Natalie Evans

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EastEnders character
Natalie Evans
Portrayed by	Lucy Speed
Introduced by	Leonard Lewis (1994) Matthew Robinson (1999)
Duration	1994–1995, 1999–2004
First appearance	18 January 1994
Last appearance	10 May 2004
Profile
Date of birth	11 March 1977
Status	Divorced
Family Husbands Barry Evans (1999-2003) Father Dave Price Mother Andrea Price Brothers Jack Price Kevin Price Sisters Susie Price Sons Jack Evans Nephews Chris

Natalie Evans (née Price), was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Lucy Speed.

Natalie tended to let her heart rule her head, which got her into a lot of trouble in Albert Square. Indecisive Natalie could never really make up her mind about what she wanted from men or her career. In order to escape her unhappy life at home she married too early and despite loving her son dearly, she often felt constrained by married life and motherhood.

Contents 1 Character creation 1.1 Background 1.2 Casting 2 Character development 2.1 Personality 2.2 Love triangle and initial exit 2.3 Reintroduction and marriage to Barry 2.3.1 Millennium wedding 2.3.2 Abortion 2.3.3 Adultery 2.4 Exit 3 Storylines 3.1 The early years 3.2 Natalie's return 3.3 Life after Barry 4 In popular culture 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Character creation

[edit] Background

1994 was a "historic" year for EastEnders, as in April a third weekly episode was introduced.^[1] Due to the programme’s increased frequency, a number of new characters were introduced to the regular cast in the latter part of 1993 and early 1994.^[1] Among them was Natalie Price, who made her first appearance in January 1994 as the best friend of Bianca (Patsy Palmer) . The character was introduced under executive producer, Leonard Lewis.^[1]

[edit] Casting

The actress Lucy Speed – seventeen at the time– was chosen to play the part. Speed claims that she was cast due to her “cranky” attitude during her audition. She comments “I showed up there with an attitude, not giving ‘a stuff’ whether I got the damn part and they responded to that. They liked it, liked my feistiness, they thought it was the quality they were looking for…Natalie was a pretty gloomy kid, not a sunny show-biz kid which is all they'd been seeing until I walked through the door. So I got the part.”^[2]

[edit] Character development

[edit] Personality

The character has been described by EastEnders author, Rupert Smith, as an “eternal victim” – a female character who endures much misfortune and misery, but lacks the “pluck” of her “feistier sisters”.^[3] Early on in her narrative, Natalie was shown to be an insecure and lonely individual– a “gloomy kid” from a broken family with an uncaring, criticizing and resentful mother, Andrea (Cindy O'Callaghan).^[2] The character was often seen to be “shunted aside by stronger personalities”,^[3]such as her best friend Bianca – who was shown to bully and torment Natalie, telling her “that she was plain and wouldn't attract boys”,^[2] although in later years Natalie was shown to stand up to Bianca’s bullying.

Similarly, she was shown to be unsuccessful in relationships, falling for unsuitable men who ended up hurting her and settling in a “secure but uninspired” marriage to a mismatched, immature partner, Barry Evans.^[3][4] She was frequently shown to feel constrained and trapped by her marriage and motherhood – her initial reluctance to be a mother stemming from her own unhappy childhood.^[2] Though the character occasionally showed “a rare flash of spirit”, the results were usually detrimental – an affair with her “first true love”, Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen), ended the character’s marriage and left her to face “a dreary future as a single mother.”^[3] Lucy Speed has commented on her character’s personality: “she's a thinker and quite vulnerable, but she's grown up a lot. She's also had storylines where she's dealt with family skeletons and she did find a man who was able to give her stability and the chance for her to grow up a bit. Ultimately though, I hope that I've shown that who she is now explains who she was then…she's gone from being a young girl with zero confidence in herself to a young woman with a certain measure of confidence, back to someone with zero confidence. Life doesn't go easy on her but she's got strength. She's a feisty little thing and she gets on with things.”^[2][5]

