Aidan Brosnan

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EastEnders character
Aidan Brosnan
Portrayed by	Sean Maguire
Introduced by	Leonard Lewis
Duration	1993
First appearance	14 January 1993
Last appearance	28 December 1993
Status	Single
Home	Ireland
Occupation	Apprentice footballer

Aidan Brosnan was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Sean Maguire between January and December 1993. A popular character, Aidan was involved in storylines about homlessness, drug-abuse and suicide. His relationship with the character Mandy Salter was a dominant storyline in the serial throughout 1993.

[edit] Character creation and development

The character of Aidan was introduced on-screen in January 1993 by executive producer, Leonard Lewis. The role was cast to actor Sean Maguire. Having been a familiar face on children's television for many years, Maguire was previously most famous for playing Tegs in BBC's school drama, Grange Hill.^[1]

Aidan was introduced as a talented young Irish football apprentice at Walford Town Football Club. He was soon taken in by the Fowler family as a lodger, leading to his association with Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), an established character who had been an EastEnders regular since the Spring of 1992. Aiden and Mandy's romance was of one of 1993's "major storylines", which ran throughout the year.^[2] Depicted as shy, naïve and impressionable, Aidan was quickly led astray by the troublesome Mandy, signifying the start of the character's misfortune and decline.^[3] In the storyline, a knee injury ended his promising football career, and after Mandy introduced him to alcohol and drugs and he fell out with his family in Ireland, the character ended up homeless and sleeping on the streets or in abandoned squats. Aidan slipped into a depression, culminating in an suicide attempt, when in the Christmas day 1993 episodes, Aidan decided to jump off the top of a tower block. The producers' original plan had been for Aidan to succeed in his suicide bid; however, in the book EastEnders: The First Ten Years, author Colin Brake has revealed that "the powers-that-be" at the BBC intervened in the storyline. They felt that a suicide on Christmas day would be "too depressing even for EastEnders", so they ordered for the scripts to be revised.^[2] In the revised version, Mandy arrived just in time to stop Aidan jumping to his death, her love for him convincing him not to end his life.^[4] 23 million viewers tuned in on Christmas day 1993 to witness Aidan's suicide attempt; it was the highest rated television programme of the day, trumping its biggest rival Coronation Street by 3 million viewers.^[5] Nevertheless, the storyline spelt the end of the character's time in the soap, Sean Maguire having chosen to leave to pursue other projects. The following episode, Aidan — resenting Mandy for her role in his misfortune — left to return to Ireland alone.^[4]

Although the character's duration was relatively short — he appeared in only 63 episodes of the soap — Aidan became "a very popular" character, particulalry with the young audience.^[6][2] EastEnders' scriptwriter Colin Brake has suggested that by the end of his stint in the soap, Sean Maguire's status as a teen pin-up "put him in the Take That league" (a popular British boyband).^[2] Sean Maguire's departure upset his fans, though the actor attempted to develop his appeal towards the young audience by becoming a television presenter and a pop singer.^[2][7]

[edit] Storylines

Aidan was first seen in January 1993 as a young, Irish, apprentice footballer for "Walford Town FC". When Arthur Fowler noticed his talents he offered to assist him as his coach and keeper. Aidan went to live with Arthur and his wife Pauline at no. 45 Albert Square.

Aidan caught the attention of Mandy Salter and it wasn't long before they had began a relationship, much to the concern of Arthur who was aware of Mandy's past misdemeanours. Mandy was a bad influence on Aidan. After persuading him to skip football practice she got him drunk on tequila and would have seduced him if Mark Fowler had not interrupted. Whilst on his way home, Aidan (still extremely drunk) climbed on top of a parked car and fell off, severely injuring his leg. Aidan was out of action for a while, but his leg did recover; however, shortly after he was involved in another accident during football training. As a result, Aidan could never play football again and his promising career was over.

Mandy and Ricky Butcher tried to cheer Aidan up by luring him into club-culture. After taking ecstasy, Aidan passed out in an ecstasy-induced coma and was hospitalised. He recovered from the incident, but after his parents heard of his escapades they forced him to return to Ireland. Mandy was not willing to give her boyfriend up so easily; she followed him home and dragged him back to the square in the summer where they quickly became Walford's most hated residents.

Upon returning, Mandy and Aidan found themselves with nowhere to live, so they broke into Pete Beale's vacant flat and attempted to claim squatters rights, which lasted a couple of days before Grant and Phil Mitchell physically removed them. Left homeless, they began sleeping on the streets. During the following months they survived by begging, stealing prescription pads from Dr. Legg and selling them on to drug-dealers, and stealing food whenever they could. Mandy turned to clipping (soliciting as a prostitute and then running away with the unsatisfied client's money), which ended after she was arrested and Aidan made her promise to stop. They eventually took up residence in a rundown flat at number 5 Albert Square. They stole electricity from the neighbouring houses, causing a massive power cut on the square; the electricity board soon put a stop to their scam. Meanwhile, Aidan and Mandy would spend what little money they did manage to earn on alcohol and drugs.

Homeless Aidan, taken over by depression, contemplates suicide (Christmas day 1993).

Towards the end of 1993 they both found employment at the First Til Last grocery store in Bridge Street, but when the job fell through they began to go into decline. Aidan received news from his parents telling him that his grandmother had died, but because they were unable to reach him he only discovered the news on the day of her funeral. Aidan visited Ireland briefly with money his parents had sent him, but upon his return he discovered that Richard Cole had started a smear campaign in his absence — wrongly accusing him and Mandy of being behind a series of robberies around the Square. Everyone began to turn against them and Aidan became increasingly ill and depressed. Things worsened when Richard purchased the flat they were squatting in. When they refused to leave Richard broke into their squat and evicted them days before Christmas. Aidan received a letter from his parents telling him that he was a parasite on humanity and that they were disowning him. After reading this, Aidan's depression became so bad that he attempted to commit suicide on Christmas Day, by nearly jumping off the top of a tower block. Mandy managed to stop him just in time, but Aidan blamed Mandy for his misfortune. He deserted her before the end of the year, returning to Ireland to reconcile with his parents. Mandy was devastated to lose Aidan and left Walford early in 1994.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Aidan Brosnan at bbc.co.uk