Varun Singh

Varun Singh (died 2016) was the father of Ram Singh. He was married to Janeeta Singh. (PROSE: Joyride) Varun was a Sikh, and practised Kesh. He had a beard, and wore a turban at all times. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die, The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo, Brave-ish Heart )

Varun was a dental surgeon and ran his own dental surgery practice (PROSE: Joyride) at Franley House. He was a fan of the film The Lord of the Rings. (TV: Brave-ish Heart)

Varun cared very much about his son and would be at every one of his football training sessions. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die, The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo)

He helped Ram practice from a young age, lining up the balls for him, when he was so small he'd sometimes fall over them. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo)

When Ram revealed what had been happening to him, and showed Varun his prosthetic leg, he encouraged his son to keep on practising until he got better again. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo) Varun felt bad that he could not tell his wife the truth, but Ram made him promise. (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart) When Tanya Adeola told him that Ram had travelled to the Underneath he went to Coal Hill to escape the killer petal attack. After April opened a tear back to Earth he went to the Underneath to get Ram back. (TV: Brave-ish Heart)

When Miss Quill told him that Ram did not attend school, he cancelled all appointments for the day at his dental surgery and returned home to search for his son. After Ram returned home safely, Varun was afraid to let him out of his sight and even wanted to accompany him to Poppy's funeral, but Ram vetoed it. Ram also decided to keep the whole business of somebody else controlling his body to himself, in order not to scare his dad even further. (PROSE: Joyride)

In December, Varun was helping Ram train at football. When Ram eventually gave up and threw his ball down. As Ram walked away across the field, Varun should to him that he shouldn't give up. Corakinus suddenly appeared through a tear and stabbed him with his Shadow Kin scimitar. Ram ran back over to him just as he disintegrated. (TV: The Lost)

Behind the scenes
Aaron Neil, who plays this father of a Coal Hill student, also previously played a Coal Hill teacher, A. Dunlop, in the television story The Magician's Apprentice.