that he is upset about Mike's suspension. He also supports Archie when he suffers from attachment issues with May-li. In Sitting in a Tree Ryan notices that Archie sees May-li as a mother figure. When Archie finds out May-li took Toni to the garden centre instead of him he is really upset and trashes the garden. Ryan reassures him its normal to get attached to care workers and it’s just a phase that will pass.
Ryan’s mean and manipulative antics are in retaliation when he feels hurt or threatened by someone else. In Series 4 episode 8 Mike is really stressed and overwhelmed with work, he ends up snapping at Harry who wants to go to the skate park but there has been no risk assessment so he cant go. Ryan witnesses Mike shouting at Harry and is angry that Harry has been let down by Mike and Ryan also feels that Mike let him down as he believes Mike told the rest of the DG kids about Chloe's accident earlier in the series . He breaks into Mike’s car and steals his bag which contains paperwork that Mike shouldn’t have taken out of the building including Carmen’s file. Carmen reports to the police that her file was amongst the items stolen. Mike gets into trouble and is suspended pending an investigation into the lost file. Carmen admits to Ryan that she was the one who told the police and Ryan encourages her to tell the other kids to scapegoat her and help keep suspicions away from him. Realising how upset Harry is at the prospect of Mike leaving, Ryan puts the file into the recycling bin in the office and then suggests that the dg kids search for mikes time sheets to prove he was overworked. This is a ploy to ensure Carmen’s file is found. When the file is found, it is believed it was in the office all along and Mike is reinstated. However Mike is certain the file was in his car and realises that Ryan was responsible. He confronts him and Ryan gives him back his bag and Mike gives him a second chance. In series 4 episode 20 Ryan admits that taking the file and then putting it back again to get Mike reinstated made him feel so powerful, showing how he likes being in control. In Two Camps Ryan admits to Chloe that he is scared of ghosts, due to being told scary stories by older kids at his first care home and that’s why he doesn’t want to camp in the garden with the others as he knows that they will tell ghost stories. Chloe later lets this slip to Tee and Sasha whilst trying to persuade them that they don’t understand Ryan like she does. Tee and Sasha then decide to spook Ryan by telling him his room is haunted. Ryan later gets his own back by putting Sasha’s festival poster in the waste paper bin and telling Toni to put the waste paper on the fire. Sasha then believes it was Chloe’s fault as she had borrowed the poster to make her own Ashdene ridge festival poster. Chloe later realises that it was Ryan that put the poster in the bin and encouraged Toni to put it on the fire. When Chloe tells Ryan to own up, he doesn’t think he has done anything wrong and they fall out. It is clear that Ryan likes to be in control and manipulate others; he hates not being in control of a situation or showing any weakness. He felt really threatened and vulnerable due to Tee and Sasha spooking him and felt betrayed by Chloe, resulting in him plotting to burn Sasha’s poster.
This theme of not wanting to lose control is continued in Series 5 but we do start to see some development in Ryan as he starts to mature and think about his actions. In Series 5 episode 13 Ryan is once again manipulative and deceitful setting up Alex to protect himself from getting into trouble. He is annoyed that Alex is allowed a phone during the tech ban as he going out and mike wants to be able to contact him. He is even more annoyed when Alex catches him using his spare phone, which is against the rules and blackmails him asking for £20 or he’ll tell mike. So Ryan tells Alex no one wants him at the DG and so he should run away. Alex says he will if he gives him money. Ryan isn’t prepared to give him money but realising that he will tell mike about the phone, offers to help him get hold of the other kids’ tech from the tech box in the office. He tells him the best time to sneak into the office but when he does, Mike catches him in the act as Ryan has snitched on him. Alex’s blackmailing threatens Ryan’s control as he will get in trouble with Mike and therefore he sets Alex up, so he is back in control as Alex has now been scapegoated as the bad kid and is also no longer considered trustworthy so even if he did tell Mike that Ryan was using a phone, he probably wouldn’t be believed. In Episode 20 Ryan reads Mike’s appraisal of May-Li. In a moment of anger and frustration Mike has written negative things about May-li and Ryan then tells the other DG kids and May-li overhears. This results in a big argument between Mike and May-li and she threatens to quit her job. We see a maturity in Ryan in this episode that we haven’t seen before as he admits to Mike what has happened and accepts punishment without complaint. This is in contrast to Series 4 Two Camps where he couldn’t see that he had done wrong and wasn’t willing to apologise.
During the Dumping Ground Island special Floss asks Ryan to teach her to be evil. Ryan responds that he is not evil, he is resourceful. Whilst on the island, each child must face their fears in order to return to the DG. We learn that Ryan’s fear is losing control. He hates the idea of not being in control of a situation and enjoys having power and control over the others when he finds a fridge full a food. Later he faces his fear and tells Tyler where the fridge is. Now that all the kids have access to the food source, Ryan can no longer control and bully them by making them do as he says in exchange for food. On returning to the DG, Tyler confronts Ryan and tells him that his problem is that he tries really hard to be horrible and underneath it all he’s alright, he’s nice. Ryan doesn’t believe he is nice but acknowledges that he can be a bit of an idiot sometimes and that he is working on it. Ryan takes on board Tyler’s advice and tries to be nice for once by showing Floss how to make the perfect cheese sandwich. This is a huge turning point for Ryan as for the first time he admits that he wants to change his behaviour.
