List of EastEnders characters (1993)

The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1993, by order of first appearance.

Danny Taurus

Danny Taurus
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Billy Boyle
Duration 1993
First appearance 5 January 1993
Last appearance 1 June 1993
Profile
Occupation Singer

Danny Taurus (real name Danny Travis) was the stage name of an East End rock and roll singer, who had nearly been famous locally when Pete and Pauline Beale were teenagers.

He returned to Walford in 1993 to visit Pete and invite him to his gig. He was little more than a pub singer, who dreamed of making a comeback. Danny was pleased to meet Pauline again, as he had always fancied her when they were at school together. Pauline was flattered by the attention and she and Danny went on a few platonic dates — Pauline's motive being to see if Arthur might respond to a bit of competition — but Danny took it seriously and asked Pauline to go away with him. Pauline was tempted, but she eventually turned Danny down and he went off in search of his big break.

Rose Chapman

Rose Chapman
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Petra Markham
Duration 1993
First appearance 7 January 1993
Last appearance 13 May 1993
Profile
Date of death 9 December 1993

In January 1993, Pete Beale and his sister Pauline were invited to see the ageing rock and roll singer, Danny Taurus, play a gig. While there Pauline spotted Rose Chapman (née Hickey), an old friend of hers from her school days. Pete and Rose got on well, particularly when Rose revealed that she'd had a crush on him while they were at school together.

Over the following weeks a romance developed. Despite professing to be very happy with Pete, Rose frequently let him down, standing him up on dates and disappearing for days without word. Eventually Pete confronted her and she revealed that not only was she married, but she was married to a local gangster, Alfie Chapman, who had a reputation for extreme violence. Although Alfie was locked away in prison, his family were not and they made it quite clear that they did not approve of Rose seeing Pete. Pete mulled over what to do but eventually decided to brave the Chapmans and remain with Rose. Alfie's sister Annie warned Rose to finish with Pete, or face severe repercussions from his two brothers. Rose remained defiant and went to visit Alfie in prison, demanding a divorce. This was curtailed when she discovered that Alfie was suffering with terminal cancer and after a period of contemplation she decided to stop seeing Pete so she could nurse Alfie through his remaining months.[1]

Rose couldn't manage to keep away from Pete however, and in May 1993 she re-entered his life, telling him that she missed him. When Alfie's brothers discovered she was seeing Pete again, they beat her so badly that she was hospitalised. Pete went to visit Rose in hospital and they made plans to go into hiding in order to escape the wrath of the Chapmans. The following day Pete smuggled Rose out of hospital with Frank Butcher's help and they then made their get away to start a new life in destinations unknown.

In December 1993, news of Alfie Chapman's death reached Walford. Pauline placed an advert in a newspaper, pleading for Pete and Rose's return. They replied, and the residents of Walford planned a party to celebrate their homecoming. However on the day they were due back, Pauline was contacted by the police with the news that Pete and Rose had been killed by a hit and run driver. The motor accident had almost certainly been arranged by the Chapman family.[2]

Aidan Brosnan

Sanjay Kapoor

Gita Kapoor

Snip Gibbons

Snip Gibbons
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Steve Sweeney
Duration 1993
First appearance 23 February 1993
Last appearance 16 March 1993
Profile
Occupation Car dealer

Clive "Snip" Gibbons was a friend of Phil and Grant Mitchell. He began frequenting The Queen Vic pub at the invitation of the Mitchells in February 1993, along with several of their other friends. Nigel Bates showed obvious dislike for Snip, mainly because he was frequently teased and tormented by him. Bar manager, Clyde Tavernier, also had several run-ins with him. Snip would order him around, act in a rowdy manner and antagonise him. Clyde got so annoyed that he threw Snip and his friends out of The Vic one night, much to the anger of Phil and Grant, who were trying to secure a business deal with Snip.

When Snip and his friends refused to vacate the pub after closing time one evening, Clyde threatened to quit his job unless they left. They didn't, so Clyde quit but he contacted his boss, Sharon Mitchell, who was holidaying in America. Sharon returned to find that many of her regulars were refusing to drink at The Vic, mainly because of Snip. She took control and barred Grant's friends, causing him much humiliation, and he ended up hitting her.

Audrey Whittingham

Audrey Whittingham
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Shirley Dixon
Duration 1993
First appearance 4 March 1993
Last appearance 18 March 1993

Audrey Whittingham kidnapped Vicki Fowler while she waited to be collected outside Walford Primary School. A massive police investigation was launched. Prime suspect was Jack Woodman, who was infatuated with Vicki's mother Michelle, however Audrey and Vicki were identified by the shopkeeper of a toy store several days later. Audrey had used a cheque to pay for Vicki's toys and the police were able to trace her to her home. Vicki was returned to her mother unharmed and Audrey was arrested.

