Andrew Powell

Andrew Powell
Species:	Human
Affiliated with:	Winterborne School
Place of origin:	Earth
First appearance:	The Devil of Winterborne
Appearances:	HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne
Main TV actor:	Reece Shearsmith

Andrew James Powell was a student at the Winterborne Public School.

Biography

Andrew shared a room at Winterborne with Christian Purcell and Luke Pendrell, with whom he was friends. He stayed with the pair at the school during Whitsun in 1995, being told that he could go home in a week "with good behaviour". He hated the school and would have done anything to leave, shown when he expresses confusion at Christian’s consistent decisions to remain there.

Andrew, Christian and Luke found Barbara Taploe's dog Badger's body in the woods, prompting Christian to teach Andrew about Isaac Greatorex and the history of the school. Andrew expressed a distaste for history and struggled to stay attentive. This led Andrew to provoking a pillow fight that led to Christian pinning his legs down and tickling him to his discomfort. Luke entered and Andrew continued to mock Christian’s history lessons as he attempted to teach them both. That night, he woke to Luke sneaking out of their room. When he attempted to find out what he was doing, a figure in a sheet scared him. Andrew believed this figure to be Greatorex’s ghost, as Christian’s history had a more profound effect on him than he’d anticipated. Luke did not return to his bed and Andrew believed him to be missing. He called the police (Liz Shaw and D.I. Burke) and, when questioned at the phone box, informed a sceptical Gavin Purcell. Shaw and Burke helped him search the loft and he briefly lost his temper with Burke’s scepticism. The three came across Luke’s necklace, Shaw comforting him when he reacted sadly. Luke turned up later that day, so he made an apology for wasting the detectives’ time.

Soon after Luke’s return, Andrew discovered the nature of Luke and Christian’s relationship when he saw them kissing. On Luke's birthday, he and Christian brought him a cake and found him dead with Gavin Purcell standing over him holding a rope. Andrew did not believe that Purcell had done it and wondered if it had been suicide. The two boys were dismissed from the school due to the trauma of losing Luke. Taploe helped the two pack and discovered Badger’s collar in Christian’s suitcase. When this happened, Andrew did not lie for him and was taken captive by him after Taploe was killed by Christian. Christian revealed to Andrew that he thought himself to be Greatorex reincarnated. He planned to kill Andrew to fully resurrect Greatorex, by whom he was possessed. Christian compared Andrew to Jesus Christ, explaining that his death would be a sacrifice for his/Greatorex’s eternal life. Andrew was saved by Liz and Burke with Christian vanishing into thin air after diving from the bridge. (HOMEVID: The Devil of Winterborne)

In the following months, Andrew was plagued by nightmares. One of these nightmares includes witnessing the execution of Isaac Greatorex, whose clothing then changes to a school uniform so that he identifies the man as Christian. Christian, hanging from a noose, tells him to “accept it”.

Andrew returned to the school after a period of time away recovering from the traumatic ordeal, deciding that it was best to confront things. He was assigned the same room, and he is seen clutching Luke’s necklace upon entering it. The sight of Margaret Wyndham, the new headmistress, shocked him at first as he’d witnessed the death of her identical twin (Taploe). He had visions of Christian (in truth, the spirit of Greatorex) who tried to convince him to kill any one of his fellow students, specifically one of his roommates Max Rosenberg and Ian Burgess. He refused, but Max repeatedly got on his nerves by being insensitive about the trauma he faced, causing him to consider it.

He was hurt when walking in on Max and Ian faking a séance and joking about Greatorex.

A newspaper documenting Purcell’s release from prison reached Winterborne and Andrew kept it with him.

He was visited by Liz, who told him that Christian's body had been found. He hoped that that would mean an end to his nightmares. He gave Luke’s necklace to her.

Andrew agreed to show the loft to Max where he revealed that he was being manipulated by Greatorex. He berated Max for not understanding the severity of his situation. He stabbed and killed Max and drank some of his blood, guided by ‘Christian’ who licked the blood from his face. Purcell walked in on the ritual, calling Christian’s name and revealing that Christian is not just inside Andrew’s head.

The ritual worked and Greatorex appeared when called by Liz and Margaret. He initially appeared as Christian, accompanied by Andrew, but passed from Christian to Gavin. When Christian vanished and Gavin spoke as Greatorex, he jumped on his back whilst Margaret and Liz banished him.

Andrew did not face any form of prosecution for Max’s murder. He sought reassurance from Liz that the trauma was over, and informed her that he planned to remain at the school to finish his exams. He makes light of the situation, quoting “better the devil you know”.(HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne)