Heather's character is known for her headbands, love of cheese and karaoke, impeccable manners, and being a fan of singer George Michael.

Several characters were named as possibilities, and the father, teenager Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins) was revealed after the baby, George Trott, was born.

That's me, Cliff Parisi (Minty Peterson), Linda Henry (Shirley Carter), Bobby Davro (Vinnie Monks) and Ricky Groves (Garry Hobbs).

You don't have to be a big person to know that people comfort eat, or to say, 'These terrible things happen in life, that's why she behaves like that.

[6] Heather is also a fan of karaoke, and Fergison cites her first scene where she is singing in front of her fellow cast as embarrassing and strange.

"[7] Fergison revealed that she found filming the storyline difficult, describing it as an "emotional rollercoaster": "I was laughing and in my most happy element, and then the next minute I would be in tears.

It's a combination of her horrid mother, and now it's her friend Shirley who treats her like a child and sort of kills her with well-meant kindness.

Remember when [Heather] was in tears on Valentine's night in the loo at the R&R, and her lost yoghurt pot lid appeared under the door?

"[9] Fergison disclosed that she was unaware of the identity of the father of Heather's baby, explaining that she was frustrated at not knowing, but eventually realised she liked that it was kept from her.

[10] The actress deemed it "a bit of a risky storyline"[10] because of Heather's association with more comedic plots, and suggested that viewers may find the pregnancy farcical due to the lack of build-up.

Other contenders were the man she met in a nightclub Eddie (Will Chitty), Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins), Garry, Vinnie, Vinnie's son Callum Monks (Elliott Jordan), Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick), gay character Christian Clarke (John Partridge) and Charlie Slater (Derek Martin).

[18] On 22 January 2011, it was reported by the Daily Mirror that an upcoming storyline would see Heather collapse after breathing toxic fumes from her faulty boiler, which she cannot afford to have repaired.

A spokesperson told the newspaper that Heather hits rock bottom financially and is in desperate need of money, but is too proud to admit it to anybody.

[21] Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy later reported Heather would be murdered by Ben Mitchell (Joshua Pascoe) during an argument at her flat.

[25] Heather is introduced as the best friend of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), who loves cheese and karaoke, is a fan of George Michael and suffers from asthma.

Heather becomes friends with Hazel Hobbs (Kika Mirylees), who asks her to be the bridesmaid at her wedding to Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi).

On a high, Heather decides to find herself a man at R&R, and Shirley hires a male escort to give her a good time.

Shirley moves back in when and Heather receives a letter from the bank saying they are repossessing the house as the landlord cannot make his mortgage repayments.

Heather finds a large amount of cash inside it, and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) turns up looking for it.

Appalled after seeing the state of her flat, Darren takes the responsibility of caring for George, telling Heather that she can still have access.

In 2016, Dot retires from her job in the launderette and finds a mixtape made many years earlier by Heather and Shirley, featuring their voices and several Christmas songs.

She also appears in series 2, where in episode 3, Asher (Heshima Thompson) and Sol Levi (Tosin Cole) go into the launderette and she thinks they are going to rob her.

[32] Fellow cast member Kara Tointon named Heather as her favourite character in the soap, explaining of her choice: "I think she brings something really great to the show, and not just the comedy—she's good at emotional scenes too.

"[33] Garry Bushell, TV critic for the Daily Star, criticised Heather's appearance, dubbing her "Heifer" and referring to her as a "giant dumpling with eyes".

[35] A writer for the Daily Mirror also criticised her appearance: "Her frocks and matching Alice bands could have been stitched together out of Nigel Bates's old ties and if I was actress Cheryl Fergison I'd have cried myself to sleep every night—especially after the cruel Brighton episodes.

Being fat made Heather fair game and you'd have cheered if Gok Wan had stormed a storyline conference and bitch-slapped the lot of them.

This is a lady whose "big" storylines have included stealing cheese from the Minute Mart, being played by a bloke in Harry Hill's TV Burp, and keeping in her bra a yoghurt top that she'd nicked from George Michael's bin.

The writer also felt that the "massive Ms Trott was never much more a caricature simpleton whose love for George Michael and all things 80s retro was supposed to be side-splitting.

"[41] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Heather 83rd on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling her "Karaoke-obsessed".

At the end of TV Burp's final episode, which happened to coincide with the week in which Heather was killed off in Eastenders, Cheryl Fergison herself made a surprise guest appearance.