gary lived with robbie's mother, carol jackson (lindsey coulson), as her boyfriend, and her daughter bianca (patsy palmer) until a year after robbie's birth. when david wicks (michael french) is revealed as bianca's father in 1994, carol tells robbie she had left his father because he was having relationships with under-age girls; however, this is retconned when the character appears on-screen for the first time in 2001. he tries to get in touch with robbie on his eighteenth birthday by phoning carol's father jim branning (john bardon), but jim refuses to give gary carol's number.