List of EastEnders characters (1985)
The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" in 1985, by order of first appearance. They were all introduced by executive producer Julia Smith. The first episode of "EastEnders" was broadcast on 19 February 1985, and twenty-three main characters were already created for their first appearance. The first character to be seen was Den Watts, followed by Ali Osman and then Arthur Fowler, all of whom find Reg Cox dying in his flat. Ethel Skinner, Harold Legg and Pauline Fowler appear, after Den alerts them of Reg's death. With Ethel is her pug Willy along with Lou Beale. Saeed and Naima Jeffery are seen working in the local shop whilst Angie Watts is seen in The Queen Victoria, Walford's local pub. Nick Cotton and Sue Osman are next seen, whilst Pete and Kathy Beale work at the fruit and veg stall and Hassan Osman is seen with his parents in the café. Sharon Watts, Ian Beale and Michelle Fowler are next seen and Mark Fowler is seen going into the bookies. Lastly, Roly the dog is seen in the pub when a fight breaks out.
EastEnders: E20
The first series was written by a team of 13 writers from London aged between 17 and 22 who responded to a writing competition and attended a summer school in August 2009 as part of the BBC's new talent initiative, where they created the entire series. The summer school took place over four weeks, with the first two weeks in Theatre Royal Stratford East and the last two at the BBC centre at Elstree Studios. The writers did not know they would be writing a spin-off to "EastEnders" until they arrived. The writers, including Florence Vincent, Alex Oates, Kashman Harris and Emer Kenny, also wrote the ten episodes of series 2. They are from various parts of London, which Sathe said was "brilliant" as they represent different parts of life in London, and they have grown up with the Internet as a native medium. Santer stated that the writers created a new Walford, calling it a "fresh perspective on a British classic." The writers were given a day to travel around East London to listen to people talking to get ideas. Sathe commented: "We created some brilliant scenes from the eavesdropping stuff." After the summer school, the writers were commissioned to write the 12 episodes of series 1. Some of the scripts were allowed by be changed by the actors if they thought lines were not authentic, such as the use of London street slang. Sathe considered the use of slang to be a highlight of the series, calling it her proudest moment. Storylining and character creation for series 2 started in January 2010. The third series used mostly different writers to the first two. Each potential writer had to send in a monologue for a character they would like to see on television and the production team chose their favourites. The writers were then asked to write a scene between their character and one of the established "EastEnders" characters. Following this, the writers were interviewed and the most promising fifteen were selected. Kenny returned as a writer for series 3 and was joined by several of the young "EastEnders" cast members: Arinze Kene (Connor Stanley), Himesh Patel (Tamwar Masood) and Charlie G Hawkins (Darren Miller).