[edit] Love triangle and initial exit

Initially, Natalie’s principal purpose in the serial was to be Bianca Jackson’s “put-upon sidekick” – Bianca was already an established character, having been introduced two months prior to Natalie’s first appearance.^[2] The most notable storyline featuring Natalie during her initial stint in EastEnders was her affair with Bianca’s boyfriend, Ricky. On-screen Natalie and Ricky found themselves sidelined and bullied by Bianca, forcing them together and leading to their eventual affair, which continued for several weeks on-screen, with Ricky seeing both Natalie and Bianca. The storyline reached its climax on 16 Feb 1995; 17.0 million viewers tuned in to witness Bianca discovering that her boyfriend was sleeping with her best friend.^[6] The aftermath of the storyline led to Natalie’s departure from the serial. On-screen Ricky discovered that Natalie orchestrated Bianca’s discovery of their affair and finished with her, and in the midst of Bianca’s wrath, Natalie fled from Walford in shame on 23 February 1995.^[7]

Off-screen, actress Lucy Speed had decided to leave the serial after playing Natalie for a year, as she was reportedly “freaked out” by the media attention she was receiving from being in such a high profile show. In an interview with the ‘’Walford Gazette’’, Speed commented: “I was very frightened by it quite frankly and certainly unprepared for it. I didn't like at all the attention that came with being on such a high-profile show. It simply wasn't what I signed up for in the first place-all that craziness. I was naive, I admit. Of course it does come with the job of being on the show and you have to learn to deal with it and cope with it. The advantages always outweigh the drawbacks, anyway, but it didn't seem like that to me at the time. I was very young and extremely shy, so it all became a huge difficulty for me…But I also have to make it clear that from the beginning when I joined, I always intended to stay in it for just a year anyway. I honoured my initial one-year contract and then moved on…they did express their interest in signing me for another year, but I politely but firmly declined. They were a bit shocked. I tried to explain in the best way I could my reasons for leaving at the end of my contract and they ultimately understood, and so I left on good terms with them…I had some growing up to do and instinctively knew that growing up more or less in front of the British public for one year was enough!”^[2]

[edit] Reintroduction and marriage to Barry

After a four year absence, Lucy Speed decided that she wanted to return to the series. She mentioned this to her former cast-mate Ross Kemp, who played Grant Mitchell in the serial and he initiated contact between Speed and then executive-producer, Matthew Robinson. Robinson had been thinking of introducing a new love-interest for the character Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) and he had already considered the possibility that the love interest could be Natalie. Speed has commented “It was good timing. He thought I and the character fit the bill.”^[2] Natalie made her reappearance on-screen on 8 March 1999 and a relationship between the two characters was developed. A friendship was also re-established between the characters Natalie and Bianca in a special four-hander episode – although “the closeness was never quite the same”.^[8]

Natalie’s relationship with Barry Evans- frequently described as a “bumbling buffoon” – was central to the character upon her return to the serial.^[9] Speed has explained her character’s initial attraction to Barry; I think it has a lot to do with her childhood. Natalie really adored her dad but he couldn't put up with that horrible wife of his, Andrea… and so he walked out on the family. Andrea is a total nightmare control freak, and it says a lot about who Natalie is, why she had no confidence in herself. Her mother probably emotionally abused her. So Barry represented safety and a secure family environment…She feels safe with him and she felt she made the right choice at the time, although of course she was apprehensive about it.”^[2]

[edit] Millennium wedding

The biggest storyline involving Barry and Natalie in 1999 was their joint double wedding with the characters Ian Beale and Melanie Healy (Adam Woodyatt and Tamzin Outhwaite) - the lead up to which included a hen/stag night celebration episode, which was filmed on-location in Amsterdam, Holland. The episode evoked criticism by the Broadcasting Standards Commission for its inclusion of “almost relentless drunken and promiscuous behaviour, sexual innuendo and drug-taking, before the watershed”, which included Natalie having to acquire three love bites from strangers.^[10] The BBC defended the episode, claiming that its content would have “come as no surprise to viewers” and adding that the depiction of this behaviour conformed to an EastEnders tradition - that questionable conduct "only leads to further trouble…One character's quest for drugs led to embarrassment and nausea and a drinking binge led to the calling off of [Barry and Natalie’s] wedding while the prospects for another became bleaker."^[11]

