Bear Sylvester

Bear Sylvester
Doctors character
Portrayed by	Dex Lee
Duration	2019–present
First appearance	"Barley, Hops, Yeast and Water" 18 November 2019 (2019-11-18)
Introduced by	Mike Hobson
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Other names	Rupert Sylvester
Occupation	Business manager
Family Mother Makeda Sylvester Sisters Juliet Sylvester Aunts Dorothy Cambridge Nieces Joy Sylvester First cousins Sean Mapletree[1]

Bear Sylvester is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Dex Lee. Bear made his first appearance on 18 November 2019 when he attends an interview to become the practice manager at the fictional Mill Health Centre. Lee began filming for the role in June 2019. His storylines have included learning that he has dyslexia, having a brief relationship with Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins) and his friendship with Sid Vere (Ashley Rice). For his portrayal of Bear, Lee was nominated for Best Daytime Star at the 2020 Inside Soap Awards.

Storylines[]

Bear attends an interview for the role of practice manager after the departure of Becky Clarke (Ali Bastian), and despite his lack of experience in a management role, he gets the job. His first initiative is to be addressed as a business manager, which Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) disapproves of. When receptionist Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson) discovers that Bear is working heavy overtime, she informs Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers), who tells Bear to work his set hours. However, Bear continues to secretly work through the night. When Al Haskey (Ian Midlane) notices that Bear struggles with spelling names of the employees, he suggests that Bear may have a learning disability. He goes for a test, where he discovers that he has dyslexia. He tells Zara and Daniel, who support him by giving him dyslexia-friendly tools to aid his work, which means he can stop working through the night. When colleague Jimmi Clay (Adrian Lewis Morgan) is arrested, everybody at the Mill shows support for him, with the exception of Bear. The staff notice, and begin to turn against him, and Daniel asks Bear if he has an issue with Jimmi. Bear reveals that when he was 15, he and his pregnant girlfriend Sharmaine Conway (India Semper-Hughes) were treated by Jimmi. Jimmi informed Sharmaine about the option of abortion, and despite Bear wanting her to keep the baby, she terminated the pregnancy. Despite this, Bear insists that he would never attempt to imprison Jimmi.

For Valentine's Day, Bear gives Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins) an expensive bracelet, and confused by how he can afford an expensive gift, she follows him. Ayesha finds him transporting boxes to a lockup at night, and informs Daniel and Zara about what she saw. They look into the accounts and when they find £34,000 extra profit in the accounts, they question Bear on the newfound money. He reveals that he has been ordering lubricant through the Mill, selling it onto sex shops for a profit, and transferring the money into the Mill's account to help with the low NHS funding. Valerie Pitman (Sarah Moyle) discovers that Bear has taken dancing classes, and in need of a dance partner for a charity ball, she recruits him. Ayesha learns the routine too, and when she fills in for Valerie, Bear and Ayesha almost kiss, but are interrupted. When Bear is babysitting niece Joy for his cousin, Doro Kitson (Kellie Shirley) and Charlie Knight (Alexander Cobb) enter the house, startling Bear. He makes his way downstairs, but assuming the house is Doro's, Charlie calls the police. Bear confronts them, and Charlie hits Bear over the head with a vase, knocking him unconscious. The police arrive, and it transpires that the house used to belong to Doro, and that she mistakenly went there, drunk. PC Jac Heyward (Samantha Hopkins) asks Bear if he wants to press charges, but he declines. Bear assists Ayesha with starting a campaign to persuade members of the BAME community not to opt-out of organ donation, titled #DontOptOut. They enlist Jimmi, Sid Vere (Ashley Rice), and Shak Hanif (Sunjay Midda) to help, and the group film an advertisement for social media. After the #DontOptOut campaign is featured in a newspaper, the group celebrate its success with a drink, and when Jimmi and Shak leave, Ayesha and Bear are left alone. Ayesha returns home with Bear, where the pair have sex. Due to the success of the campaign, Ayesha is offered another job. Bear is hurt that Ayesha kept it a secret from him, despite them beginning a new relationship. Valerie invites him to Ayesha's leaving party, but he does not attend. When Sid is driving Bear home late at night, they are stopped and questioned by a police officer. As he feels they have been racially profiled, Bear insists that Sid reports it, but Sid refuses. The pair later move in together.

Development[]

Lee began filming for Doctors on 26 June 2019, in an on-location scene shared with Matthew Chambers.^[2] The details surrounding the character and casting were announced on 22 October in an issue of Inside Soap. It was written that Bear would "bring a whole heap of drama with him when he turns up in Letherbridge", and they wrote that the name of his character is intriguing.^[3] Prior to his scenes airing, actor Lee told Inside Soap that his filming experience has been "awesome so far" and that he is having a great time.^[3] He added that he has been "thrown into the deep end in the best possible way", and confirmed that his first scenes will air in late November.^[3] On 12 November 2019, Simon Timblick of What's on TV wrote that Bear is a potential candidate for the job of practice manager at the Mill, noting that he "seems to impress" at his interview.^[4] Bear is hired into the job, but Timblick wrote that he struggles when he begins working at the Mill. He wrote that despite working there "for five minutes", Bear may quit due to "already crumbling under the pressure of his new job".^[5] After poor minute taking in a meeting with Zara and Daniel, they are "not impressed" with his work as business manager. However, Bear "manages to make an excuse and gives Daniel the brush-off".^[6] Zara then becomes suspicious of Bear when she learns from Karen that he is working overtime.^[7] A "stressed-out" Bear attends a meeting with a psychologist after Al informs him that he may have a learning disability,^[8] He is then diagnosed with dyslexia.^[9]

In an interview with Allison Jones of Inside Soap, actor Lee stated that Bear is "bubbly on the surface" due to "the issues he's faced throughout his life due to his dyslexia".^[10] Lee said that his character "started off blagging it quite a lot", since he knew he that he was not the first choice for the job of practice manager.^[10] He explained that Bear's confidence "was shot" after his colleagues suspected him of being involved in Jimmi's arrest.^[10] However, Lee stated that Bear is "finding ways to make his business mindset work", and that he will only "get better".^[10] When asked if Bear and Ayesha will eventually become a romantic pairing, the actor admitted that Bear would be "really chuffed and happy" to be with Ayesha.^[10] He explained that they are a good match since they "bring out sides of each other that they didn't know they had".^[10] He added that Ayesha makes Bear laugh, and that she "sets off the butterflies in him", voicing that Bear should "follow his heart".^[10]

Reception[]

For his portrayal of Bear, Lee was nominated for Best Daytime Star at the 2020 Inside Soap Awards.^[11]

References[]