Anita Pierce
Anita Pierce is a fictional character in the long-running Welsh S4C soap Pobol y Cwm. Portrayed by Nia Caron, the character first appeared on-screen in 1999. Anita is the mother of Daren Howarth (Huw Euron), Dwayne Richards (Paul Morgans/Darryl Shute) and Eira Pierce, as well as the step-mother to Kevin Powell (Iwan "Iwcs" Roberts) and Gabriella Gonzalez through her marriage to Meic Pierce (Gareth Lewis).
| Anita Pierce | |||||||||||||||
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| Pobol y Cwm character | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Nia Caron | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1999– | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Accountant at Awyr Iach Bank cashier (former) Pub landlady (former) Cafe worker (former) | ||||||||||||||
| Home | 10 Stryd Fawr, Cwmderi | ||||||||||||||
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Since her onscreen debut in 1999 the character has been involved in many high-profile storylines including the deaths of two of her children, Dwayne and Eira,[1][2] the Deri Arms (of which she was landlady) burning down in 2008,[3] an affair with Colin Evans (Jonathan Nefydd) that led to the break up of her marriage with Meic Pierce,[4] and discovering that her partner Moc Thomas (Aneirin Hughes) had abused his son Gethin (Simon Watts) as a child.
Character information
Storylines
A stubborn woman with firm opinions, Anita has shown to be deeply protective of her nearest and dearest, as well as anyone else who has problems. Llanarthur resident Anita first entered the lives of Cwmderi residents as the mother of Darren Howarth. Darren had never known his biological father, however with time he was revealed to be Meic Pierce, with whom Anita had had a brief relationship several years earlier. As father and son got to know each other for the first time, so there was a slow rekindling of the relationship between Anita and Meic. It was Meic who persuaded Anita to attend Darren's wedding to Lowri Jenkins (Meleri Bryn) (a partnership of which Anita disapproved) arguing that her relationship with her son would never recover.
Anita later moved to Cwmderi where she found work first as a cleaner, and later at the Cafe with Reg Harries (Huw Ceredig), running adult toy parties for women and at the Deri Deithio taxi company before becoming the landlady of the Deri Arms pub with Meic in 2003, eventually purchasing the business from Kath Jones (Siw Hughes).
2003 saw Anita's niece Kelly Evans (Lauren Phillips) come to stay at the Deri Arms while she was on bail. Anita and Kelly developed a strong bond and Kelly decided to remain in Cwmderi for a prolonged period. Following a car crash, Anita gave birth prematurely to a daughter with Meic, Eira in 2005. Tragically, she died soon after. Anita blamed Darren for the crash, though the pair eventually reconciled.
By 2008 the Deri Arms was suffering financially due to competition from the newly opened rugby club at the top of Cwmderi high street. It was at this time the Deri caught fire and was destroyed.[5] For a time there was suspicion that the fire had been started deliberately for the insurance money. Before long Anita and Meic were able to buy the rugby club and re-christened it as the Deri Arms.
In 2009 Anita lost her son Dwayne suddenly to a fatal brain haemorrhage. It was suspected that the brain haemorrhage was the result of an altercation with Garry Monk (Richard Lynch) the previous day which had ended in Dwayne banging his head on a metal shelf. Anita took the loss very hard and was determined to see Monk persecuted for the death, though he was eventually found not guilty.
Meic and Anita's marriage came to an end in 2011 when Anita's affair with Colin Evans was discovered. While Colin and Anita's relationship was ultimately short-lived it did bring about an end of an era. Meic and Anita sold the Deri Arms to Ed Charles (Geraint Todd) and Angela Probert (Tara Bethan) while Anita found refuge staying with Diane (Victoria Pluknett) at Bryn Tirion.
The arrival of Moc Thomas as Cwmderi's new bank manager led to a new romance for Anita, and she was fiercely protective when accusations of historical child abuse were made against him by his son Gethin. Anita was left devastated when Moc had an affair with Sheryl before felling as the accusations proved true. Anita felt that her relationship with Moc had placed her own grandchild, Will in danger.