Natalie and Barry’s screen wedding was featured as part of the Millennium Eve episodes, which drew in 20.89 million viewers – the biggest soap audience since the character Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon) was killed off in EastEnders precisely one year earlier (New Year's Eve 1998). An EastEnders spokeswoman commented: "This is a remarkable endorsement of the power of EastEnders that over 20 million viewers chose to see the Millennium celebrations in Albert Square." The episodes were also broadcast on screens in London's Trafalgar Square, a typical “haunt for New Year's Eve revelers”.^[12]

[edit] Abortion

In 2001 a pregnancy was written into the character’s narrative. Natalie was shown to be distressed by the prospect of being a mother and planned to have an abortion. Speed commented "Natalie desperately wants a baby, but the thought of becoming a mother makes her unhappy. Her family background is so awful she doesn't want to make the same mistake her mother made, but feels the odds are stacked against her and Barry."^[13] Viewers saw a “devastated Barry” react badly to the news in a special extended four-hander episode (written by Christopher Reason and directed by Clive Arnold) – the episode had a maternal theme with the action flitting between Barry and Natalie’s saga and scenes between Steve Owen and his dying mother, which included revelations of child abuse and incest.^[14] An EastEnders spokesman said: "We are very proud of the programme. The storylines involving Steve and his mother and Barry and Natalie are the stuff of intense drama. All four actors give incredible performances."^[14] The following episode Barry was seen to chase Natalie to the abortion clinic, where he persuaded her to go through with the pregnancy. The scenes between Natalie and Barry have been described as some of “the most powerful moments in soap, with the couple battling to decide the fate of their unborn baby”.^[13] The character was seen to give birth to son Jack in January 2002 and her decision to keep her baby in spite of her initial determination to abort has been mocked by Susannah Nightingale - columnist for the CUSU Women’s Union.^[15] She sarcastically comments “how lucky that she didn't go through with that patently psychotic urge for an abortion when she first realised she was pregnant…It's funny, because Nat seemed so sure at the time: she wasn't ready for a baby, she needed to establish her career and move out of her husband's family home before becoming a mother. Perfectly reasonable, you might think…but no! Our plucky hero Barry comes to her rescue, gently persuading her that she's just a little over-emotional and, phew – thank God he did, because here we are with a happy new family that might otherwise never have been. Dappy Natalie nearly screwed everything up. Men, even such sorry specimens as the perpetually pouting Barry, really are jolly decent to put up with these female follies and calmly guide their gals in the right direction”.^[15] Nightingale suggested that the storyline “echoed” the assertion that a woman cannot be trusted to make her own decision about abortion, which she describes as profoundly undermining and a "subtle" reinforcement of an "underlying implication" that women should be punished for exercising their legal right. She comments “I am confused by the writers' unswerving insistence on her absolute certainty that abortion was the right choice for her, until the very last moment – such portrayals smack of her finally ‘seeing the light'. Had the Natalie presented been a confused or uncertain woman, her change of heart would have seemed infinitely more credible, but she was neither. In fact, the very plausibility of the script was sacrificed, presumably to make a point - and the only one I can dig out is that of the dangers of going through with an abortion, even if you think you're sure – come on, what do you know?”^[15]

