Terence and Billy scenes - January 2002 | EastEnders

Описание: Terence is a Lhasa Apso dog from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The character first appeared in the series on 29 October 2001, after being purchased as an 18th birthday gift for Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) by Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick). Despite being portrayed by a male dog, Caspar, who was later renamed after his character, Terence's gender was subject to dispute throughout their tenure and they were regularly referred to as both male and female, often in the same scene, which led to them being branded "non-binary" by fans of the show and nicknamed "Theirence".

Terence's casting was announced in October 2001, on the day of their arrival. Terence was portrayed by a male dog named Caspar, who was later renamed Terence after the character. In real life, the dog belonged to Gill Raddings, who also owned the three dogs that portrayed Wellard during the character's tenure, as well as Zoe Slater's (Michelle Ryan) cat, Baby. Upon the dog's introduction, Raddings said: "Terence is great. He was written in as a permanent character a couple of months ago. [...] I was told that they'd written in a Lhasa Apso so would I find and train one. So luckily having travelled the length and breadth of the country I found a breeder who very kindly agreed to sell me one of her young top show dogs." Raddings taught him all the "acting" skills he needed, such as sitting up and begging and barking on command. Terence was bred in Aldridge by Jay-nie Johnston and Naomi Hardman. Stunt Dogs spotted Terence and picked him because of his temperament. Raddings also described Terence as a "great, bold, outgoing and bombproof dog and noted that he "absolutely loves all the fuss and attention he gets. The cast adore him." Speaking of Terence's casting, the producers said they expected them to be "a long-term star of the show."

Following a resurgence of interest in the character, it was confirmed by Raddings in June 2025 that Terence had died several years prior, long after being written out of the show by the producers. She added that after working on several productions, Terence had been retired by the writers of EastEnders and subsequently "lived out their retirement as a much loved family pet".