Tony Morecombe was the first and original probation worker sent by Wertham council to oversee juveniles on community payback scheme. Tony was the original probation worker of the "Asbo Five" who fell victim to the storm which exaggerated his violent tendencies and his general dislike for anti-social youths, while also granting him superhuman strength and durability.
Characterisation
Tony Morecombe was the probation officer for the Misfits, who after the storm seems to enter a zombie-like state and gain super strength, as well as enhanced durability.
He is killed by Kelly and buried under concrete after he murders Gary, the sixth member of their community service group and tries to attack the rest. The police believe that he is residing out of the country after Simon steals his credit card to fake activity and leave the impression he is still alive. When attacking the Misfits, Tony appears to be in a rage-filled mode, evidencing extreme physical effects, including violent twitching and eerily pale eyes. While it is not yet implicitly suggested that his post-storm state is linked to his personality, it is later revealed in Episode 4 that he does in fact have violent tendencies, as he repeatedly kicks the wall in a multi-storey car park after realising that his car, containing a diamond engagement ring for Sally, has been stolen.
These violent manifestations, as well as a strong dislike for anti-social teenagers (as shown in episodes 1 and 4) are exaggerated by the storm, both in his transformed state and his role as probation worker. He seemed to have some initial resistance after the storm, but it was clear from his spasms he struggled to maintain his sanity even for the short time he had it.
Character History
Series 1
While the Misfits are doing their community service, a storm appears and a bolt of lightening strikes them along with their probation worker which gives them superpowers, with Tony's power being superhuman strength, durability and berserker rage. After their community service is over, Tony begins to struggle to maintain his sanity, as evidenced by violent twitching and eerily pale eyes, he later loses it momentarily while in a lavatory where he hacks the sixth member of the Misfits to death with a pick axe in one of the cubicles.
The following morning, "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" is seen spray-painted onto the side of the community centre. It is later revealed that the person who did this was Tony, who had confiscated all of the Misfits phones earlier that day. When he tries to prevent Kelly from leaving and she hits him in his nose,
he loses his sanity yet again, and yanks a piece of metal off the a gate, showing his superstrength. He then chases Kelly, attempting to kill her. She leads him back to the community centre where the other four young offenders are. As the five are running, they stumble across Gary's bloody corpse, which has been stuffed into a locker. Tony then busts through a glass door and was beaten to death by Kelly in self defense. The Misfits then bury Tony's and Gary's bodies under a bridge next to a river bank.
The following day, a new probation worker called Sally appears and explains that Tony's and Gary's families are very worried over their disappearance, suggesting that Tony's parents and or other family relatives are still alive.
The majority of series one revolves around the Misfits trying to keep the manslaughter of Tony a secret. Over the following week, the Misfits find sheets of paper taped to the doors of their lockers with the words "I know what you did" written on them, with a missing poster of Tony on it, confirming the message to be about his disappearance. On the missing poster, it is also revealed that Tony's family name was Morecombe. While the Misfits are chatting, Simon records Nathan reminding everyone that they killed Tony.
Tony makes a brief appearance on a wallpaper of Sally's laptop, revealing that the two were in a romantic relationship at the time of his death. In the episode, the Misfits are forced to dig up Tony's and Gary's rotting corpses because a monitoring station is being built under the bridge. They hide the bodies in Sally's car for a while and then bury the corpses back in the exact place they were before, only after the construction workers are done digging. Simon also steals Tony's credit card to book a flight to Spain to give the impression that Tony is still alive.
In episode four, Tony makes his first physical appearance in the series since the first episode, in a scene that is set before the events of the first episode, where he is bowling with girlfriend at the time, Sally. As they are leaving, they find out that Tony's car has been stolen. He reacts by violently kicking the wall, showing that Tony has violent tendencies, which reveals how his power was linked to his personality. When he calms down, he informs Sally that her engagment ring was in the car and that he intended on proposing to her, which she then accepts.
In an alternative timeline, where Curtis doesn't get community service, it is shown that without him Tony would have continued his killing spree with Simon, Kelly and Alisha being his final victims. Nathan was also brutally beaten but Tony was unable to kill him due to his (at the time) unknown power of immortality. This is hinted at when Nathen tells Curtis that the paramedics found him 'half-dead'.
In the present day, Sally found Tony's credit card in Simon's locker, meening that Sally and the police are now aware that Tony was not the one who booked the flight to Spain.
Tony makes a brief appearance in this episode through archive footage from the first episode on one of Simon's short films where he filmed the storm which gave them their powers. In this episode, Sally finally finds concrete evidence that the Misfits killed Tony when she finds a recording on Simon's phone of Nathan reminding everyone of what they did. (See 1.2) When Sally tries to run to the police, she is accidentally killed by Simon and in subsequent episodes has her body weighed down into the river, disposing of all evidence of her murder.
Series 2
Tony's role in series two is extremely minimal by comparison to the prior series. He does not have a part of any significance in the second series, although he is mentioned several times throughout its duration. He is mentioned in episode one when Detective Pete explains to Shaun (another probation worker) that the police are very suspicious of the Misfits, as they believe they are probably linked to the disappearances of Tony and Sally. He is also mentioned when Nathan comes up with the ludicrous idea that Shaun may have been Tony's biological brother or adopted brother. Later, Lucy, a shape-shifter, takes on the guise of Simon. She intends on revealing information of their crimes, but then chooses not to. The police presumably shelved the investigation of the disappearance of the two probation workers, as the mystery is not mentioned or referred to by anyone other than the main characters for what was left of the series.
Tony was not mentioned or referred to again until the series two finale, when the Misfits' powers have been revealed to the public. When they find an agent to represent them, Nathan asks "hypothetically" what would happen if the potential murders of the group's probation workers went public. The agent assures them that she would be on their side. However, this event is undone altogether by Curtis later on when he turns back time and prevents their powers from going public in the first place. Curtis did this as a result of most of the group being murdered by Brian via the use of his power.
Tony is briefly referred to by Curtis in the Christmas special when he states that they "killed loads of people", a reference to their first two probation workers.
Series 3
Tony's ghost returns to the community centre, after being brought back by a man who can contact the dead. It is revealed that he chases Kelly, just like he did in Series 1. However, he only chased her because he wanted to talk to her about why he was back. It is unknown if he still possessed his power after coming back as a ghost, however, considering that Tony does not go into his rage-filled state when Kelly and Simon beat him with a fire extinguisher, it seems unlikely.
Trivia
- Tony is played by Danny Sapani in his normal state, but when his power activates he is played by Louis Decosta Johnson.
- Like most people, Tony's power reflects his personality. Tony has been shown to have a temper and a dislike for badly behaved youths, resulting in his power giving him fits of uncontrollable rage.
- Tony was beaten to death with an empty paint can, and when he came back as a spirit, hit over the head twice with a fire extinguisher.
- Out of the five probation workers who have appeared in the series so far, Tony is the only one that we know of who was affected by the Storm (not including Lola, who claimed to be a trainee probation worker but turned out not to be).
- Tony was the first probation worker ever seen on the show.
- Tony has met Kelly, Nathan, Alisha, Curtis and Simon. He met Rudy as a ghost.
Appearances
Episodes
Series 1
Series 3
- "Episode 8" (last appearance, as a spirit)