Mandy Salter
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| EastEnders character | ||||||
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| Mandy Salter | ||||||
| Portrayed by | Nicola Stapleton | |||||
| Introduced by | Leonard Lewis | |||||
| Duration | 1992–1994 | |||||
| First appearance | 12 March 1992 | |||||
| Last appearance | 13 January 1994 | |||||
| Profile | ||||||
| Date of birth | 1976 | |||||
| Status | Single | |||||
| Occupation | Unemployed | |||||
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Mandy Salter was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Nicola Stapleton.
Mandy was a bit of a tearaway and could often be a nasty piece of work too. She manipulated and used people in order to get what she wanted. Most people were glad to see the back of her when she finally fled Walford in 1994.
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[edit] Mandy's arrival
Mandy's mother was an old friend of Pat Butcher, and Mandy arrived in Albert Square in March 1992 when her mother abandoned her troublesome daughter and left her in Pat's care while she was in hospital. It turned out that Pat knew Mandy's mother from her days as a prostitute. Mandy eventually left, feeling unwanted by Pat's husband, Frank, but by the end of June she had returned to live in Walford — dossing in Mark Fowler's vacant squat at 23b Albert Square.
Mandy was trouble from the start. She attempted to blackmail Ian Beale by threatening to tell everyone in the Square that he used the services of prostitutes unless he gave her a job, thinking it would be a good first step on the career ladder. This failed, but the local market trader, Pete Beale, gave her a job selling fruit and veg on his stall. However, Mandy stole his profits, so the job didn't last long. She also made a sworn enemy out of Hattie Tavernier, after she tried to ruin her relationship with Steve Elliot.
Mandy made ends meet by stealing, conning people and relying on the charity of others. She rarely worked and spent most of her time hanging out with her other reprobate friends, Ricky and Sam Butcher (who lived in the squat below her), and generally just lingered around the Square making a nuisance of herself.
Upon Mark's return to the square, he allowed Mandy to remain in his squat with him, but she became slightly obsessed and managed to upset him by stealing his dead wife's diary — which led to her discovering that he had HIV — and dressing up in her old clothes. She and all the other squatters in the building were eventually chucked out when the council took repossession of the flats. Kathy Beale took pity on her and allowed her to live with her for a while, but that abruptly ended after Mandy spread rumours that Kathy had been abusing her — claiming that she had been taking her guilt over her deceased daughter, Donna, out on her. Tired of her sick games, Kathy promptly chucked Mandy out onto the streets and she ended the year homeless and sleeping in a make-shift shanty on the Square.
A sympathetic Mark Fowler then took her in once again and allowed her to stay with him in his new flat for a while. This caused problems with Hattie, as her boyfriend, Steve, was Mark's flat mate and she was extremely unhappy about Mandy living with him. She was right to be apprehensive as Mandy later made it her mission to try and talk Steve out of marrying Hattie, resulting in him abandoning her days before their wedding.
On Christmas Eve, Mandy received a Christmas card from her mother, telling her that she was coming to visit her for Christmas. Mandy was extremely excited, and waited anxiously for her to arrive. However Lorraine didn't show, so on Christmas day Mandy travelled to her mother's flat to reunite with her. Her mother wasn't there and she was instead greeted by her mother's boyfriend, Gary. Gary was immediately abusive to Mandy. He taunted her and made derogatory comments, which incensed Mandy and they got into a fight. Gary turned aggressive and started beating Mandy and was only stopped by the arrival of Mark, who had come in search of her. Mark punched Gary and took Mandy back to Walford to spend Christmas with him.
[edit] Mandy and Aidan
Mandy had few friends on the Square as everyone she knew ended up being manipulated and used for her own means. She did however manage to make one friend, the apprentice footballer Aidan Brosnan. The two began seeing each other, much to the despair of Aidan's guardian, Arthur Fowler, who was all too aware of Mandy's troublesome past. Mandy was a bad influence on Aidan and would regularly encourage him to skip football practice to be with her, and ply him with copious amounts of alcohol so she could have wicked way with him. On one occasion she got him so drunk that he fell and severely damaged his knee. He recovered, but soon after, Aidan had another knee injury whilst training, and the damage was so extensive he was told he could no longer play football professionally. The loss of his dream hit Aidan badly, but by this time Mandy had fallen for him in a big way. She took Aidan under her wing and introduced him to the rave scene to take his mind off things, but disaster struck when, after taking ecstasy for the first time, he passed out in a drug-induced coma. After this Aidan decided to return to Ireland to be with his parents, but Mandy wasn't about to give him up so easily. She followed him there, but soon returned, having had a poor reception from Aidan's family. However, Aidan himself found that he no longer fitted in at home, and a few weeks later he returned to Walford hoping to find Mandy and make a fresh start. They quickly became Walford's most hated residents.
The young lovers were unable to find work or their own living quarters and for a while they squatted in Pete Beale's empty flat, but were soon evicted by Phil and Grant Mitchell. After several weeks sleeping on the streets they moved to a derelict, rundown squat at number 5 Albert Square. In order to get cash, Mandy and Aidan would often beg around the Square and occasionally do odd jobs for money. It was on one such occasion that Grant Mitchell left his wife Sharon's pet poodle, Roly, in Mandy's care. However, careless Mandy lost control of Roly and he died after running straight into an oncoming truck, leaving Grant furious and Sharon devastated. Mandy later got a job cleaning Dr Legg's surgery, but after stealing his prescription slips and selling them to drug dealers, she was given her marching orders. Mandy even turned to 'clipping' to earn some cash, where she'd act as a prostitute only to run off with her "punter's" money without performing the sexual service. However the other prostitutes in Kings Cross beat Mandy, she was eventually arrested and Aidan then made her promise to stop.
They both found employment at the grocery store in Bridge Street for a while, but when the job fell through they began to go into decline. Richard Cole started a smear campaign against them, wrongly accusing them of being behind a series of robberies around the Square and everyone began to turn on them. Aidan's behaviour became increasingly erratic and he soon started to become severely depressed. Things reached an all time low on Christmas Eve that year when Aidan received a letter from his parents saying that they were disowning him. To make matters worse, Richard Cole — who owned the building where they were squatting — broke in and evicted them, leaving them both without a roof over their head at Christmas. On Christmas Day 1993, Aidan had become so depressed that he attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a tower block. Mandy managed to stop him just in the nick of time, but it wasn't long before Aidan realised that Mandy was no good for him, and he left Walford to go back to his family in Ireland.
Mandy was distraught to lose Aidan, which managed to stir some sympathy in Pauline Fowler and she allowed her to stay with her at 45 Albert Square for a while. Mandy saw New Year in huddled and sobbing on the Fowler's couch. Early in 1994, Mandy, still saddened by Aidan's absence, turned to Ricky Butcher for comfort and the two had a one-night stand. However this only brought home how much she missed Aidan, and she rejected Ricky's further advances. All alone and without Aidan to turn to, Mandy decided to leave Albert Square in January that year. She repaid the Fowlers kindness by stealing Pauline's purse and money and then hitched a ride with a lorry driver, who was heading west on the M11. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.
