Anne Tranter [Character Review]

Character Review - Anne Tranter

We first meet Anne Tranter when she flags down Greg on the road near his home in Genesis. She needs Greg's help to rescue her partner Vic Thatcher, who is trapped beneath a tractor which she has overturned. Having rescued Vic, Greg tends to the man's wounds. Vic gives out screams of agony whilst Anne selfishly complains about the noise. It is from this point on that Anne's true colours are disturbingly revealed. Her privileged upbringing and class have made her arrogant and self obssessed. When Greg learns that she and Vic planned to have other survivors work for them for food he finds it difficult to disguise his distaste. In fact the more time he spends with her the more decided he becomes about his next course of action. He soon tells her in no uncertain terms that he will not stay with her, and instead will retrieve some drugs for Vic, and then head off alone. Anne is distraught and begs him to reconsider, but his mind is made up. As Greg drives off, leaving her behind, she makes a terrible decision that will have repercussions for some time to come. Anne decides to abandon crippled Vic for good and when Anne encounters Greg again (now with Jenny) at the quarry entrance, she tells him that Vic is dead! Her cool delivery of this lie has to make Anne one of the most villainous characters of the first series. That she doesn't remain with Greg and Jenny for long is also down to her self indulgence. She refuses to join them to locate the source of the smoke that Jenny has spotted, as she is cold and wants to be left alone. Anne does not turn up again until some months later in Revenge, and this time her past deeds are about to catch up with her. In the intervening period Greg and his fellow survivors have set up a community and retrieved a bitter Vic from the quarry (in Spoil of War) where Anne abandoned him. His intitial reticence to join up is entirely down to his intense desire to take revenge on Anne, if and when she returned for the food and drink supplies there. He needn't have worried as Anne unwittingly arrives at his new home, the Grange. Her timing could not be worse as Vic has just attempted to take his own life due to his immobilty and perceived uselessness. Greg is naturally disturbed by her arrival and immediately warns her that Vic is present. Agreeing to depart the next morning, Anne is rightly gripped with fear at what Vic might do if he could get her hands on her. Vic does learn of her presence and succeeds in shaming her in front of the community and her new partner Donnie, whom she also mistreats badly. Vic waits until evening to take the ultimate revenge but Anne is waiting for him. After a tussle and Anne's near throttling, she pleads for her life essentially because survival is everything to her - 'she wants to live'. Vic eventually relents unable to kill the woman who very nearly killed him. In a surprising turn of events the couple end up talking to each other all night settling their differences. It is a testament to the effect Anne has upon Vic that she still fascinates him as she leaves the next morning. She knows she is lucky to leave the community with her life and begin afresh, but it is difficult to imagine her approaching her life any less selfishly as a result of this experience. The simple truth is that because she will always puts herself before everyone else, Anne is equipped to be a survivor. Myra Frances performance as Anne is undoubtedly one of the most powerful of the first series.

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