List of EastEnders characters introduced in 1985

After nearly 20 years of marriage, he hands divorce papers to Angie in the 1986 Christmas Day episode that was watched by a record-breaking 30.15 million viewers, more than half of the UK population at the time.

According to scriptwriter Colin Brake, the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith, wanted to start the serial "with a bang, throwing the audience into the middle of life in [the fictional setting of] Walford".

[1] In the first ever scene of the programme, the characters of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher), and Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih) are shown breaking down the door of Reg's flat.

[2] The second generation of East End-born Jews (as Dr. Legg was meant to represent) prospered in the area until the 1930s when Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists was formed, and used violence to instil fear in the Jewish population.

[9] As the Jewish community grew wealthier, many moved out of the East End to more affluent areas of London,[9] just as the character of Dr. Legg had done on-screen when the show began; living in Islington, but commuting to his practice in Walford.

Pete features in the soap for eight years as the local fruit and veg trader of Albert Square; he is a member of the original focal clan in the serial, the Beales and Fowlers.

Angie is well known for her cheeky banter, her huge shaggy perm and turning to alcohol during her stormy marriage to cheating Den (Leslie Grantham) which ends when he hands her divorce papers on Christmas Day, in an episode watched by a record-breaking 30.1 million viewers.

Despite being the loud and feisty lady of Walford, and having a close relationship with her beloved adopted daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean), she has little real happiness during her time in Albert Square and alcoholism finally claims her life in 2002 when she dies of cirrhosis of the liver.

The Watts were seen by Holland as integral to the show's success, partly because he had already guessed that the pub was going to be a monstrous battleground where emotions would run high on a regular basis, and also because the occupants would be providing the majority of the drama.

His storylines saw him twice committed murder of Reg Cox and Eddie Royle respectively, succumb to a heroin addiction, and attempt to poison his own mother, causing the death of his son Ashley amongst numerous other misdemeanors.

A year later, in 1999, Taylforth returned for a temporary stint to aid the departure of actor Ross Kemp who played her brother-in-law Grant Mitchell, and later in December 1999 for the wedding of her screen son Ian.

Before EastEnders initially aired, creators Tony Holland and Julia Smith had already decided that Sue and Ali Osman would be parents to a young baby named Hassan.

During this time, the topic of sudden infant death syndrome was prominent in the British press, partly due to an increase in casualties, but also because a doctor had gone public with the accusation that parents were to blame for the tragic occurrence.

[1] Four possible suspects are seen leaving the Square in the early half of the episode: Tony Carpenter (Oscar James), Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson) and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham).

Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their contacts to relay information about their origins and lifestyles and were then able to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically.

The character of Debbie along with her boyfriend Andy are an attempt by Holland and Smith to represent the influx of upwardly mobile people that were opting to move to the usually working-class areas of the East End of London.

Ron is involved in a few storylines, including helping his friend Pete Beale (Peter Dean) to intimidate rapist James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) into leaving the area, and having a heart attack after he is pushed by a mugger in the market.

On Christmas Eve 1987, after desperately trying to convince Mary to return to Stockport, a very drunk Chris abducts Annie and tries to drive her home, only to crash into a wall at the local bed and breakfast on Bridge Street.

Mehmet, the brother of original character Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), is part of a well-intentioned attempt to represent the proportion of Turkish Cypriots who had immigrated to England and settled in the East End of London.

Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their social contacts to relay information about their own origins and lifestyles, which they say allowed them to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically.

However, when she discovers that Neville has a violent temper and has beaten her daughter with a riding whip, she confronts him and after a row results in violence she leaves him and turns up on Tony's doorstep at number 3 Albert Square in April 1986.

Quick then investigates a burglary at Dr Legg's (Leonard Fenton) surgery, for which he blames the victim for leaving a window open, and he angers the locals when he appears to be accusing innocent people, especially teenagers, of taking drugs.

Sheena Mennell, played by Dulice Liecier, first appears on 15 October 1985 when her taxicab breaks down in Bridge Street and she wanders into the café and asks Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff) where she might find another one.

She first arrives in Albert Square in October 1985 when she comes to inform her sister-in-law, Sue (Sandy Ratcliff), that her husband, Ali (Nejdet Salih), had gambled away the mortgage money for the home they were planning to buy.

Winston owns the music stall in Walford's Bridge Street Market, and over the years he proves to be a great friend to his fellow long-standing stall-holder, Mark Fowler (Todd Carty).

Winston is always willing to help when other market traders are called away, for example, to appear in a key development of a current plot, for example when Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) needs someone to guard her clothing stall while she and Max Branning (Jake Wood) slip into an unguarded bedroom to continue the next episode in their illicit affair.

He is seen with Tracey (Jane Slaughter) in August 2009 talking about Max and Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), and in November 2009 Ian invites him for drinks at The Queen Vic but he refuses.

In April 2011, during the screening of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in The Queen Vic, Winston accidentally rips the cord from the television electrical plug, much to the dismay of the patrons.

In August 2013, he locks market inspector Tamwar Masood (Himesh Patel) in a portable toilet as a joke, but Bianca and Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) are blamed.

In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Winston 97th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling him a "faithful extra" and referring to him as a legend due him once to yelling "Bloody pedestrians" at Den.