Lofty Holloway
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| EastEnders character | ||||||||
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| Lofty Holloway | ||||||||
| Portrayed by | Tom Watt | |||||||
| Duration | 1985–1988 | |||||||
| First appearance | 26 February 1985 | |||||||
| Last appearance | 19 April 1988 | |||||||
| Profile | ||||||||
| Status | Divorced | |||||||
| Home | Bedfordshire | |||||||
| Occupation | Social worker | |||||||
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George "Lofty" Holloway was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Tom Watt. Lofty was one of the serial's original characters, making his first appearance in the third episode, 26 February 1985.
Lofty was generally depicted as a meek, luckless and hapless victim. A long running storyline concerned his relationship with the character, Michelle Fowler. Their unhappy marriage finally disintegrated after Michelle aborted his baby, and Lofty left Walford for a new start. The character made his final appearance on 19 April 1988.
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[edit] Character creation
[edit] Background
Lofty (George) Holloway was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Both felt that to help complete the community there was a need for a character in his early twenties. He had to be someone a bit different. Not brash and confident like a lot of the older men, and not boisterous like the younger ones. A loner, maybe someone forced to be a loner. A person who "stuck out like a sore thumb". Someone that was happiest in a group but still couldn't find one that he fit in with. Tony Holland had previously been in the army and found that ex-soldiers had these problems when they tried to reintegrate as civilians. So they decided that Lofty would be an ex-soldier, forced to quit because of his asthma. He was happiest in the army and felt incomplete without the group setting, the all-male camaraderie and even the security of the uniformity that the army provides.[1]
Lofty's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.
- "Born of a working-class London family, which was very respectable: Church of England and ex-army...Lofty grew up in a house where his father was only really happy when reminiscing about his army days and his mother was ultra-possessive and narrow minded...His friends were always vetted...He grew up to despise his mother and have a tolerant pity for his father...His best moments came in the Boy Scouts, the summer camp, and the feeling of belonging...On his eighteenth birthday, he walked into an army careers office and from then until the age of twenty-one had the happiest years of his life in the RASC...He adored the army - It gave him a uniform, and set the limits...Then the shock - he was discovered to be physically unfit...Dormant asthma...He was invalided out of the service...And, he had no taste for civilian life...His Auntie Irene (now in a hospice) secured the flat above Ethel Skinner's for Lofty...He misses the security of the Army...He works in the pub - cash in hand." (page 60)[1]
[edit] Casting
The invention of Lofty had been an afterthought, and during the casting he was still considered as something of an "enigma" to the creators and writers alike. This had made casting difficult as Holland and Smith were unsure about what they were looking for. The actor Tom Watt was suggested by one of the writers. Holland and Smith liked that his physical appearance (gauche and childlike) made him stand out (they likened him to the accident-prone sitcom character, Frank Spencer). It was decided that these attributes fit the character perfectly and Watt was subsequently cast in the role.[1]
[edit] Character development and impact
One of the most notable storylines Lofty was involved with was his marriage to the teenage mother, Michelle Fowler. Michelle and Lofty's church wedding was a massive target of press speculation before the episodes aired. They wanted to know two things, firstly the design of Michelle's dress, and secondly whether or not she would jilt Lofty at the altar.
Anticipating a press furore, it was decided to shoot the wedding in a church in private grounds where the press would not have access.[1] However the press still turned up in large numbers, and security men had to be hired to keep cameramen away from the story action. Huge lorries were parked in front of the entrance to the church so that nothing could be seen, and the cast arrived in disguise. Finally strong lights were shone into the eyes of the journalists and photographers, making them extremely angry, and they constantly tried to gain access to the grounds by breaking the security barrier and telling the production team that they were really extras needed inside the church.[1]
The entire episode was written by David Ashton, and was devoted to Lofty and Michelle's wedding day. At the time it was deemed as one of the best cliffhangers of the series, with the episode ending as the bride arrives at the church door and hesitates.[2] Michelle and Lofty's eventual marriage helped to consolidate a fast growing audience. The young couple had come together under enormously difficult circumstances. The subsequent storylines were purposefully built to keep the audience guessing about the future of their relationship. Were they married for the wrong reasons? Would the relationship survive? and what would happen if Lofty wanted a child that was their own?[1]
The character remained in the show for three years, and eventually departed in 1988 when the actor decided to move on. On screen, Lofty, heart-broken after Michelle aborted their child, moved on to become a handyman in a children's home.
[edit] Storylines
[edit] Background
George Holloway was affectionately known to everyone in Albert Square as 'Lofty', due to his 'above average' height. Before arriving in Walford he had been in the army, but was forced to quit because he suffered with chronic asthma.
