Tiffany Mitchell (also Raymond) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Martine McCutcheon from 1995 until 1999.

The final blow occurred towards the end of 1998 when Grant had an affair with Tiffany's mother, Louise Raymond (Carol Harrison).

Producers made the controversial decision to kill the character off, an act that McCutcheon publicly criticised as she had hoped to return at some stage.

Tiffany is invited to a house party by her friend Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) in Albert Square.

Tiffany gives birth to baby Courtney by caesarean section in March 1997, and for a moment Grant softens towards his wife.

Not long after their reconciliation in August 1997, Grant and Tiffany renew their wedding vows and bond on a romantic trip to Paris.

She grows close to police officer Beppe di Marco (Michael Greco), who has fallen for Tiffany and despises Grant for his treatment of her.

She attempts to leave but in her haste she accidentally falls down the stairs and is hospitalised with a blood clot on the brain and lapses into a coma.

While Courtney is left at The Queen Vic with Peggy, Tiffany takes it upon herself to tie up her various loose ends, firstly by disowning her mother Louise and breaking up with Beppe, whom she has never really had any true feelings for.

Tiffany changes her mind about framing Grant and writes a signed confession exonerating him of any wrongdoing in her fall down the stairs.

Hysterical and frightened, Tiffany pursues them, which results in her running straight into an oncoming car, driven by Frank Butcher (Mike Reid).

Introduced in 1995 by series producer Barbara Emile, Tiffany Raymond was conceptualised by EastEnders' scriptwriter Tony Jordan as a school friend of already established character Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer).

[2] In Larry Jaffee's book, Albert Square & Me: The Actors of Eastenders, McCutcheon discussed the auditioning process at the BBC in December 1994, saying that the casting directors liked the way she read, but did not feel that her dress sense tallied with their vision of Tiffany.

[3] They asked her to return in a few days dressed like their vision, in "flashy clothes and junk jewelry" and showing a "bit of cleavage".

She returned to the BBC wearing fishnet stockings, a tight lycra skirt, junk jewelry, orange lipstick and fake tan.

[2] McCutcheon claims her mother told her "to wear the dangly earrings with the short skirts and the low, V-neck tops, because that's what the barmaids wore.

[16] Rumours about her exit continued throughout early 1998, with sources suggesting that McCutcheon was hoping to remain on EastEnders while also releasing music.

In an interview with website Walford Web, Matthew Robinson, the executive producer at the time, gave his account of what happened.

He stated that McCutcheon demanded that "the BBC allow her to come and go within the series at her behest, making it impossible for storyliners to write coherently for her character.

McCutcheon was displeased with this and went public with her criticism of the decision, stating that she was not informed by the producers but heard the news on the radio after a tabloid newspaper ran a front-page story with the headline "Tiff's a stiff".

[17] On-screen, Tiffany's exit storyline centred upon another break-up with husband Grant after she discovered that he had slept with her mother Louise (Carol Harrison).

[21] McCutcheon publicly slammed the BBC's "Controller of Continuing Drama Series", Mal Young, who was one of the executives who made the decision to kill her character.

[2] In turn, Young has hit back at McCutcheon, saying her anger only arose because she wanted him to keep her role in EastEnders open as a 'safety net', in case her pop career failed, and he was not prepared to do this.

They suggest that like Diana, Tiffany was "A beautiful, flawed and misunderstood woman, she died in tragic circumstances while escaping a pursuer who wanted to possess her.

The plot, which was slated to be aired on Christmas Day 1997, evoked criticism from female MPs and children's groups, TV clean-up campaigners and church officials, who were all expressive in unanimous condemnation about the BBC's "cynical ploy to win the seasonal ratings war over arch-rival Coronation Street."

Labour MP Ann Clwyd suggested that the BBC should "reconsider" and Michelle Elliott, director of the children's charity Kidscape, said: "This is an appalling, outrageous, utterly nauseous example of rape for ratings."

Reports also alleged that Grant's actor Ross Kemp was not happy about the plot either and threatened to quit the role unless the scripts were altered.

[28] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Tiffany 32nd on their ranked list of the Best EastEnders characters of all time, calling her "Poor old Tiff" and writing that "the nation wept" when she was killed off.

[29] In December 1998, to coincide with the character's death, a fictional book penned by Kate Lock entitled Tiffany's Secret Diary was released.

The diary documented Tiffany's time in the soap, beginning when she discovered her pregnancy and covering several years of her life until Christmas 1998.