mandy salter, played by nicola stapleton, is introduced on 12 march 1992, and portrayed as a teenage tearaway. she is featured in storylines about homelessness, child and drug abuse. her relationship with aidan brosnan (sean maguire) is one of the prominent storylines featured in 1993. due to the character's devious behaviour, it has been suggested that mandy was one of the most hated characters on television during her tenure. mandy was one of several introductions to the cast of "eastenders" in 1992. executive producer leonard lewis took a tentative approach to introducing new characters in 1992. most were introduced gradually, making an initial appearance and then joining the programme full-time a couple of months later. this allowed the producers and writers to create new characters and see them brought to life by the actors before committing them to a longer contract. mandy first appears in march 1992 as a school girl aged 15, abandoned by her mother in pat butcher's care. she left the series temporarily a few weeks later; in the storyline she goes back to her mother's flat, but she returns by the summer of 1992 as a regular character, squatting in the soap's setting of albert square. stapleton quit the role and mandy departs on-screen on 13 january 1994.