Lofty worked for Den and Angie Watts as barman at the Queen Vic, and this often put him right in the centre of their volatile relationship. He even had to fend off Angie's attempts to seduce him one night after she'd embarked on one of her infamous drinking binges. Den would often bully him unnecessarily and he was also often on the end of a tirade of abuse from Nick Cotton, who viewed him as a useless, pathetic excuse of a man. Lofty initially lodged in the flat above Ethel Skinner. Ethel fussed over and mothered Lofty all the time, but she remained his trusted confidant throughout his time in the square. He was also great friends with fellow barman Simon Wicks, who supported him through some turbulent times.
Lofty's only known family was his aunt Irene. She lived in a hospice as she was stricken with inoperable cancer, which had been slowly killing her for years. Lofty was devoted to her and took on the task of caring and visiting her. He was devastated when she eventually died in 1987.
[edit] Lofty and Michelle
Lofty grew close to Michelle Fowler after she became mysteriously pregnant to an unknown man in 1985, and she would regularly turn to Lofty for a sympathetic ear. As a 'would be teenage mum' Michelle found the prospect of bringing up a child extremely daunting, which was compounded by the fact that she was still desperately in love with her unborn child's married father, who happened to also be Lofty's employer, Den Watts. Michelle and Den had a one-night stand in 1985, and Michelle was desperate to keep the paternity of her baby a secret, for fear of the ramifications that would follow should his identity be exposed.
Lofty found it difficult to see Michelle struggling in such a way, and so he made the chivalrous gesture of offering to marry her so he could help bring her baby up as his own. Although Michelle wasn't in love with Lofty, she worried for her financial future and so she decided to accept his proposal. Lofty was over the moon and when Michelle gave birth to daughter Vicki in 1986 he almost smothered them both in over-eager affection. On the date of the wedding day, Michelle began to have second thoughts about marrying Lofty, which wasn't helped when she was visited by Den moments before she was due to walk up the aisle. Realising that the marriage would be a sham Michelle jilted Lofty at the altar, leaving him a nervous wreck.
Michelle later had a change of heart and decided that she did want to marry Lofty after all, and they sneaked away together for a, quick, quiet wedding away from the prying eyes of the Walford residents.
Predictably though, their marriage did not go smoothly, and almost as soon as they were married Michelle began to tire of Lofty and motherhood. Lofty was finding it difficult to get a job due to his chronic asthma and as Michelle was also not working they had to get by on benefits, which did not please Michelle. Lofty, however, seemed oblivious to Michelle's unhappiness and made matters worse by pressurising her to allow him to adopt Vicki and to have another baby. Michelle was adverse to the idea, as she still had hopes for a future with Den. However, after one last ill-fated attempt to convince Den to elope with her, she consigned herself to a life of misery with Lofty and ended the year with an unwanted pregnancy.
Uncertain of whether or not she would keep her baby, she confided in her mother Pauline, who later betrayed her by telling Lofty that she was expecting. An overjoyed Lofty soon began telling everyone who would listen about his imminent fatherhood (despite Michelle forbidding him from doing so). Michelle was furious to find out that he'd gone against her wishes and she promptly made plans to abort her baby behind Lofty's back. This was encouraged and paid for by Den, who was furious to learn that Lofty wanted to adopt his daughter and had subsequently become hell-bent on splitting them up. When Michelle finally confessed to Lofty that she'd aborted his child, he went ballistic and ended up attacking Michelle in front of all her family.
[edit] Exit
Lofty found it hard to deal with life in the square after the breakdown of his marriage and his usually calm, meek demeanour had given way to a fuming angst-ridden rage, which was directed at Michelle and the many members of the Beale and Fowler clan. He became severely depressed about losing the child he wanted so badly, which was brought home when he was unwittingly forced to deliver Sue Osman's baby later that year. Lofty found a way to take his mind off things when he sparked up a friendship with local curate, Duncan Boyd. Duncan persuaded Lofty to accompany him to youth help groups, where he became heavily involved with aiding the rehabilitation of troubled youths.
Later in the year Lofty was on the receiving end of another scathing attack from Michelle, so he made the decision to leave Walford and take a job working as a handy-man in a children's home in Bedfordshire. He skulked away in the middle of the night without anyone but Den seeing or knowing of his departure. His last appearance was in April 1988. It has subsequently been revealed that Lofty now works as a social worker.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Smith, Julia; Holland, Tony (1987). EastEnders - The Inside Story. Book Club Associates. ISBN 978-0-563-20601-9.
- ^ Brake, Colin (1995). EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration. BBC Books. ISBN 978-0-563-37057-4.
[edit] External links
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