Michelle became very emotional and protective over Vicki for a while after, refusing to let her outside or attend school. She thought she saw glimpses of Audrey everywhere she went, which everyone told her was impossible, as Audrey was locked away in prison. However, Michelle wasn't being paranoid as Audrey turned up on her doorstep shortly after hoping to explain her actions. She had endured a series of tragedies, starting with the death of her baby daughter many years earlier, and later in life the death of one of her sons and her husband. Her other son lived abroad and she had become lonely and desperate. She began to wonder what her daughter would have turned out like and when she saw Vicki alone she decided to take her, although she claimed that she intended to bring her back eventually. Michelle was furious and could not forgive Audrey for the trauma she'd put her and Vicki through.

Sharmilla Kapoor

Sharmilla Kapoor
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Priya Bilkhu
Duration 1993–98
First appearance 18 March 1993
Last appearance 24 September 1998
Profile
Date of birth 20 March 1993

Sharmilla Kapoor was the daughter of Sanjay and Gita Kapoor, born a month after they arrived in Walford in 1993.

In October 1997, she left with her mother to stay with relatives. They were due to return in January 1998, but Sanjay was late to collect them from the station. When he arrived Gita was nowhere to be seen. When there was no sign of Gita or Sharmilla days later, Sanjay contacted the police. Months later, Gita was still missing and coincidental evidence had led the police to thing that Sanjay may have been responsible for her disappearance. He was even arrested and accused of her murder, although he was later released without charge. Everyone assumed that Gita and Sharmilla were dead. But that July Sanjay found Gita in Birmingham with a new baby boy, Arjun, conceived during a one-night stand. He took his family home, vowing to raise Arjun as his own. Sanjay and Gita were happy until local reporter Polly Becker discovered their recent scandal and got it published in the Walford Gazette. Suddenly all of Walford knew what had transpired in Gita's absence and reporters made their lives miserable and Sharmilla was even bullied at school, so they finally decided to leave Walford. Their last appearance was in September 1998.

Debbie Bates

Sylvia Weng-Chung

Sylvia Weng-Chung
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Rachel Hiew
Duration 1993
First appearance 1 April 1993
Last appearance 30 November 1993
Profile
Occupation Waitress

Sylvia Weng-Chung worked for Kathy Mitchell in her café. When Ian Beale's catering business was closed down his wife Cindy turned to Kathy for help. Kathy employed Ian to work in her café, but as a result she became overstaffed and was forced to fire Sylvia in November 1993. Sylvia was extremely angry and said several unpleasant things about Kathy and her café before departing.

Sylvia's surname was never mentioned on screen, and was only discovered when seen on her official cast card, and has caused some confusion as another character named Mrs Weng-Chung worked in the café prior to her appearance.

Nadia Mitchell

Nadia Mitchell
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Anna Barkan
Introduced by Leonard Lewis
Duration 1993–94
First appearance 29 June 1993
Last appearance 29 August 1994
Classification Former; regular
Profile

Nadia Mitchell (née Borovac) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Barkan.

Nadia was Phil Mitchell's first wife. They had a marriage of convenience, which enabled Nadia to stay in the country, but Phil soon regretted his decision.

Nadia was first seen in June 1993. Phil Mitchell had given Hattie Tavernier a lift to Southampton so she could stop her boyfriend, Steve Elliot, from leaving on a ferry. Phil waited for her at a nearby bar, where he met Nadia. Nadia was a Romanian refugee who had come over to England in order to be with her boyfriend Marco — another immigrant, who had been able to stay in the UK due to a marriage of convenience with an English woman.[1]

Nadia was sure that she would be deported. Feeling sorry for her, Phil agreed to marry her so she could also stay in the country. He brought her back to Walford and they married on 8 July 1993. Nadia then departed to live with her boyfriend.[1]

Nadia returned in November 1993, needing Phil to play her husband in more realistic ways to prevent her from being deported. While she had been away Phil had started a relationship with Kathy Beale and Nadia's reappearance couldn't have come at a worse time. Phil hadn't helped matters by failing to tell Kathy about Nadia in the first place and she took an instant dislike to her.[1]

