Bec Hyde

Rebecca "Bec" Hyde was a resident of Ashdene Ridge.

## Before the DG

Bec used to live with her grandmother, Joan, a fishmonger, who took her in after Bec's mum died in a car accident. She often helped her with work at the shop, or rather, was forced to. Bec was verbally abused and taken advantage of by Joan, who often threatened to call social services and order for Bec's departure from the house. Not only that, but she was regularly bullied by a girl called Evie and her gang of friends. However, she did have hopes of a friendship with Evie's friend Rae, which most likely meant that Rae wasn't as much of a bully as Evie.

After being criticised by her grandmother for not having any friends to invite round for her birthday the next day, unlike Evie, Bec took Rae's dog, Scout, though not with any particularly malicious intent. Rae and her friends called out for Scout and Bec appeared with him out of the blue, pretending to have found him after he went "missing". As a way of thanking her, Rae agreed to go to Bec's house for her birthday, much to Evie's shock.

The next day, Joan allowed Bec to wear a dress her mother had made herself before coldly wishing her granddaughter a happy birthday. Later, Bec was shocked to see that Rae was not alone when she opened the door to let her in-- Evie was with her. Joan is surprised but pleased that Evie and Rae have come, and goes to get drinks. While she's gone, Rae kindly gives Bec a birthday present while Evie wastes no time in bullying her again, calling her "Sprat" after a type of smelly little fish her dad likes. Rae seems disgusted now, whereas previously she may have laughed along. Joan returns and Evie asks to use the bathroom. Bec opens her present, a necklace just like Rae's. Her new friend helps her put it on.

While Joan and Rae see to the cake, Evie continues tormenting Bec. After the three sing to Bec, Joan and Rae go to get plates and Evie "accidentally" spills juice on Bec's dress. Joan and Bec return and Evie, acting innocent, says Bec attempted to attack her. Joan sends Bec to her room. The party is over.

After being reprimanded and grounded by her grandmother for ruining the dress, Bec goes to get her diary that she uses as an emotional outlet but it's gone and Bec suspects that Evie stole it.

Bec finds Rae and tells her Evie took her diary, only to find Rae's attitude towards her has changed yet again. Evie, having shared the diary's contents with her friends, informed Rae all about what happened with Scout, as well as obtaining Bec's embarrassing fantasies of befriending Rae. Evie and her other friends turn up; Bec snatches her diary out of Evie's hand but falls on the ground. They chant 'Sprat! Sprat! Sprat!' and so Bec runs home.

Back at the fishmonger's, Bec begs Joan to fix the dress but Joan tells her she doesn't deserve nice things and throws it in a bucket with fish guts. Bec manages to save a small bit of fabric. Evie texts Bec several photos detailing entries from her diary, taunting her by saying she'll send them to everyone. Bec throws her phone on the ground and stamps on it, shattering it in her rage.

The next time Evie and her friends find Bec, she's sitting on a chair under a bridge. This is Evie's chair, and the bully demands that she stands up. Bec tells Evie she has something for her. She goes to grab a rope dangling from the bridge, tied to a bucket on the edge of the bridge, and pulls on it. The bucket, filled with fish guts, spills its contents all over Evie. Bec tells Evie that she stinks too now and Evie's friends laugh, while Bec walks away, satisfied.

Bec returns to the shop and is confronted by her grandmother, who has been told everything and is outraged, as Evie's mum is one of her best customers. She also has pictures of Bec's diary; Joan is shocked by the things Bec writes about her, but Bec stands up to her and refuses to take back what she said. She unapologetically tells her gran she hates her and that she has just called social services. Bec most likely went to live at Ashdene Ridge a short while after.

## Living in Care

Taz and Sid were both excited to meet Bec when they heard a new girl was arriving but were shocked to find that not only had she taken down and ripped up some drawings made by the residents to welcome her, but she had started a fire in a barrel. May-Li rushed to put it out but Bec stopped her— the burning of her diary was nearly finished.

May-Li tried to talk to Bec about rules and to discuss whether she would be staying or not, as there was the possibility of her going back to her gran’s, hinting that she has no idea what the relationship between them is like. Bec, however, wants to be alone in her room.

While Taz and Sid plan on protecting the DG, as they think Bec wants to destroy it, Bec reflects upon several objects from her past. Having got rid of most of them, she does keep a skull of sorts that she found when she was with Scout and, for some reason, a photo of Joan.

Later at lunch, Bec indirectly makes fun of Floss’ drawings and is told off by Bird and May-Li. After turning down their invitations to sit with the rest of them to eat the fish pie prepared to celebrate her arrival, Bec sits down alone to eat some cold chicken.

Bec‘s next major role in an episode was in Champions, the 20th of Series 7. She tried putting off helping Floss and Candi-Rose with cleaning out the attic, but eventually had no choice. She was silent and alone for the most part but lashed out at Candi-Rose when she went to talk to her and called her a bubble-brain, in reference to the pink bike helmet she was wearing for protection.

When Floss went to confront her, Bec knocked some boxes over and broke a toy digger and blamed Floss. Interestingly, this is similar to what Evie did to her before. Mike asks them to settle the truth later.

Bec overhears Floss, Sasha, Candi-Rose, Chloe and Bird talking about her a while later and when Floss says it’s no wonder she got put in care, Bec tells them that she put herself in care to get away from where she was. The others then put together a USB stick with their favourite songs on it for Bec but she threw it in a bin bag.

Some time later, Mike introduced Bec to Katy and told the new arrival that Bec was already starting to like Ashdene Ridge despite only recently arriving. Bec denies this, but that night at the prom tells Katy she sort of does.

Bec was disgusted to see that Evie at the prom and decided to stand up to her when she was mocking Floss for having flowers in her hair. The prom was the first time Bec was shown to have warmed up to being friends with others. In addition, she was the first one to tell Mike that he should leave Ashdene Ridge if he wanted to go be with his mum. Although Jay and Candi-Rose protested, everyone knew, deep down, that she was right.

On the third anniversary of her mum's accident, Bec attempted to leave the house unnoticed but was stopped by Scott. Later, May-Li asked for volunteers to go to the shops and Bec pounced on the opportunity to leave. However, Taz also accepted to go.

After doing all the shopping, Bec told an indignant Taz to meet her back at the house while she did something. Taz spied on her while she was buying flowers and followed her to a corner on a road. She sees Bec cleaning up rubbish by the road. When she realises Taz is there, Bec gets angry, dumps her flowers on the grass and storms off.

Taz finds Bec sitting on a bench. She insists on knowing what's going on and why Bec marked her calendar for what day and Bec eventually gives in and tells her. That road was the place where it happened. Bec explains that everyone thought her mum was responsible but it was another driver's fault. Her gran never took her there as she thought she should just forget about her mum. Taz is empathetic towards Bec and tells her she also misses her mum.

After this, Bec seems slightly better but kicks off on Taz again when she learns that she told everyone the secret. Tearing up, she lies in her bed clutching the small bit of fabric she has of her mum's dress.

May-Li talks to her later that day and reminds her that it can be good to talk to people in these situations. That night, Scott and the other young people sing Auld Lang Syne for Burns Night with Chloe's old friend from Scotland, Iona. As May-Li explains to Taz that the song is about loving people who aren't around, Bec opens her bedroom door and she listens quietly.