in june 2012, it was announced that kat moon, played by jessie wallace, would embark on a long-running mystery affair with another albert square resident. the identity of the mystery man was kept secret from both cast and crew, as well as viewers, and all scenes of kat with her lover were filmed with an extra. after the storyline was announced, ray was announced as one of five suspects as potential love interests for kat, along with, michael moon (steve john shepherd), max branning (jake wood), derek branning (jamie foreman) and jack branning (scott maslen). speaking of the storyline, executive producer lorraine newman said: "the consequences are not only great for kat and alfie, but also for each individual suspect. the audience will join the cast and crew guessing across the summer and autumn as we eliminate the suspects one at a time, leading to one almighty explosion." asked about the possibility that ray could be kat's lover, venn said that "kat's a saucy minx, and what man wouldn't want to get involved with her? ray is a loyal, caring father—but we all have our dark sides. there's a lot the audience hasn't seen yet, put it that way." daniel kilkelly from entertainment website digital spy said that ray appears to be a "decent family guy" and may not be the top suspect, but he is very flirtatious and his chef's job in the queen victoria, where kat is landlady, would give him the perfect opportunity. however, he questioned the likelihood of ray cheating on kim. ray was eliminated as a suspect in the episode broadcast on 7 august 2012, when he catches kat on the phone to her lover.