Let's be honest EastEnders resident Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) is an absolute icon. His decade on the show was totally eclipsed by his unfortunate end when he tumbled out the show. During his time on our screens, Barry was, for the lack of a better word, a fool. He had no luck with love, struggled to prove himself to his dad, and had a slightly less than successful time being a criminal.
Though he is most known for his role in EastEnders, the actor Shaun has been successful since in many different ventures. Let’s take a walk memory lane and catch up with what the actor is up to now.
When was Barry Evans in EastEnders?
Barry was in Albert Square from 1994 until 2004.
What happened to Natalie and Barry in EastEnders?
Barry met Natalie Price (Lucy Speed) after he joined her dating agency Romantic Relations in the hopes that he'd find a girlfriend. They eventually got married and Natalie became pregnant, and though she wanted to have an abortion, he convinced her not to and they welcomed their son Jack.
However, it wasn't long before things started to sour and after kissing Barry's half-brother Nathan Williams (Doug Allen), she then had an affair with her old flame Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen). It wasn't long before Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) meddled in their marriage because she planned to seduce Barry and con him out of his money.
What happened to Janine and Barry in EastEnders?
After divorcing Natalie, Janine seduced Barry and after he was falsely told by his doctor that he has a life-threatening heart condition, he proposed to Janine who accepted.
They soon got married, but she quickly grew tired of him and in 2004, during a walk in the Scottish Moors, Janine admitted to Barry that she had been having an affair with Paul Trueman (Gary Beadle).
Despite her confession, Barry told Janine that he'd forgive her but she wasn't keen on a reunion so she pushed him away and he fell down the cliff, hit his head and died. Janine watched him die in one of the most shocking deaths in soap history.
Will Barry return to EastEnders?
From what he told the Daily Express in 2020, we don’t think Barry will do a Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) any time soon.
He said, “The reason why I had left [EastEnders] was because I had done ten years of it and it was all I had done.
“It’s not like now where they let people go off and do Strictly Come Dancing whilst they’re still in the show. They wouldn’t really let you do much, so I just wanted to do something different.”
However, he hasn’t completely ruled out a return to soaps saying that he’s a “massive fan” of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
“I’d gladly go in another soap for a few years. It hasn’t put me off going back into one, probably just wouldn’t stay ten years," he told the publication.
What does Shaun Williamson do now?
He is still acting. In fact, he recently appeared in A League of Their Own as Barry and himself. He’s also set to star in a new ITVX comedy-drama called Significant Other.
Away from acting he’s also become something of a quiz master. While researching for his book A Matter Of Facts, which is about the world of quizzing, he became a top 50 player in rankings in the UK. He was featured on Celebrity Beat the Chasers and won £120,000 for charity and Shaun Wallace (AKA The Dark Destroyer) even called him “celebrity quizzing royalty”.
In 2017, he was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother series 20 and was the eighth housemate to be eliminated.
Did Shaun Williamson win Mastermind?
Yes, he won the first celebrity series in 2003. His specialist subject was Richard Burton.
Is Shaun Williamson married?
Yes, he’s been married twice.
First to his manager Melanie Sacre and they were married for 16 years - from 1997 until 3013.
He is currently married to Adele Seager and they tied the knot in 2018.