Following a long period of mourning for Debbie, Nigel grows close to Lorraine Wicks (Jacqueline Leonard) and attempts to ignite a relationship.

Nigel later meets Julie Haye (Karen Henthorn), Clare's school teacher, who occasionally drops into his video shop to rent French films.

More than 26 years later, Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) encounters Nigel while volunteering at the local community centre on Christmas Eve, serving him food as he appears to be homeless.

[2] Characters introduced in this way included Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), Christine Hewitt (Lizzie Power) and Nigel Bates, played by Paul Bradley.

[2] Nigel first appears in March 1992 as a friend of established characters Grant (Ross Kemp) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), when he comes to Walford and buys Frank Butcher's (Mike Reid) Mercedes.

After a successful first appearance, Nigel moves to the soap's setting permanently later in the year following the death of his mother and became the lodger of Dot Cotton (June Brown).

[2] Paul Bradley has discussed his casting in Larry Jaffee's book, Albert Square & Me: The Actors of Eastenders, conducted in 1994: "I was only supposed to do three episodes and I think they just liked the character.

Nigel is kind of light and funny and arrived just after Gill [Fowler] (Susanna Dawson) had died of AIDS and the show was accused of being a bit gloomy.

Lock added, "Nigel was overweight, shy, had the world's worst taste in shirts and ties and sported a mop of shaggy curls reminiscent of 70s footballers, so it wasn't often he found success with the opposite sex, although women were drawn to his gentleness and humour more than he realised.

[2] Off-screen the show's Series Producer Barbara Emile decided to mark the 1000th episode with a celebration and the wedding of Nigel and Debbie was chosen as the event.

[7][8] He was the third senior cast member to quit in as space of two months, following the announced departures of Jacqueline Leonard and Paul Nicholls who played Lorraine and Joe Wicks.

"[7] The character remains on-screen until April 1998 and was given a "happy ending", leaving to begin a new life with a newfound love, Julie Haye (Karen Henthorn), allowing for a future return.

[9] Henthorn has suggested that because Nigel was "such a popular character", and because he had such an unsuccessful love life throughout the course of the show, the producers of EastEnders felt that the viewing public would not want him to have anything other than a "happy ending".

[10] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from the Daily Mirror placed Nigel 90th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling him "Nerdy" and Grant's "conscience" who was famous for his "natty shirts and ties".