Ray Kelly

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Ray Kelly is a fictional character and supporting antagonist of the British soap opera EastEnders. He appeared as the secondary antagonist in the 2018 series and an overarching antagonist in the 2019 series.

In his storyline, Ray started out as a former undercover policeman who previously had a relationship with established character Mel Owen; the pair soon rekindled and eventually got married despite Mel's affections for fellow police officer Jack Branning, all the while Ray became a father figure to Mel's son Hunter. In the build-up to their wedding, however, Ray's true nature was revealed; he was actually a bigamistic corrupt law enforcer who specialized in identify fraud and killed a couple of people just to cover-up his illcit activities, specifically in connection to that of his criminal sister Ciara Maguire. By the time Mel eventually learned the truth about him, Ray planned to kill her and Hunter by kidnapping them - only to end up getting killed by Hunter himself.

The character was portrayed by Sean Mahon.

Biography[]

Ray Kelly is a decorated police officer who allegedly killed a criminal during his time in the law enforcement. Soon enough he became corrupt and began specializing his identify fraud whilst attempting to cover-up his illcit activities, specifically in connection to that of his sister Ciara Maguire and her ex-husband Aidan.

At somepoint, Ray became acquainted with businesswoman Mel Owen and her son Hunter. Overtime he formed a close bond with Hunter as the latter idealized him, but Mel was constantly skeptical of his character due to her previous marriage with Hunter's late father Steve Owen. Furthermore, Ray went as far as to quit working for the police force in order to spend time with Mel.

In 2018, Ray was summoned to Walford by Hunter when he apparently reported that Mel was in trouble. Ray reunited with Mel and learned that she was engaged to local resident Jack Branning, also another former policeman. It was then Ray began to clash with Jack in order to try and win back Mel, who eventually reconciled with Ray and the pair got engaged. However, Jack soon discovered Ray's previous corrupt activities and confronted him about it; Ray responds by threatening Jack's children and the pair fought afterwards.

Soon enough, Ray attempts to blackmail the square's local hardman Phil Mitchell with the knowledge of his history with both Mel and Aidan - in which Ray learns that Phil is connected to the deaths of both Luke Browning and Vincent Hubbard that Aidan respectively perpetuated. Phil responds by punching Ray and threatening him, and in turn Ray threatens Phil's daughter Louise over her relationship with Hunter.

On New Year's Day 2019, the day Ray and Mel are due to get married, Ray is arrested by the police for bigamy. He soon fakes a heart attack and escapes custody, then confronts Mel and Hunter after they discover the extent of his deceit. He kidnaps them and takes them to the woods to murder them both. They attempt to escape when Ray catches up to Mel and begins strangling her. He comes close to finishing off Mel when Hunter grabs a gun and shoots Ray, killing him in the process. Mel and Hunter bury Ray in the woods and return to the square; Ray's body is eventually unearthed and Hunter is jailed for the crime, before he and Mel later die in the following months just as the matter over Ray's death and the exposure of his corrupt activities has calmed down.

Trivia[]

He made a total of 31 appearances throughout his duration on EastEnders.

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