[edit] Adultery

Viewers saw Natalie and Barry’s marriage sour towards the end of 2002 when she was momentarily tempted by the charms of his scheming half-brother Nathan (Doug Allen), and then, in the New Year’s Eve episode,^[16] she was shown to rekindle a secret “steamy affair” with old flame, Ricky, which continued into 2003.^[17][18] Speed commented “Natalie's always had strong feelings for Ricky. And now she's grown tired of being a mother to baby Jack and Barry!…family is everything to her, so she would have to feel very strongly indeed about someone to put her marriage at risk. As for Ricky, I suppose Natalie's always held a torch for him. He was her first love who finished with her, so she's been left with a kind of 'what if?' feeling. When Natalie was younger she was easily seduced, and a little bit of that remains. She can be easily swayed if someone is nice."^[2][19] The storyline reached its “thrilling climax” in March 2003.^[17] On-screen the character’s plans to abscond with Ricky and her son (on the night of her surprise birthday party) were thwarted by Barry’s discovery of the affair - leading to a public confrontation between the three protagonists. Shaun Williamson who played Barry has commented “Barry is absolutely devastated as his whole life is ripped apart. He can’t believe Nat has betrayed him. He loves his life with Natalie and Jack, and would do anything to make it work as a family again. Losing Natalie is going to be really difficult for Barry, but I think the hardest thing will be losing his son.” The storyline signified the end of the characters’ three year marriage and in a final plot twist Natalie opted to finish with Ricky and leave Walford alone, having discovered that he had recently slept with his ex-wife Samantha.^[20][21]

[edit] Exit

The character’s second exit was the climax to a storyline that has been described as one of the show's “most dramatic”.^[22] Natalie’s ex-husband Barry remarried and was killed off by his “evil” new bride Janine Evans (Charlie Brooks) on their honeymoon.^[22] The character was embroiled in a bid to uncover Janine as Barry’s killer,^[23] and became romantically involved with the character Paul Trueman (Gary Beadle) – Janine’s repentant accomplice in Barry’s downfall, who was also her former lover.^[24] A BBC insider said: “Natalie is Janine’s arch rival. She smelt a rat as soon as Janine returned to Walford playing the grieving widow. And she is determined to find out what happened to Barry and get justice for him.”^[25] After discovering the truth from Paul, Natalie realised she was powerless to bring Janine to justice and decided to leave the Square in March 2004. Speed commented “Natalie just wants herself and Jack out of Walford. It's full of bad memories Natalie is devastated by the revelations about Barry's death. She can’t believe Paul still thinks they could be together. She did care for him, but now she knows about his scheming with Janine, he's history. She leaves without saying goodbye to him”.^[26] The character returned briefly in May to ensure Janine received her comeuppance and made her final screen appearance on 10 May 2004.^[27]

Off-screen actress Lucy Speed had decided to quit the role after six years playing Natalie. She comments “'I'd been back for five years and had very little to do the year before. I quite like being busy and I could see the scriptwriters were struggling with Natalie and where to place her so it seemed like the right time to go. It's nice that they've left it open, I'd hate to think the door was shut behind me. Absolutely, I'd like to go back, never say never. Maybe I'll track Janine down.”^[22]

To mark the character's exit a special documentary was aired in March 2004, entitled EastEnders Revealed: Natalie Evans. The programme looked back over 10 years of the character's time in the soap and featured interviews from Speed and tributes from her former cast-mates Shean Williamson, Charlie Brooks, Natalie Cassidy, Gary Beadle, Pam St Clement and Tony Caunter.^[28]

[edit] Storylines

[edit] The early years

Natalie first arrived in Albert Square in January 1994 and was the inseparable sidekick to bolshy Bianca Jackson, who she'd been friends with since she was eleven. Natalie was often in her best friend's shadow. Bianca was more confident and outgoing than dowdy Natalie and she would frequently put her down and make her feel inferior. Natalie got a job working in Kathy Beale's café and initially had a huge crush on her boss' boyfriend, Phil Mitchell, although all her attempts to get noticed by him were rebuffed. Natalie began to grow tired of the whole world centring around Bianca, who also seemed to have no time to listen to her problems or have the consideration to spot how lonely she was. Her loneliness grew as the year went on and resulted in her concocting an imaginary boyfriend. She told lies about extravagant meals and trips to hotels, which had Bianca extremely jealous for a while. However, Natalie was soon caught out and Bianca took great pleasure in making Natalie feel as humiliated as possible.

