Robert Grove is the longest serving member of the Cornley Drama Society. He was the lead actor in The Murder At Haversham Manor, and the Assistant Director of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
Robert is passionate about theatre, and thinks of himself as an expert in acting and dramaturgy. He tends to be over the top at times, and tries to hog the spotlight. Robert also has a rivalry with Chris Bean, as both are senior members of the company and likes to refer to himself as the lead actor of the society. Feeling that he's a good actor, he spent his part of the Cornley Drama Festival teaching an acting masterclass, and he has written multiple acting books (although they do not seem to be selling well, as he tries to give them away as Christmas presents in "Spirit of Christmas", and Sandra Wilkinson is the only person ever known to have actually opened a copy).
He is less serious than Chris, enjoying the attention of the audience regardless of situation, but gets frustrated with other members of the company when they mess up, like his niece, Lucy. There are several running gags involving him getting stuck in things, such as doorways or on falling platforms. In "Summer Once Again", Robert leads a coup against Chris and takes over as the director of the play but the play keeps going wrong so Robert being a perfectionist keeps restarting the play again from the beginning.
No much is known about his personal life other than he has a unnamed sister about his age, who appears in "A Christmas Carol", and a niece, Lucy. In "The Spirit of Christmas", Robert has a bit of breakdown during the play after getting drunk and reveals that his wife/girlfriend Denise has left him and he's living in his car.
Chris and Robert have known each other for a long time, and are friends. They have had rivalries in the past, especially during the events of A Christmas Carol. Chris made cutting remarks towards Robert and Robert attempted to grievously injure Chris, but they made up by the end (though Robert was somewhat annoyed that Chris had been seen snogging his sister and discussing a possible career move which would involve her, but not the rest of the Cornley Drama Society). They are also the only characters that have canonically worked together outside the scope of the CDS. In “A Christmas goes wrong”, ( a BBC radio 2 broadcast from 2016). It’s revealed that Robert has previously tried to have a relationship with Chris’ mother as he is heard having a phone call about booking a hotel room with her from the hotel.
Robert gets annoyed at Dennis' antics a lot, and generally looks down on him. However, in the See it Safely Covid Safety video, it is stated that they live together. However it’s been revealed in “A Christmas goes wrong” that Robert has slept with Dennis’ mother, it’s also revealed in the same broadcast that Dennis viewed and/or still does view Robert as a father figure, referring to him as “dad”. During 'Summer Once Again', when Robert had led the coup against Chris and was director for that week's play, he resorted to physical violence when Dennis kept screwing up his lines when reading them from a cue card, once by throwing a book at him and then twice smacking him later on.
Robert's opinion of Trevor seems to be that of an entitled actor that looks down on the crew as "lesser" members of the theater. During 'The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1', when Robert asks Chris what it's like to be stage manager and Trevor responds that it can be as challenging and as reward as acting, Robert scoffs and dismisses this, showing that he views Trevor's responsibilities as much less important than acting. Robert expects Trevor to do his job and feed him his lines when he forgets, which he does with varying levels of effectiveness. Trevor is sometimes forced to mitigate Robert's choices as part of his job (see Trevor's attempts to keep the sherry out of a very drunk Robert's hands during The Spirit of Christmas), creating yet more reasons for Robert to become frustrated with him.
As director of "Summer Once Again" Robert arranges to film a bedroom scene between himself and Sandra. Unlike Sandra, Robert does not seem upset that it is used only in very speeded up form. During his masterclass in "The Cornley Drama Fastival Part 1", when lining up the actors in terms of talent, Robert lists Sandra as number 2 after himself. This shows that he respects her skills as an actor, even if he does offer critique on them at times.
Lucy is Robert's niece. She suffers dreadfully from stage fright, made worse by Robert frequently bullying her, especially in "Peter Pan" and "No Escape". In both "Peter Pan" and "Christmas Carol" she is accidentally injured by him - in Peter Pan when he causes part of the set to fall on her, and in Christmas Carol when he attempts to drop an object on Chris and misses, in both cases resulting in her needing crutches (although she conveniently already had a crutch in Christmas Carol as she is playing Tiny Tim). Both times that he accidentally injured her, Robert showed concern for her, showing that despite his bullying of her acting, he does care for his niece.
As of The Christmas That Goes Wrong, it is revealed that Robert Grove is in a relationship with Chris' Mother, Celia Bean. Not much else is known about their relationship other than Robert believes her to "not be affectionate enough".
The role of Robert Grove was originated by Henry Lewis.
Both The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong are live performances, and there are a number of actors that have played the role of Robert Grove throughout the years.
