Richard was an acquaintance of Rachel Hughes who became a friend of Zoe Tate as he helped her with her sexuality.
After seeing Zoe struggle with her sexuality, her friend Archie Brooks wanted to help her meet people to get her through it and asked Rachel if she had any gay friends from university that he could introduce his friend to. However, Rachel misunderstood and assumed Archie was gay and had made up the friend so when Richard arrived for the village barbecue Rachel tried to set them up. Archie realised what happened when Richard offers to skip the barbecue and escort him to a gay club instead and explained to him about Zoe. Zoe ended up getting along well with Richard as he listened to her and he continued to help her through it by taking her to discos to meet people and a poetry reading where she met his friend Jude Clayton.