Tonight’s episode of EastEnders (Monday, April 14) saw a new face arrive on the streets of Walford – Sonia’s estranged father, Terry Cant, played by actor Glen Davies. Returning to Albert Square in the wake of Bianca’s podcast appearance, Terry was eager to catch up with his family.
And, as he made his presence known, it became clear that he was the real-deal – and not an imposter, like Rocky Cotton. But who is Terry – and what does he want?
Here’s the low-down on EastEnders’ newest arrival, from the Rocky Cotton connection, to star Glen Davies’s prior soap roles.
Who plays Terry Cant on EastEnders?
Terry is played by veteran actor Glen Davies. This isn’t his first time on the show though – having popped up in several minor roles over the years between 1995 and 2003.
As this is Terry’s first appearance on EastEnders – with the Jackson clan joining the soap after he’d already left – the role has not been recast, making Glen the first actor to actually play the character.
What else has EastEnders actor Glen Davies been in?
Making his TV debut in 1992, Glen has appeared in all manner of television and film work over three decades. This includes minor roles in sitcoms Birds of a Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart, Miranda and Twenty Twelve.
Films he has appeared in include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (where he played a taxi driver) and The Personal History of David Copperfield (where he played a Coalman).
In addition to EastEnders, Glen has racked up many small appearances in other British soaps and dramas, including The Bill, Hollyoaks, Doctors and Holby City. In 2023, he played an Enforcement Officer in an episode of Emmerdale.
However, he is perhaps best known for his recurring role in the CBBC show Bear Behaving Badly, in which he played ice cream van man Andrew Prank – or Mr. Angry Pants, as he’s known by his neighbours.
Who else did Glen Davies play on EastEnders?
Prior to taking his role as Terry Cant, Glen appeared across four episodes of the soap – playing an unnamed plumber, and journalist Mervyn Dale.
When police arrested Arthur Fowler for embezzlement in 1995, Mervyn wrote an article which insinuated that Arthur was using the money to pay for a mistress. One can only imagine what Mervyn might have made of the whole Reiss Colwell affair…
Who is Terry Cant?
Terry Cant is Sonia’s biological father – an ex-boyfriend of Carol Jackson, and father figure to Bianca and Robbie. He fled Walford soon after Sonia was born, leaving Carol to raise their daughter alone.
Now a single mother, Carol went on to raise Sonia with her new man, Alan Jackson – lending the troubled family some stability and eventually becoming the closest thing she’d known to a father. Until Rocky came along, that is…
The Rocky Cotton connection explained
Years after Terry abandoned his family, a man claiming to be Sonia’s father arrived in Walford, seeking to reunite with his family. However, this had actually been Rocky Cotton, in a scheme to get his hands on Dot’s inheritance money.
Rocky ultimately came clean and made bonds of his own on Albert Square.
What does Terry have planned?
As he caught up with Bianca for the first time in thirty years, Terry explained that he’d come to Walford to make amends for abandoning his family. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but he wouldn’t be dissuaded from paying his daughter a visit.
With Natalie Cassidy’s exit from EastEnders looming, it’s likely that Terry’s unexpected return will tie into Sonia’s final storyline on the soap. But will Sonia leave Walford with the father she never knew?
Read more: Why EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy hasn’t married long-term fiancé she met on the set of soap
EastEnders usually airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One
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