Leanne Powell is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, played by Vickie Gates.

Brookside's executive producer Mal Young believed there was a need to include more teenage centric stories and created a peer pressure plot for the character.

Writers also explored the issue of teenage pregnancy with Leanne and her friend's mother, DD Dixon (Irene Marot) helps her arrange a termination in secret.

She propositions David Crosbie (John Burgess) and gets disowned by her friend Jacqui Dixon (Alex Fletcher).

In 2000, Brookside producer Paul Marquess reintroduced the character having been impressed by Gates' work on another television series.

Marquess developed the character further and introduced her brother, Lance Powell (Mickey Poppins) and created a relationship with Christy Murray (Glyn Pritchard).

Leanne uses Katie in an attempt to seduce her sister Sammy Rogers' (Rachael Lindsay) boyfriend, Owen Daniels (Danny McCall).

"[1] Gates told a reporter from The Sunday People that playing Leanne "has left me with the worst frown lines imaginable because I had to walk around all week being vile and pulling faces.

[11] Fletcher told Peter Grant from Liverpool Echo that Jacqui is initially refuses to believe Bing and accuses him of "slagging off her bezzie mate.

"[12] Jacqui feels betrayed when she discovers Leanne is a prostitute and has been using her bar, Fletcher assessed that "all hell broke loose".

[14] In 2000, Brookside producer Paul Marquess reintroduced the character and her brother Lance Powell (Mickey Poppins).

Marquess reintroduced Leanne alongside two other former characters Bev McLoughlin (Sarah White) and Nisha Batra (Sunetra Sarker).

[20] Gates told Francesca Babb from All About Soap that "they're all out to have a laugh" but Leanne is particularly excited because she has decided to snare herself a man.

In December 2002, she was pitted against local businessman Ron Dixon (Vince Earl) as they start their own rival market stands.

He thinks he has the monopoly on the bus stop and "there's a lot of humour and tension when they operate a price war with some daft creative sales pitches.

"[21] A Mersey TV publicist revealed that Leanne enlists Christy to help her win the feud and he dresses up as Santa to rival Ron's festive attire.

Gates told Wendy Granditer from Inside Soap that Bev is "devastated" to find her bar ruined and "deservedly, Leanne has been No.

The fight occurs in front of a CCTV camera and Brookside residents Max Farnham (Steven Pinder) and Adele Murray (Katy Lamont).

[22] Gates added that Leanne then goes to seek legal advice and does not feel guilty about further escalating her feud with Bev.

"[22] Gates believed that Leanne's behaviour was caused by her unwillingness to accept she is wrong, "no matter how badly she behaves".

She told Granditer that she feared Leanne's continued revenge plans against Bev left her worried about viewer reaction.

[22] In another storyline, Leanne falsely accuses her GP doctor Darren Roebuck (Timothy Deenihan) of sexual harassment.

Darren tries to avoid Leanne's advances and makes it clear he loves his posh girlfriend Victoria Wilcox (Patricia Potter).

"[1] While interviewed by Maxine Gordon from The Press recalled one occasion where a female fan approached her asking her to be nasty to her, like Leanne would behave.

They observed that "Leanne Powell, the close's original bad girl has provided some quality dialogue this week and the return of Bev has brought out the best in her...so to speak.

[24] Lynda Gilby praised Brookside for portraying their "preposterous" stories with "charm and conviction" unlike other soaps and used Leanne's return as her prime example.

[34] Her colleague, Andrea McVeigh opined that Brookside was increasingly becoming over the top and deluded characters such as Leanne made manic Jimmy Corkhill (Dean Sullivan) appear sane.

[38] Their colleague Rupert Smith bemoaned the on-screen intimacy between Leanne and Christy, predicting they gave a "perfunctory performance".

[19] Sunday Life's Gilby believed that Leanne and Christy continued the show's trend of creating "unlikely couples".

[39] Inside Soap's Granditer assessed that Leanne "has always been a nasty piece of work" but managed "to plumb new depths of deviousness" when she took revenge on Bev.