Nadia persuaded Phil to allow her to move in with him while the home office undertook their investigation. Nadia managed to convince the representative that the relationship was legit, but she neglected to tell this to Phil and he had no choice but to let her remain living with him. Feeling jealous of her husband's real girlfriend, Nadia made things as difficult as possible for him and Kathy, and finally seduced a drunken Phil at Christmas 1993 and slept with him. Phil regretted it instantly, but Nadia refused to give up and after getting seriously drunk she informed Kathy about their tryst. Phil denied it. He threw Nadia out in January 1994 and she then disappeared after Grant Mitchell threatened to kill her if he ever saw her again.[3]

Phil decided to marry Kathy later in the year, but in order to do this he had to divorce Nadia. He went looking for her in August 1994, but her boyfriend claimed that she had gone "underground" to avoid deportation. However, later in the day Phil paid Marco another impromptu visit and found Nadia with him. She was still furious about the way Phil and Grant had treated her and when Phil asked her for a divorce, she refused. Phil threatened to report her to the authorities, but she promised that if he did she would disappear and he would then be forced to wait until two years of separation had passed before he could be granted a divorce without her consent. However, the following week Nadia showed up in Walford and told Phil she would divorce him and move to Germany, but only if he gave her £1,000. Phil was angry that he was being blackmailed but had no other choice so he gave her the money, after which Nadia departed and was not seen again.[1]

Gidea Thompson

Gidea Thompson
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Sian Martin
Duration 1993
First appearance 18 May 1993
Last appearance 22 July 1993
Profile

Gidea Thompson first arrived in Walford in May 1993 when she came from Trinidad to visit her grandfather, Jules Tavernier. Gidea's mother was the result of an affair Jules had in his early 20s and Jules had previously been unaware of her existence. Jules was apprehensive about pursuing a relationship with Gidea at first and Gidea's arrival upset the 'status quo' in the Tavernier family, so Gidea decided to leave Walford the same month.

However, her cousin Clyde Tavernier had already grown close to Gidea, so he set about searching London to track her down. The following month he managed to find her, and after much persuading, Gidea decided to return to Walford so she could get to know her family.

Over the following month, Gidea and Clyde began to grow a lot closer, and even though they were half-cousins, they embarked on a relationship. Jules was opposed to their relationship and tried to put a stop to it, but Gidea and Clyde ignored his protests and they eventually decided to leave Walford for a new life together in Trinidad with Clyde's son Kofi. They left in July 1993.

Clare Bates

Meena McKenzie

Meena McKenzie
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Sudha Bhuchar
Duration 1993-1994, 1996
First appearance 22 July 1993
Last appearance 11 January 1996

Meena McKenzie married into money and tended to look down upon her working-class sister Gita and Gita's husband Sanjay Kapoor. Sanjay and Meena did not get along with each other, so when Gita suspected Sanjay of having an affair in 1993, Meena was the last person she expected; she discovered their infidelity by catching them in bed together.

The Kapoors separated for a while and the McKenzies marriage ended, while Gita refused to see her sister ever again. However, Gita eventually forgave Sanjay, and in 1995, Meena constructed a ploy to make contact with her sister again. She instructed her new fiancée Guppy Sharma, to liaise with Gita about a business proposition for their clothing stall, all the time keeping his connection to Meena secret. However, Guppy and Gita developed feelings for each other, although nothing sexual occurred. When Meena eventually unveiled that she had masterminded Guppy and Gita's meeting in January 1996, she was furious to discover that Guppy was actually smitten with Gita and had kissed her. Refusing to believe that Guppy felt anything for Gita other than pity, Meena went ahead with her plan to marry Guppy although Guppy later revealed that the wedding was cancelled.

Zoe Newton

Zoe Newton
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Elizabeth Chadwick (1993)
Tara Ellis (2000–01)
Introduced by Leonard Lewis (1993)
John Yorke (2000, 2001)
Duration 1993, 2000, 2001
First appearance 27 July 1993
Last appearance 21 June 2001
Classification Former; recurring
Spin-off appearances The Return of Nick Cotton (2000)

Zoe Newton (previously Cotton) was played by Elizabeth Chadwick in 1993 and then by Tara Ellis in 2000 and 2001.[4] Zoe arrived in Walford as the secret wife of Nick Cotton in July 1993 along with their son Ashley. She was married to Nick in 1984 but had not appeared previously in Walford and had never met Nick's mother Dot until she arrived. She was keen that Dot had got a chance to meet her grandson and Dot and Ashley eventually grew close after a few meetings. She and Nick were planning to move away to Gravesend and Zoe wanted Dot to come and live with them. Dot was reluctant at first but later agreed to move away and left Walford with them in August 1993.

When Dot returned to Walford in 1997 she revealed that off-screen Zoe and Ashley had moved away after Zoe grew tired of Nick's criminal activities and he had been arrested for drugs possession.

