FDO Roberta Cryer   played by Moya Brady

First appearance    # 033 (08/08/02)     

Roberta 'Robbie' Cryer operated Sun Hill police station's front desk for a time. She was brought up by foster parents in Blackpool and because of this had learned to be pretty self-reliant. Her voracious appetite for life meant that she'd lived in a variety of places. She came down to London originally to work as a receptionist in a toilet roll factory. Unsurprisingly, this proved to be pretty tedious and Robbie was soon looking for another job. Being a copper was one thing she hadn't tried and so the idea appealed - being the receptionist offered her a taste of police life without having to go through all the training. Robbie was very bright and so often got drawn into investigations as the personnel involved passed through the front office. And of course, her uncle - Bob Cryer - used to serve at the station, so he was always on the other end of the phone to help her out with her theories, sharing his knowledge of the area, and local criminals.

The minute Robbie got behind the front desk it became the hub of the station as her love of life and people meant she got involved with everything. She was a terrible gossip - knew everything there was to know about everyone and couldn't help telling anyone who didn't know. However, there wasn't any malice in it and she always saw the good in people; she was an eternal optimist. She soon made a close group of friends with her infectious spirit. The girls loved hearing about her exploits, past and present, and they had raucous fun as a group. She was lively, animated and fascinated by police work - certainly brightening up the station's social life!

Unfortunately, Robbie's career at Sun Hill was cut short when she failed to answer an urgent assistance call from PC Cathy Bradford, which resulted in her being badly assaulted. Despite attempts to collect a dossier of Cathy's misdemeanours and the revelation that her wounds were actually self-inflicted, Robbie was forced to leave the Met.