List of Outrageous Fortune characters

Outrageous Fortune is a New Zealand comedy-drama television series, revolving around the West family. The series was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang. The series premiered on 12 July 2005 featuring an ensemble cast, which has included: Robyn Malcolm, Grant Bowler, Antony Starr, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Frank Whitten and Kirk Torrance.

Overview

'''Color key:'''

Main cast

Recurring cast

Main cast and characters

Cheryl West

Cheryl West is married to Wolfgang West, and in her early or mid forties. She is the mother of Van, Jethro, Pascalle and Loretta, and later becomes the grandmother and adoptive guardian of Jane. After Wolf is sent to prison early in series 1, Cheryl decides that she and the rest of the family will 'go straight'. After several short term stints working for other people, she and her friend Kasey start the Hoochie Mama lingerie firm. Cheryl runs the business until series 5, when she hands it over to Jethro. During series 1 she enters into a relationship with Wayne Judd, who at that time is a police detective. The relationship is initially secret, but Cheryl later leaves Wolf for Judd. She falls pregnant with Judd's child in series 4, but the baby is stillborn. At the end of series 5, Cheryl accidentally stabs D.S. Zane Gerard with a broken bottle as he arrests Pascalle. Gerard dies from his injuries and Cheryl is charged with murder and jailed. While she is in prison, Judd breaks up with her because he has fallen in love with Pascalle. In the second to last episode, Cheryl walks free after the police drop the murder charges, due to Gerard's dodgy past.

Wolfgang West

Wolfgang "Wolf" West is a career criminal in his forties, and the patriarch of the West family. He is married to Cheryl West when the show begins. Wolf has four children with her: Jethro, Van, Pascalle, and Loretta. He also has an illegitimate teenage son, whom Pascalle slept with during her promiscuous years, and a deceased infant daughter with Cheryl. At the start of series 1 he is sentenced to prison for four years, provoking Cheryl into trying to turn the family away from crime. In series 2 he is released on home detention after Jethro finds evidence that Judd had planted some evidence. Wolf walked out on his family halfway through series 2 due to Cheryl's affair with Judd, plus the fallout from the robbery of some motorbike gangs, but ended up coming back at the end of series 3. At the end of series 3 and during series 4 he had a relationship with Sheree Greegan, but at the end of series 4 he dumps her to go back to Cheryl, who rejects him. He leaves the country and in series 6 is revealed to be in Perth, Australia with his brother, Gary Savage. Throughout the show he opposes Cheryl's plan for the family to 'go straight' and repeatedly tries to get his sons involved in his criminal enterprises. All the West children look up to Wolf to some extent, although less so as the show progresses.

Van West

Van West is the twin brother of Jethro West, and is approximately 20 when the show begins. He is of below-average intelligence, which his family attribute to his being trapped in a freezer during a childhood game of hide and seek. Despite his simple ways, Van is shown to be very caring and fiercely loyal to those whom he loves. He is best friends with Munter, and the two start Tool Guys, a handyman business, together. He is also Munter's best man at his wedding to Kasey. In series 1 Van gets engaged to Draska Doslic, but she changes her mind and runs away from the wedding. In series 2 he reunites with his childhood sweetheart Aurora Bay and they become engaged, but she is then killed in a motorbike accident. Van becomes extremely depressed and gets back together with Draska, who fakes a pregnancy in order to keep him. He later dates his father's ex-girlfriend Sheree Greegan, until she attempts to kill him by staging a house fire, and leaves the country. He believes himself to be the father of her twins. In series 6 he falls in love, and in the finale marries, Elena, a Russian girl he met while doing a course at Unitec.

Jethro West

Jethro West is the twin brother of Van West, and is approximately 20 at when the show begins. Unlike his twin, he is highly intelligent and also very unscrupulous. In the first episode he graduates from law school, and he works as a lawyer for several series', first for a large firm and then on his own. Subsequently, he embarks on various entrepreneurial schemes, often of dubious morality and legality. These include legal party pills, property development, and Hoochie Mama, the lingerie firm originally owned by his mother. He has had a series of one-night stands and relationships, several of them with women who his brother has also been involved with. He is probably also the biological father of Sheree's twins. Early in the show, Cheryl is particularly proud of Jethro as she believes he has rejected his father's criminal ways. However she is heartbroken when it is revealed that in fact Jethro has only become a lawyer in order to be a more effective criminal.

