Joy Merryweather

"Your planet called, said your mission on Earth was over and could you go home."

- Joy responding to Sally's request for messages in Luck.

Joy Merryweather is entirely wrongly named; she is in no way joyful or merry. She began in series 2 as a cynical and surly personal assistant; in later series, she becomes increasingly aggressive and vindictive. There are a few occasions throughout the series when she shows sensitivity however. George often remarks that she is the most efficient production assistant GlobeLink has ever had.

Joy began as a background character, intended to feed topical gags; however her popularity with audiences was such that she took an increasingly prominent role and eventually had a number of storylines of her own. Perhaps the most significant of these in terms of character development was the Series 5 episode The Graveyard Shift, in which it is revealed that her father, (already established as an alcoholic, and, according to Joy, "wanted to be Peter Stringfellow") abandoned the family; her mother "went from Valium addiction to nervous breakdown to attempted suicide," and all of her brothers and sisters were affected by psychological problems, (except, at least in her own mind, Joy herself); her brothers are named "Jolly" (who is in "Wormwood Scrubs") and "Happy", (who was "released into the care of the doorway"), and her sister's name is "Merrily" (who is "in a detox centre").

In the final series, Joy has much of her doodled artwork put on display as she looks set to find a new career — only to discover she is being conned by the man and apparent lover behind the exhibition, and gets revenge by tying him up and exhibiting him naked at one of her art exhibitions. Her best friend from childhood is a Buddhist. Joy's childhood nickname was "Flopsy", which she put an end to by force-feeding worms to the boys in question.