In a special spin-off episode entitled The Return of Nick Cotton which aired on 1 October 2000, Nick was released from prison and reunited with Ashley and Zoe after Zoe's brother Eddie told Nick about her whereabouts. Zoe wasn't happy to see him back and offered him money to leave for good. Some thugs then came after him. After trying to escape from the thugs, he and Ashley stole a car to escape them. Zoe didn't want Ashley to go with Nick knowing how much of a bad influence he was but she couldn't stop him and he drove off with Nick back to Walford.

When Nick and Ashley returned to Walford in November 2000, Nick got into a feud with his old enemy Mark Fowler leading to Nick becoming disabled after an accidental fall off a bridge in January 2001. Nick blamed Mark for the accident and vowed revenge. After a few months in a spinal unit, he returned in May 2001, he tried to get his revenge by cutting the brakes on Mark's motorbike. His son Ashley stole the bike and died after crashing into a shop window. Zoe was devastated when she returned for his funeral and attacked Nick, blaming him for Ashley's death. She knew that Nick would never be a good father to Ashley and Ashley should have never come with Nick to Walford. After the funeral, she left Walford and has not been seen or heard from since.

Ashley Cotton

Liam Tyler

Liam Tyler
EastEnders character
Portrayed by Francis Magee
Introduced by Leonard Lewis
Duration 1993–95
First appearance 10 August 1993
Last appearance 14 November 1995
Classification Former; regular

Liam Tyler was the biological father of Clare Bates and the former husband of Debbie Bates.

Liam first appeared not long after Debbie and Clare arrived in the Square, having tracked them down after he had been abusing Debbie. Liam did everything in his power to split up Debbie and her new love interest, Nigel Bates, but his efforts failed.

Liam returned to the Square again after Debbie's sudden death in 1995, attempting to gain custody of Clare. Clare preferred to stay with Nigel and a court case ensued, Nigel ultimately won when Liam's girlfriend admitted that he had been abusive toward her. Nigel subsequently adopted Clare, who took his surname.

Carol Jackson

Alan Jackson

Bianca Jackson

Lucy Beale

Peter Beale

Kevin

Kevin
EastEnders character
Portrayed by John Pickard
Duration 1993–96
First appearance 16 December 1993
Last appearance 15 February 1996

Kevin was a semi-regular character. He was the teenage friend of Robbie Jackson, who first appeared along with Robbie in December 1993. He and Robbie would frequently get into trouble doing such things as stealing alcohol from the Queen Vic and joyriding Frank Butcher's car, crashing it into Michelle Fowler's wall on Albert Square in April 1994. Robbie was left unconscious in the wreckage, while Kevin fled home, fearing the repercussions. Robbie wasn't seriously harmed, and managed to avoid trouble from the police because he was a minor. Kevin eventually paid for the damage in July 1994, after inheriting money from his recently deceased grandmother.

Kevin was with Robbie in October 1994, when they found Wellard the dog, who became Robbie's inseparable sidekick. Kevin also attended the Jacksons' house party in January 1995, where he got extremely drunk and tried unsuccessfully to seduce all of Bianca Jackson's friends. He was forced to help clear the mess the following day after a riot broke out at the party and the police were called in. Later in the year Robbie was fired from his paper round, for dumping all the newspapers without delivering them. Kevin went behind his back and took the job, then proceeded to call on Robbie's old customers for a Christmas bonus.

Kevin and Robbie tried another money making scheme in December 1995, when they went carol singing under the guise that they were collecting money for the widow of a deceased scoutmaster. Robbie's sister Bianca found out about the scam and blackmailed them into giving her a cut of their proceeds. This eventually led to further scamming, when they attended a pensioners bingo night at an old people's home. However, they were caught out when one of the residents turned out to be the widow of the deceased scoutmaster and they were forced to hand over all their profits to her.

Kevin last appeared in February 1996, when he and Robbie got a free haircut from a trainee hairdresser. Robbie was given highlights, which turned out disastrously, much to Kevin's amusement.

Robbie Jackson

Sonia Fowler

Billie Jackson

Nellie Ellis

David Wicks

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Brake, Colin (1995). EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37057-2. 
  2. ^ Smith, Rupert (2005). EastEnders: 20 years in Albert Square. BBC books. ISBN 0-563-52165-1. 
  3. ^ "EastEnders TUE 04-JAN-94 episode description", Walford.net. URL last accessed on 2006-12-03.
  4. ^ "EastEnders character Zoe Cotton". BBC.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/characters_cast/characters/character_zoe_c.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-24.