In series 6 RyanMan, Ryan accidentally runs into a burglar and is branded a hero for stopping the burglar, even though it was a complete accident. Ryan takes a watch from the stolen loot which ended up spilling all over the ground in the garden. Ryan is asked to appear on TV to talk about his heroic act and is also offered a reward. In Holding Out for a Hero Ryan is blackmailed, receiving notes telling him to do certain things or they will reveal that they know he has the watch. He has to spend the morning riding around on a tricycle and when the mayor comes to visit he has to wear a clown costume. Feeling utterly humiliated he hides in his room and breaks down. Later he finds out it was Chloe that sent the notes as she didn’t like the way he was behaving and just wanted him to admit that he had stolen the watch. Again this situation shows his fear of losing control, as he hates the fact that someone else is manipulating him and is desperate to stay in control by preventing anyone from finding out he stole the watch. In the end, Ryan listens to his sister and when his reward arrives in the form of a games console he donates it to the house.
In series 6 finale Ryan becomes angry when he realises the other boys have organised a stag do for Mike without telling him about it and feels humiliated when he doesn’t have a gift to give Mike at the stag do because the boys hadn’t told him about their plans. He loses his temper and is rude to the boys, leading Mike to tell Ryan is no longer welcome at the wedding. Ryan then smashes the wedding cake and runs away. Mike goes out looking for Ryan and eventually finds him. Ryan breaks down and admits that he is always angry and doesn’t know how not to be angry. He believes he is a lost caused. The one mike couldn’t help. Tracy helps Ryan see that the way to make things better is to give something back. Later Ryan apologises for messing up Mike and Fiona’s big day, he acknowledges that he is a work in progress but will get there in the end and be the person that Mike and May-li know he can be. This episode is the first time we see Ryan ask for help and acknowledge that he has anger issues. After this we do not see Ryan as angry as before and he is no longer so manipulative and nasty towards others.
Ryan’s development continues in series 7 episode 4 Face your Fear. Ryan is selected to do a work experience placement with Charlie at the local police horse stables. Ryan knows very little about horses and is soon out of his depth and annoyed that the manager has taken a liking to Charlie and her knowledge of horses. Ryan is worried about looking a fool, so doesn’t ask for help and instead tries to take credit for Charlie’s work. However the manager realises what’s going on and Ryan ends up humiliated when he chooses an old horse to exercise and can’t even get El Nino to walk. Ryan decides to quit and leave but Charlie convinces him to stay and face his fear of failure, telling him that she is always scared of things but always willing to try even if it’s scary. Ryan goes back to the stables and successfully exercises El Nino. This episode shows a lot of growth and development in Ryan as he faces his fear of failure and discovers his love of horses. He realises that he can break out of his old behaviour of letting people down, and lashing out because he is scared. He just needs to accept its ok to fail sometimes and its ok to ask for help.
In series 7 episode 12 Ryan is shocked to bump into his mum in the street. He panics and pushes for him and Chloe to be fostered, even though Chloe isn’t keen. He asks all the DG kids to help make him look like the perfect foster kid to ensure that he gets fostered by Maureen. However, his mum arrives before the fostering is agreed and wants Chloe to move back in with her. Chloe doesn’t know what to do and asks Ryan to speak to their mum on her behalf. Ryan confronts his mum about the past and how she left Ryan and Chloe home alone and then blamed Ryan for Chloe’s accident. He tells her that Chloe isn’t ready to give her a second chance but will get in touch if that changes. Having confronted his mum and dealt with his inner demons, Ryan feels ready to leave the DG and move on with his life. He admits that Mike fixed him just enough so that he could fix himself and that his place should now be given to another kid that needs help. This is the last episode to feature Ryan and it ends with him working at the stables.
Ryan is a complex character that has shown huge development over the five series that he was a part of the Dumping Ground. His development is a great example of how you should never judge a book by its cover. No-one is ever truly evil, everyone has the capacity to be nice and there is always a reason behind someone’s negativity and bad behaviour. Ryan’s character highlights how damaged a child can be due to traumatic events in their life and that telling someone they are bad and evil can a be a self-fulfilling prophecy. His mum made him believe he was bad by telling him he was responsible for Chloe’s accident and that led him to act out and do bad things. This in turn led others to hate him, which perpetuated his feelings and therefore his bad behaviour. Even though the truth of Chloe’s accident was revealed in series 4, the damage was already done and it took a long time for the cycle of self-hate, bad behaviour, and bad reputation to truly come to an end. It took a lot of reassurance and understanding from Tyler, Chloe, Mike and Charlie for Ryan’s view of himself to change. Everyone deserves a second chance and everyone has the capacity to change, they just need the right people around them that can see their potential rather than their faults.
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