List of EastEnders characters introduced in 2016

[2] In January, Kyle Slater's close friend Sophie Dodd (Poppy Rush) and Stacey Branning's (Lacey Turner) psychiatric nurse Dr. Delia Forde (Carolyn Pickles) were both introduced.

Joel Reynolds' (Cavan Clerkin) brother Tim Reynolds (Charlie Baker), Jay Brown's (Jamie Borthwick) love interest Linzi Bragg (Amy-Leigh Hickman), Linzi's mother Thelma Bragg (Lorraine Stanley), Jordan Johnson's (Joivan Wade) son JJ Johnson (Zayden Kareem) and Claudette Hubbard's (Ellen Thomas) foster son Linford Short (Leon Lopez) all made their first appearances in February.

[5] They go to The Queen Victoria pub,[6][7] and Sophie and Ricksy wait there while Kyle visits Stacey again, and when they order food, it is too salty because it has been sabotaged by Babe Smith (Annette Badland).

[19] Dr Forde is a psychiatrist who assesses Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) when her boyfriend Martin Fowler (James Bye) convinces her to go to hospital.

[19] In the character's final episode, she states that "there isn't the money to look after these women properly", referring to budget cuts to mental health services in the UK.

[25] Baker said of his role: "It is an honour to join the hugely talented cast and production team of Britain's favourite soap" and added that he was "thrilled" to follow in the footsteps of other comedians who had appeared in EastEnders, including Mike Reid (Frank Butcher), Ricky Grover (Andrew Cotton), Josie Lawrence (Manda Best), Terry Alderton (Terry Spraggan) and Richard Blackwood (Vincent Hubbard).

[32] She offers Nancy Carter (Maddy Hill) a job as assistant manager at her pub, the Rat and Ferret, and then leaves with her daughter, Linzi Bragg (Amy-Leigh Hickman).

[38] Thelma attends court when Jay pleads guilty and is sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and must sign the Sex Offender Register for five years.

A drunken Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) destroys the car lot with a digger and Jay fears Linzi is trapped, but is relieved to discover she was not inside when it happened.

"[47] On 2 February 2016, it was revealed that Linzi would be a love interest for Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), with a show source saying, "As soon as they see each other, there's clearly a spark between them.

[41] When Jordan is arrested by the police over Lucas Johnson's (Don Gilet) plan to escape from prison, Patrick questions JJ's future and Denise insists she will take care of him.

Andy is introduced as a friend of Linford Short (Leon Lopez) who helps him with work on his foster brother Vincent Hubbard's (Richard Blackwood) basement.

Andy also saves Hannah Reynolds (Mia Jenkins) from being hit by a car whilst she is holding Ronnie Mitchell's (Samantha Womack) son Matthew Mitchell-Cotton in her arms.

She opined that she was enjoying his storyline but did not want Ronnie to come to harm or Roxy to be heartbroken, so hoped "Andy's game is rumbled sooner rather than later".

[25] It was announced in April 2018 that Jafargholi would be departing the soap, with his character killed off in a teen gang culture stabbing storyline,[95] which began on 21 May 2018.

In January 2017, Shakil is travelling on a bus with Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Bex, Louise and new friend Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) back to Walford.

[105][106][107] Kinsella said that she "commend[s]" EastEnders for choosing to "portray the realities of knife crime" and with it still rising, "people [need to] understand its lasting impact" as "It simply destroys lives forever.

"[105][106][107] Executive consultant John Yorke added that "the brutal reality" of knife crime was "brought home" to everyone at EastEnders through the murder of Kinsella's brother.

Before they can do this, Ben's uncle Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and cousin Mark Fowler (Ned Porteous) arrive in an attempt to rescue them and Simon and the gang flee the scene.

[124] Frankie, Neil and Tom are members of the gang who attacked Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid) and killed his boyfriend Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) in a homophobic assault.

Off screen, Frankie enters their house with Simon and they attack Ben's father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) when he attempts to help them, locking him under the stairs.

Phil's brother Grant (Ross Kemp) and his son Mark Fowler (Ned Porteous) then arrive in a rescue attempt and the gang flee the scene.

[136] Laura-Jane Tyler from Inside Soap called them "very dangerous people", "bad guys",[137] "wicked men", "evildoers", "merciless human beings", "violent brutes" and "villains", who committed a "horrendous hate crime".

[177] David Brown of Radio Times described Oz as a "slick call centre alpha male", a "loathsome figure", "conceited and complacent", a "bully boy" and "smug", and listed five reasons to hate the character.

[179] Cole visits The Queen Vic on Christmas Day, and arrests Lee Carter (Danny Hatchard) on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.

[180] He questions Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) as a witness and she asks him to go easy on Jack as he is still grieving for his wife Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack).

[182] John James Anisiobi of the Daily Mirror described DC Cole as "a silver haired handsome man with a knack for solving crimes".

He tells Karen that his parents Mick (Danny Dyer) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) have a perfect relationship and that his brother Johnny (Ted Reilly) and sister Nancy (Maddy Hill) are doing well in their lives and that he cannot compete with them and that he has let his family down.

[185] Duncan Lindsay from the Metro praised the storyline, saying, "The performances in the exchange between Lee Carter and Karen Beckworth were highly charged", and "Sally Rogers, who first appeared as an apparently insignificant parking officer in the previous episode, also moved us incredible amounts as Karen stepped up for Lee and effectively saved his life, driven, it later transpired, by the tragedy of a young man in her own life."

Lindsay added that the "scenes were difficult to watch", but said that "complemented heavily by strong writing, amazing support from the Samaritans and outstanding performances by Danny-Boy and Sally, EastEnders have got us all talking about an issue that seriously needs [to be] discussed.