Pascalle West

Pascalle West is Cheryl and Wolf West's oldest daughter. Pascalle is in her late teens when the show begins. In series 1 her ambition is to become a model like her hero Rachel Hunter. She manages to get some modelling work and also a degree of fame after having an affair with a local celebrity. In series 2 she is sentenced to community service at a retirement home after being caught shoplifting. The experience of looking after the elderly makes her less shallow and gives her a positive new age philosophy. While at the retirement home, she meets and becomes engaged to Dr. Bruce Khan. She tells him she is a virgin, when in fact she has been quite promiscuous. She agrees to star in a pornographic movie directed by Loretta in order to raise money to have hymen restoration surgery. However Bruce sees the movie and he dumps her. She then makes a series of internet videos about positive thinking, which are seen by American millionaire Milt Delaney, who she marries. Early in series 4 Milt has a heart attack and dies, making Pascalle a rich widow. She uses the money to start up a company selling 'the best bag ever'. The money attracts Loretta's boyfriend Nicky Greegan, who dumps Loretta for Pascalle. They become engaged, but Pascalle dumps Nicky after his sister Sheree defrauds Pascalle's company, putting her out of business. Pascalle becomes involved with Nicky's nemesis, D.S. Zane Gerard. After Nicky confesses to bank robbery in order to free Ted, Pascalle takes him back. Gerard begins harassing Pascalle and her family. At the end of series 5, this culminates in a raid on the West house in which Cheryl stabs Gerard and Gerard shoots Pascalle. Nicky escapes from prison and tries to persuade Pascalle to elope with him, but after an armed stand-off she refuses. Later in series 6 she falls in love with Judd and the two start an affair. At the end of the final series she leaves to be with him.

Loretta West

Loretta West, born in 1991, is the youngest daughter of Cheryl and Wolf West. She is very cynical and has no obvious moral compass until the final series. Her lack of morality is shown in acts such as allowing her best friend Kurt to be arrested for DVD piracy which she had in fact committed, and her attempts to sell her daughter Jane. Jane was the result of an accidental pregnancy which Loretta was unaware of until it was too late for her to have an abortion. Cheryl adopted Jane after foiling Loretta's attempts to sell her, but Loretta and Jane's father Hayden subsequently took on shared parenting. While Cheryl was in prison in series 6, Loretta and Hayden were Jane's primary caregivers, and the experience of motherhood seems to have softened and humanised Loretta, making her generally more considerate of others. Loretta owns or runs a string of small businesses over the course of the show, including a video store, a cleaning company, the Tool Guys, a legal party pill business, and a brothel. Towards the end of the series it is suggested that she has become like Cheryl.

Theodore West

Theodore "Ted" West is Wolf's elderly father, but in series 3 it is revealed that Wolf's mother Rita had cheated on him and Wolf might not be his son. Ted continues to live with the Wests after the revelation, and even after Wolf disappears from the picture, partly because Ted owns the house they all live in. Ted is a skilled safe cracker, and although mostly retired he still occasionally does 'jobs' for friends and family. Although he is a career criminal, Ted has a very strict moral code, which puts loyalty to family and friends above everything else, and forbids informing on anyone or pleading guilty to anything. He initially hated Judd, partly because Judd was a police officer but also because of Judd's involvement with Cheryl and Wolf's marriage breakup. However, when Wolf found a new partner, Ted felt Wolf had betrayed the family and subsequently bonded with Judd. Ted then worked for Judd's security firm. When Judd fell in love with Pascalle, Ted began hating him again. In the first two series' it was believed that Ted had Alzheimer's disease, but this was then revealed to be a brain tumor, which was surgically removed. In series 4 Ted marries Ngaire Munroe, the widow of one of Ted's old criminal associates, Lefty.