Despite their marriage being over Anita and Meic found themselves living together under the same roof once again. Relations between the two were generally friendly and Anita was of great support to Meic when his son Kevin was found guilty of rape. Anita struggled when Meic started seeing Kevin's former wife Debbie Collins (Maria Pride) but this relationship proved short lived and Anita and Meic rekindled their romance.
This reunion, however, was marked by tragedy however as Meic was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was at this time that Meic discovered the existence of a Patagonian daughter, Gabriella Gonzalez, the result of an affair with Mair James when Meic and Anita were dating for the first time in the 70s. Anita struggled with Gabriella's presence in their lives and felt jealous of the time the two were spending together. Meic and Anita planned to remarry but as Meic's condition deteriorated they were unable to go through with ceremony. Unwilling to put Anita through the burden of caring for him during his dying days, Meic decided to leave for Patagonia with Gabriella. Anita was devastated by his decision and was angry that the choice was made for her. When news came of Meic's death Anita was further distraught at discovering that he had already been cremated by Gabriella, robbing her of the chance to arrange his funeral. The two eventually made peace and spread Meic's ashes together in Anglesea. Following Meic's death Kelly returned to Cwmderi to live with Anita and help her through her grief.
2016 saw Anita start work for Awyr Iach clothing company as an accountant. She also started a fling with Sam Evans, Colin's father, for whom she faced stiff competition from Dol Collins. Sam moved in for a brief while but the final straw came when his pet snake escaped and Anita decided she saw no future for their relationship.
In late 2016 Kevin was granted bail, on condition that he had somewhere to stay. Feeling a sense of duty, and believing it to be what Meic would have wanted, Anita decided to allow Kevin to stay at No.10 with her and Kelly. Many of Cwmderi's residents did not take kindly to Anita's decision least of all Kelly, herself a rape survivor. Kevin slowly began to earn the family's trust and Anita decided to offer him half of the house as an inheritance from Meic, it soon transpired however that Kevin's intentions were far from pure. He had intended to take advantage of Anita and Kelly's holiday abroad to rob them of everything in a plot devised with his mother Nansi Furlong (Marged Esli). They were caught in the act by Anita, who returned earlier than planned following an argument with Kelly. Anita was hospitalised after being pushed by Nansi, and though she decided not to report Kevin's actions to the police she did ask him to leave Cwmderi.
Family
Anita first met and had a relationship with Meic Pierce before he moved to Cwmderi. This relationship led to the birth of her eldest son Darren Howarth, although Meic was completely unaware of his sons existence for decades. Anita went on to have a second son in Dwayne Richards. Upon rekindling her romance with Meic later, decades after their initial affair Anita gave birth to a daughter, Eira who died tragically shortly afterwards. Through Darren she has two grandchildren, Will and Alys.
Anita has one sister, Amanda (Sian Rivers D'Alesio) and is very close to her niece Kelly.
| Amanda Evans | John Richards | Anita Pierce | Meic Pierce (deceased) | Nansi Furlong | Mair James | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kelly Evans | Dwayne Richards (deceased) | Katie Howarth (née Edwards) | Darren Howarth | Sheryl Hughes (deceased) | Eira Pierce (deceased) | Kevin Powell | Gabriella Gonzalez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Evans | Alys Howarth | Will Howarth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- Powell, David (31 January 2009). "Double pain at losing Dwayne".
- Crump, Eryl (19 March 2015). "Thanks as popular Pobol y Cwm character leaves the series".
- "BBC - Press Office - Pobol y Cwm's Deri Arms goes up in flames". www.bbc.co.uk.
- "Meic discovers Anita and Colin's affair". 23 May 2011.
- Post, North Wales Daily (7 March 2008). "Deri Arms to blaze away in TV soap".