Sir Roysten Merchant

Sir Roysten Merchant is a wealthy businessman, unofficially based on a combination of Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch, who buys out Globelink News in the first episode and remains the owner of the company throughout all six series. He is unseen on screen until a brief appearance in the final show, in which he is played by Roger Hammond and suggests that he does not know who Gus is.

Sir Roysten is a terrifying figure, with a large business empire. He is also involved in housing, shipping, and sundry more shady enterprises which, based on the information that occasionally comes to attention of the GlobeLink News team, border on (if not specifically involve) the illegal. On buying the company Sir Roysten installs Gus Hedges (see above) in order to prevent any potentially damaging information being leaked out in news stories. Sir Roysten is a right-wing figure, supporting both Margaret Thatcher and John Major. However, when Major and the Conservative government begin to weaken from 1994, his support starts to shift, and with the Labour victory in 1997 Sir Roysten defects to Tony Blair. Gus' defence of his liege lord even extends, in "But Is It Art?", to buying a 'defamatory' art installation for £15,000 (seemingly of his own money) in order to destroy it.

In private, it is known that Sir Roysten visits prostitutes, and that his wife, Lady Caroline, also has many affairs. He has a daughter, Octavia, who works for a brief time in the GlobeLink office, and a son, Roy Jr., who lives in fear of his father. Other offspring are not named, aside from one reference from Gus to a "Roystonia" — however no further information is provided. Persistent rumours circulate to the effect that Sir Royston’s father, who was also a businessman, was a Nazi sympathiser and war profiteer. Sir Roysten has several pet rottweilers and an armed personal security team who guard his mansion.