Name: Linda Matthews Age: 49 Sexuality: Heterosexual Gender: Female Portrayed By: Famke Janssen Availability: Closed
âObviously, Iâm worried about my kids. I want the best for them.â
Linda Matthews, born Turner, has been in Baberton her entire life. She was raised by a teacher father and a housewife mother, and the family never seemed to have enough money to go around. There was always food on the table but they rarely seemed able to go on holidays or buy nice things, or âsplurgeâ. Linda didnât like that. She liked pretty things and she liked luxury. Her parents wished she could be more down to earth but Linda dreamed of a life where she would want for nothing. She wished she could find a man who could take care of her, bring in the money and look after her needs. When she was eighteen, she found just the type of guy she was looking for. His name was Arthur Matthews, he was twenty-one, and would one day inherit his family estate and money, along with his fatherâs law firms, which brought them in a lot of money. The family had money everywhere. In Baberton, in London, a big house in France. Stocks in London, shares in many things that Linda didnât exactly understand at the time. She just knew that they had money and Arthur was nice. He was a gentlemen, he had a confidence and she liked that about him. They dated for a while and then eventually, when Linda fell pregnant with their first son Alex, Arthur asked her to marry him. Their romance blossomed through many years, two more children, and a hell of a lot of money.
These days, Lindaâs marriage tends to feel more like a show than an actual love affair. Not that she minds, itâs her own fault, and maybe she never properly loved him. She doesnât exactly care since the money is still there and Linda is fairly selfish. She values money a lot, she loves the big house they live in, all the clothes and jewellery. She even has a maid! Who can say they have a maid?! Linda likes being married to Arthur despite not being as in love with him as she used to be, the arrangement works for them. She has plenty of money to throw at problems to make them go away, she has two dutiful children (the third, and oldest, having run off to London after finding out that he wasnât Arthurâs biological son) and Linda doesnât really want for much. She likes control and she likes not having to work. Though she does write a little in her spare time, which is probably where her son Eric gets his creative streak.
The Matthews family never used to think all the murder and craziness in Baberton would touch them until their son Eric was taken by the first killer (Daisy Ramsey) and was presumed dead for a long time. When he finally returned, memories gone but alive, Linda was overjoyed. She didnât entirely want his memories to come back as sheâd grown a little unhappy with the way her son was behaving lately (getting drunk and married to Imogen Ford for one) but she played the part of the doting mother as he recovered his memories and got back to normal.
Linda can come off as overbearing and controlling, especially towards her kids. She wants whatâs best for them but only if she approves of it. She doesnât like anybody Eric has dated, she doesnât like that Alex is off in London running a nightclub, and she doesnât like that Celia likes to go by her middle name of Molly. She refuses to call the girl Molly, she named her Celia and sheâll call her Celia. Linda drifts around town, sticking her nose into other peopleâs business, meddling in her childrenâs lives and throwing money at problems that arenât any of her business. Sheâs a little apprehensive of the killer running around but she doesnât think itâll touch her family again.
Her biggest concern right now is Eric marrying Imogen Ford againâŠ. a girl completely beneath him and not at all in the plan. He was meant to marry Kirsty Marks, not some spawn of crazy, poor scum. Not to mention the crazy girl threw a drink over her when she graciously invited the two of them to dinner, and then hit her when she went over to âtalkâ (yes, she might have insulted her and called her and her mother crazy and semi threatened to take the baby away⊠but thatâs not the point). Linda went to the police station to report it but Lauren Hayes managed to talk her down. Linda is definitely planning to take action though⊠sheâs not having her grandchild raised by crazy.
Slept with Harry Pierce while he was on a break from his wife, Isabel some years ago. Linda found out she was pregnant with her son Alexander not long after. Instead of getting rid of the child, which was conceived only while she and Arthur were dating, Linda used the baby to get him to marry her. For his money. Linda has always been selfish like that and she knew she could have a good life with Arthur. By the time she worked up the courage to tell Arthur the truth, after the baby was born, there was no getting out of the marriage for him without losing a significant amount of money. Linda knew this, which is the only reason she told him the truth. Now they just have to keep it from their other two children and the rest of the town, especially Isabel Pierce, who works for the local newspaper and the last thing Linda or Arthur wants is their name smeared all over the front pages and dragged through the mud like plenty of others in this town. They have a reputation to protect.