Bianca's bullying and teasing only worsened when their old school friend, Tiffany Raymond, arrived in Walford, as Natalie was often the butt of their nasty practical jokes. Bianca's boyfriend Ricky Butcher was becoming equally tired of Bianca's selfishness, and this inadvertently drove him and Natalie closer together. The two found themselves consoling each other about the harsh way Bianca treated them and in February 1995 they started an affair behind Bianca's back. Ricky was Natalie's first sexual partner and for her it was true love, but it was never as serious for Ricky. It wasn't long before Natalie started pressurising Ricky to come clean to Bianca, but after he failed to do this Natalie took matters into her own hands and planted some lingerie in his work overalls with the hope that Bianca would find it. Inevitably, Bianca found the knickers, but the thought that they might be Natalie's didn't even enter her head and she immediately went to confide in her friend about what to do. Natalie then schemingly suggested that Bianca should follow Ricky so she could catch him in the act with the 'mystery woman'. Later that evening Ricky went out for his usual rendez-vous with Natalie in The Arches, but he was unwittingly followed by Bianca and he and Natalie were caught in a steamy clinch, which was just what Natalie had planned. However, this ended up being the beginning of the end for Natalie as Ricky soon changed his mind about being with her and dumped her. Bianca then drove her away from Albert Square and she went to live with her sister in Basingstoke.

[edit] Natalie's return

In 1999, Natalie reappeared as a new self-confident business woman, running her own (albeit inefficient) dating agency. Barry Evans, unaware of Natalie's history in the Square, became a hopeful looking for love from Natalie's agency (Romantic Relations). Despite Natalie's initial attempts to set Barry up with other female hopefuls, she eventually became attracted to him herself. The two eventually embarked on a relationship, leading Natalie to rent premises for her dating agency in a sub-let behind Barry's video shop in Albert Square. Natalie's reappearance on the Square was met unfavourably by Bianca, Ricky and the other Jacksons, and many subsequent fights between the prior friends ensued. However, Bianca and Natalie managed to patch things up and eventually they became firm friends once again. Natalie's business (Romantic Relations) never prospered, and closed soon after.

Despite initial problems caused by Natalie's overbearing mother Andrea Price, she and Barry married on New Years Eve in 1999, in a joint wedding with Ian Beale and Melanie Healy. Natalie and Barry lived together with Barry's father Roy and stepmother Pat. The two remained happy for a while until Natalie fell pregnant. Preferring to concentrate on her career, and unable to communicate her feelings to her over excited husband, Natalie planned an abortion, which devastated Barry and he pleaded with her to change her mind. Natalie refused to consider keeping the baby, but when Barry fled to the abortion clinic pledging to support her decision, Natalie realised that she could not go through with the termination after all. Barry was overjoyed and he agreed to give up work and look after the baby, so Natalie could continue with her career. Natalie eventually gave birth to son Jack early in 2002—the birth was traumatic, with Jack being born feet first.

Motherhood was hard for Natalie, who constantly felt that she was not only mothering her son Jack, but Barry too. When Barry's half brother Nathan Williams came to stay at the Evans', she became an unsuspecting pawn in Nathan's vendetta against Barry. Determined to ruin Barry, Nathan made a move on Natalie, and they shared a brief kiss. Natalie stopped it before it progressed any further and it wasn't long before she'd figured out that Nathan's true motive was to ruin Barry. Nathan was banished from their lives and Barry forgave Natalie for her betrayal, so for a while the marriage remained intact.

The cracks had began to show in their relationship, however, and Natalie became increasingly unhappy with Barry's controlling immature nature. Feeling stifled and trapped, she turned to old flame Ricky Butcher for comfort. The two embarked on an affair and it wasn't long before they planned to flee Albert Square together with their son's Jack and Liam Butcher. On the night of her 26^th birthday, while Barry planned a secret party for her in the Vic, Natalie packed her bags, loaded her car (a birthday present from Barry) and got ready to leave. Just as they were about to depart, Barry discovered what was going on. Desperate to prove his love, he dragged Natalie into the Vic and begged her to stay. Natalie was forced to break Barry's heart by confessing that she didn't love him any more, and despite his pleading she refused to give up her chance of true happiness with Ricky. In the midst of all the chaos, Ricky's sister, Janine, saw her opportunity to stop her brother from leaving. She accosted Natalie and spitefully informed her that Ricky had slept with his ex-wife Sam Mitchell days earlier. Confronted by Barry, unable to trust Ricky and racked with guilt, Natalie called off her relationship with Ricky moments before she was due to leave.

