Rick Barber

Rick Barber (played by Daniel Pearson) is a resident of Elm Tree House, and later Ashdene Ridge, during the third series of "Tracy Beaker Returns" and the first two series of "The Dumping Ground"; he went into care when his parents went to prison for fraud. Rick is tall with brown hair and blue eyes. He is nice but can also be moody at times. He is a very fair character, and has good morals. He finds a friend in Carmen, is naturally protective of Tyler, he plays the guitar and enjoys listening to his parents old vinyl records, feeling that they are all that is left of the memories he had with them.

Rick expresses a wish for a sibling, but says his parents never had more children as it was impractical in case they needed to pack up and leave suddenly, due to being scammers. When Rick and Carmen become closer, Carmen learns more about Rick's character. He tells Carmen that both of his parents used to con people out of money. Things were good for a while until his parents got sent to prison and Rick ended up in the care home. Rick feels guilty because his parents used to involve him in their scams and this meant that his parents were able to purchase nice things for him. He regrets benefitting from exploiting people.

In Dreamland ("The Dumping Ground" series 1, episode 8), Rick gets a huge shock when he finds his dad, disguised as a boiler man, inside the Dumping Ground. Gerry is on leave from prison for a short amount of time and insists that he's above board now and promises Rick a happy family future, but it quickly becomes clear that Gerry still loves the buzz of a hustle, and Rick is distraught.

Rick leaves Ashdene Ridge/The Dumping Ground in between the second and third series of "The Dumping Ground".