Who is George in Bad Sisters? Character role explored
The two seasons of Bad Sisters that aired on Apple TV+ from 2022 to 2024 brought a blend of dark comedy with themes of family, friendships, and revenge. As the series title implies, the show follows the five Garvey sisters, who aren't that bad but are willing to go to extreme lengths, even if that's plotting to kill someone to protect one of their own.
For two seasons, the series brought a slew of mysteries and nerve-wracking scenes to the table, including the dead body that the youngest Garvey, Becka, discovered in her sister Eva's husband JP's basement. The dead body was George Williams, played by Paul Bentall, who was JP's father and a taxidermist who considered the basement his workplace in the series.
What happened to George in Bad Sisters?
Bad Sisters Season 1 has explained the circumstances behind George Williams' character. He was JP's father and worked as a taxidermist in the basement of their family home. In Episode 8, while the Garveys are well on their way to plotting JP's death, Becka visits the basement after JP's mom, Minna, mentioned that he was always there despite previously hating going there.
There, hidden in the walk-in freezer, Becka Garvey saw George's decomposed dead body. She recognized him from the old photos Minna had shown her. Discovering George's body opened up a whole mystery for Becka, ending with her thinking that JP had killed his father.
A flashback from years ago, during Episode 8, explained the events leading up to George's death. He was working in the basement stuffing dead animals, specifically a polar bear, the night JP visited him to borrow some money. While JP tried to butter his father up, George saw through his son's behavior. He didn't want to give JP the money, which triggered him, and he angrily went on his way out.
However, as he stepped out of the basement, a bat's body hit JP in the head. George, who was holding an animal's eyeball between his teeth, laughed at his son's misfortune and accidentally swallowed the eyeball. He started choking, but as JP started to return to help his father, he had second thoughts. In the end, he watched his father choke and die.
Nobody knew what happened to George except for JP, and nobody knew that George was dead except for him and Becka, who discovered that he kept George's body in the freezer. Minna, as she told Becka during one of their conversations, believed that George would be back one day, but she also had Alzheimer's. Just before JP died in Bad Sisters, he managed to dispose of his father's body, which he stuffed inside a suitcase, in the pond in their house's backyard.
In the Bad Sisters Season 2 premiere, landscapers working at JP's old family house discovered the suitcase with George's decomposing body. The discovery reopened the case of JP's murder and set the tone for the show's second season as the Garveys continue to evade the police, bury their previous murderous plots against their abusive brother-in-law, and keep quiet about knowing that Grace killed JP.
Paul Bentall played George in the series
English actor Paul Bentall played George Williams in Bad Sisters. While he only appeared in the series for a single episode, his character played a significant part in the backstory of the show's primary antagonist, John Paul.
Bentall, as an actor, has been in the business since 1978 when he guest starred in the TV series The BBC Television Shakespeare. He's worked in both minor and major roles in film and television since, including Flash Gordon, The World's End, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Bridget Jones's Baby. More recently, he joined the cast of the TV series Generation Z as Frank.
Catch the full installment of the two seasons of Bad Sisters only streaming on Apple TV+.