Natalie did not return to Barry however, and despite them looking like they might reconcile at one point, the pair ended up divorcing. Janine once again played a big part in events, encouraging the divorce and beginning a long thought out plan to manipulate Barry and pilfer his money (aided by Paul Trueman, who was having a sexual relationship with Janine behind Barry's back). This eventually led to Barry's untimely demise, when Janine caused him to fall from a cliff and left him to die, just days after they married on New Years Eve 2003 in Scotland. Janine inherited all of Barry's wealth in the process, and left Natalie and her son, Jack, with nothing.

[edit] Life after Barry

Suspecting foul play, Natalie spent the rest of her time in Albert Square attempting to prove Janine had murdered Barry, though she was unsuccessful. She even turned down a new start with the love of her life, Ricky, who left following Janine's confession that she had left Barry to die (although he opted not to divulge this secret to anyone else).

Whilst Natalie came to terms with her ex-husband's death, she became close to Paul Trueman, the only other person who knew what really happened to Barry. Initially Paul's attraction to Natalie was born out of guilt and a desire to make amends to her fatherless son for his part in Barry's demise, but as their relationship developed it grew into love. Despite his feelings for Natalie, Paul couldn't get over his guilt, and he unsuccessfully attempted to confess what he knew about Barry's death several times. After much soul searching he eventually decided to bury his guilt and start a new life with Natalie and Jack. Janine was insanely jealous of their romance.

Natalie considered moving in with Paul, however she began to grow suspicious of the nature of his relationship with Janine when Pat discovered a bracelet inscribed "Janine soon, love Paul." Paul feigned innocence, but when Natalie discovered an incriminating voice message from Janine on his phone, he finally broke down and confessed to their affair and Janine's role in Barry's demise. Appalled, Natalie ordered Paul to keep away from her and Jack, and in order to appease her, Paul went to the police and implicated Janine in Barry's murder. Janine was questioned, but she was soon released due to lack of evidence. She promptly went to Natalie and informed her that Paul had conspired with her to "fleece" Barry from the start, and she then cruelly gloated about getting away with murder. Devastated, and unable to prove Janine's guilt to the police, Natalie packed her bags and left Paul and Albert square in March 2004.

She returned briefly a few months later to see that justice was served to Janine, when she was wrongly arrested for the murder of Laura Beale (her death was actually an accident). Natalie made her peace with Paul, and she and Jack held a ceremony for Barry, scattering his ashes by a tree that she had planted in his memory. After which, Natalie said goodbye for the last time. Her last appearance was in May 2004.

She was later mentioned in May 2007, when Pat had to go and help her look after Jack when she broke her arm.

[edit] In popular culture

In 2002 the character was featured in a spoof of the Michael Jackson hit video, Thriller, which was made as part of the annual fund-raising event, Children in Need.^[29] Shaun Williamson as Barry played the Michael Jackson role, while Lucy Speed as Natalie took on Ola Ray’s role as his date. Unlike the original video - where Jackson was seen to turn into a zombie - the spoof saw Natalie transformed into the walking dead. A dozen cast-members took part in the spoof where they recreated the dance routine made famous in the original video.^[30] Speed has commented “I really enjoyed that. We were there on our day off but it was brilliant fun. I used to be a dancer and to be able to do some moves on the Square was good. We all wanted to look as horrific and disgusting as possible. Shaun split his trousers while doing it as well. I think they were really tight though.”^[31]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Natalie Evans at bbc.co.uk
• Walford Gazette interview with Lucy Speed

v • d • e The Price family in EastEnders Natalie Evans | Jack Evans | Susie Price | Jack Price Spouses: Andrea Price | Barry Evans

v • d • e The Evans family in EastEnders Roy Evans | Barry Evans | Jack Evans | Nathan Williams Spouses: Pat Evans | Natalie Evans | Janine Evans