| Gavin Sullivan | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Paul Nicholas | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2015–2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 5124 21 August 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 5312 8 July 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Dominic Treadwell-Collins | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Gavin Sullivan is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Paul Nicholas. He first appeared on 21 August 2015. Gavin is the third husband of Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) and is also revealed as the biological father of Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean). He is first mentioned as Sharon's father in 1990 and as Kathy's husband in 2001, but does not appear on screen until 2015 and it is not known that Sharon's father and Kathy's husband are the same Gavin until October 2015. Viewers are informed in a 2006 episode that Kathy and Gavin are dead, but Kathy returns in February 2015, revealing that Gavin is also alive. Billed as "an EastEnders villain like no other",[1] Gavin has been described as "dangerous", "sinister", "nasty" and "evil". His storylines include his "abusive", "controlling" and "manipulative" relationship with Kathy, kidnapping recovering alcoholic Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and getting him drinking again, and blackmailing Claudette Hubbard (Ellen Thomas). His departure involves kidnapping Kathy, causing the death of his sister Margaret Midhurst (Jan Harvey) and being arrested after threatening to kill himself and Sharon. He appeared in 30 episodes, and his final appearance is on 8 July 2016. In January 2021, Gavin was killed-off off-screen.