Ted West
| Theodore West | |||||||||
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Ted West | |||||||||
| Outrageous Fortune character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Frank Whitten | ||||||||
| First appearance | episode 1, "Slings and Arrows" | ||||||||
| Created by | James Griffen, Rachel Lang | ||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||
| Other names | Lucky Munro | ||||||||
| Occupation | unemployed | ||||||||
| Residence | West Auckland | ||||||||
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Ted West was a fictional character in the New Zealand TV show Outrageous Fortune. He was portrayed by Frank Whitten since the first episode.
Overview
Ted is an elderly man and the man who gifted the iconic West house to Wolf and Cheryl. He is a master safe cracker. He was married to Rita West for a long period of time and loved her dearly, who died before the beginning of the series. It was thought Ted had Alzheimers but in Season 2 it was discovered he had a brain tumour. After his surgery, Ted's personality completely changed and so did his character. Ted used to be particularly close to granddaughter, Loretta. Though they still share the odd inspirational word, they are not like they used to be. In Season 3, Ted found out Rita had cheated on him and he stopped loving her, ending up burning one of his only remaining pictures of her. In Season 4, Ted married Ngaire Munroe, the wife of an old friend. Ted is now a father figure to Wayne Judd and is living at the West house with Ngaire.
David de Lautour plays Ted West in Westside, a prequel television series to Outrageous Fortune, set in the 1970s.
Season 1
Ted's introduction to Outrageous Fortune occurred in the first episode, Ted's small unit he lived in had burnt down when he had gone down to the shops. Loretta was hiding blackmail in the house before it burnt down. Ted moved in with the rest of the Wests. He was particularly batty and kept thinking Loretta was his dead wife Rita. Loretta took Ted to the Video Hut but lost him. He ended up staying with old friend Margaret, who had previously been Ted's cell-mate Mark but had since identified as transsexual and had a sex change operation. Ted seemed to be having a sexual relationship with Margaret. The two ended up scamming money from the local bowls club, then breaking up.
Season 2
With Wayne Judd staying over more and more at the West House, Ted made his opinions heard and would often storm off. When Ted heard talks that he might be going to a retirement home, he barricaded himself in the house and locked everyone out. It was obvious he was going crazy. Jethro convinced him to leave to the retirement village, where he kept in contact with Wolf. he caught Judd looking for Wolf's number in his room and attacked him, but he collapsed and was taken to hospital. It turned out he had a brain tumour and had never had Alzheimers. The tumour was eventually removed and all looked well for Ted.
Outrageous Fortune the Movie
While supposedly searching the beach at Tutaekuri Bay for Rita's ring, which he had flung away in anger there many years before, Ted met two women who he started a sexual relationship with. It is revealed later that he was really looking for a box of cash from a TAB that he buried years earlier.
Season 3
At the start of Season 3, Wayne Judd went back to remand. Ted tried his best to keep him there by sending various gifts including Viagra and a cake with a file sticking out of it. Cheryl threatened to kick him out if continued doing so. He then started seeing hookers regularly and got his granddaughter Loretta concerned. Falani hired Wayne Judd to find the person stealing money out the till at the West Galleria which we later find out is Ted. When Loretta found out she was pregnant by Hayden Peters, who wanted nothing to do with it, Ted, Falani and Jethro went to Australia to sort him out. Ted began form a bond with Wayne Judd and became his regular partner in the security business. When Wayne and Cheryl split Ted was there for him and worked together to put a stop to Gary Savage. They found out there was a connection between Gary and Wolf so they gave Wolf a visit. When Wolf returned for the finale it was revealed that Gary Savage was the bastard child of Ted's wife (and Wolf's mother), Rita. In one of the final moments of Season 3, we see Ted burning the picture of his beloved dead wife who betrayed him.
Season 4
Ted met up with Ngaire Munro again, who he decided he was quite attracted to now that he no longer loved his dead wife Rita. He agreed to do a job for her and steal some jewellery. Ted gave up on his search for Gary Savage who had mysteriously disappeared and he gave up on Wolf too. In the season final Ted married Ngaire and they had a huge celebration.
Season 5
Ted requested that he and Ngaire would be allowed the downstairs room, and after a few fights Cheryl gave in. But Ted invited friends around to play poker with very loud music and sometimes they watched porn films. Cheryl eventually kicked him out. Halfway through the season, Ted entered a poker match. He won the first time, but the second time, he lost 25,000 dollars he had stolen from Pascalle. He promised he would get it back and agreed to do a job for Nicky. The job was reported to the police by Sheree in her rampage and Ted was arrested. Ted shared a jail cell with Dane Harris and became good friends with Sparky. In prison, Ngaire barely visited Ted, and Loretta claimed Ngaire was having an affair. Ted refused to see her and under Jethro's advice, agreed to pretend to be mentally insane. He got out with home detention till his next hearing. He forgave Ngaire and the happy couple enjoyed a night in. Ted was deeply scarred by the death of Judd and Cheryl's baby and was annoyed the funeral was to not be in West Auckland. But Judd named the baby after Ted and he forgave him. Ted was visited by Eric in his sleep saying that Ted will die in prison, so he set about making a will. He gave his vintage porn collection to Judd, 25,000 dollars to Pascalle, half his estate to Ngaire and the other half to baby Jane. He also showed Loretta where he hid his secret money. After this, Nicky handed himself into the police taking responsibility for the robbery, and this got Ted off the charges.