dennis rickman was created by the show's producers as the hardman successor to the character of steve owen, who had bowed out during the previous year. it was also part of a move to bring the watts family back to the forefront of "eastenders", with the re-introduction of vicki fowler occurring at the beginning of 2003, and the highly anticipated return of den watts in september. executive producer louise berridge was also keen to rectify what she felt was a gender imbalance in the cast, commenting after his arrival that dennis had "provided a surge of testosterone in a show that was rather female-heavy since the arrival of the slaters."