to Bridget. Clive also enjoys just enough professional success to maintain his career and his affluent lifestyle. In August 2008, Clive was made redundant, a fact Alex knew but used to win a bet. However, he soon returned after it emerged that the bank had fired the wrong Clive Reed. Bridget Mann is Clive's ex-wife. Unlike the pleasant Penny, Bridget has a calculating and sadistic temperament. She takes delight in any opportunity to expose Clive for the wimp and loser that he is. This, together with the affluent lifestyle that Clive somehow manages to provide, seems to have been her main reason for staying with him. In 2013, Clive and Bridget had a pair of twins, after years of failed IVF's; but two years later Clive discovered Bridget in bed with his American boss Cyrus. She subsequently expelled Clive from their house and has sought a divorce, which was finalized by December 2018. Rupert Sterling is a retired senior bank executive. For many years, he was Alex and Clive's boss, and before retirement he served as senior director at Megabank. He and Alex are on the same wavelength as regards status and appearances. This has not stopped Rupert from sacking Alex on a number of occasions, though never for long. Rupert was once tried and jailed for financial fraud; this did not affect his life style too much: his wife would arrive on visiting day only to be told that her husband was in a meeting. Greg Masterley is Alex's brother and a reporter. There appears to be little mutual affection or respect between the two siblings. Their elderly parents live in retirement. Sir Stewart Hardcastle is the stereotypical Northern boss of a manufacturing company. Hardcastle employs Megabank for a lot of his financial work. Bluff and down-to-earth, it is surprising that he puts up with Alex's expensive and flash City ways. Alex worked for him during the City slump in around 2002, though he found every excuse from getting away from Hardcastle's northern-based offices to enjoy the pleasures of London and Ascot. Previously always known as Mr Hardcastle, he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2013. Vince is a money broker from the dealing floor at Megabank. Representing the 'East End Barrow boy' type, Vince wears white socks, talks in cockney rhyming slang ("flute" = suit, "jam jar" = car) and is ignorant of the finer points of