Claudette Hubbard
Claudette Hubbard is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Ellen Thomas. She made her first appearance on 12 March 2015. Claudette is introduced as a friend of Les and Pam Coker, before being established as the mother of Vincent Hubbard, as well as the foster mother of Donna Yates and several other children. Upon her introduction, the character was described as a "new steely matriarch".
During her time on the show, Claudette's storylines included being accused of an affair with Les, before it was ultimately revealed she was aiding his cross-dressing, her volatile history with the Mitchell family, a feud with Babe Smith, and being left for dead and buried alive by her son Vincent after revealing she was responsible for the death of her husband. Thomas received two award nominations for her portrayal of Claudette; the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year and Best Bad Girl at the Inside Soap Awards. In September 2016, it was confirmed that Thomas would depart her role as Claudette and would leave the soap after being axed by the newly-appointed executive producer Sean O'Connor. Digital Spy wrote that they would miss "her boobs, blackmail and barmy antics" and Thomas herself stated that she would expect Claudette to return in the future.
Casting and characterisation
Thomas' casting was announced on 1 March 2015. The role of Claudette marks Thomas' fourth time on EastEnders, she previously appeared as Pearl Chadwick in 1990, Estella Hulton in 2002 and Grace Olubunmi between 2010 and 2011. Speaking of Thomas and her character, executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins stated: "Ellen Thomas belongs on EastEnders. Albert Square now has a new steely matriarch – with a few twisted secrets hidden behind her beaming smile." David Brown from the Radio Times added that Claudette had links to established regular characters and would be "a tough-talking resident of Albert Square".Thomas revealed that Claudette's family would be introduced to the soap and was introduced as the mother of established character Vincent Hubbard.. She explained: "Claudette is a foster mother, she's fostered children for the last 30 years. She's fostered the kind of children nobody else wants – tough cookies." She found it to be a "brilliant opportunity to bring new characters in".
Development
Friendship with Les and Pam Coker
Claudette's identity was kept a secret from viewers upon her arrival. She is shown to be having what looks like an affair with Les Coker when he visits her at a café and gives her a necklace. Later that night, while he and his wife, Pam Coker, are celebrating their wedding anniversary, Les gets a text from Claudette, thanking him for her necklace. Claudette and Les meet again a week later at the park, with Claudette later arriving for her foster daughter Donna Yates' birthday celebrations as arranged by Pam. It is revealed that she knows Les and Pam from when the latter worked as a social worker and placed Donna in Claudette's care. When Les' grandson, Paul Coker, arrives in Walford, he reveals that he knows Les and Claudette are having an affair. Les decides to stop meeting Claudette but she is not willing to conclude it and states that she will make it difficult for him to exit.Thinking Claudette and Les are having an affair, Pam leaves. Claudette urges him to tell Pam the truth, just as Pam returns and walks in on them together. Shortly after Claudette leaves the house, Pam urges Les to end the affair or their marriage is over. Two days later, he calls Claudette, telling her he cannot stop thinking about her, and later makes an excuse to Pam to go and be with Claudette again. He is then caught at Claudette's house in his underwear by Donna, who concludes they are having an affair, though Claudette tries to explain it is not what she thinks. Donna tells Pam, who goes to Claudette's house and sets about destroying gifts from Les until Claudette says the presents are not hers, and Pam should ask Les about Christine. When Pam asks Les, he reveals that Christine is his secret feminine alter ego, and he likes wearing women's clothes, and that Claudette has been supporting this secret. Claudette later tells Pam that Les persuaded her not to reveal his secret and encourages Pam to speak to Les about it.
Claudette helps Pam and Les prepare for their "meeting" with Christine, and tells Pam that "seeing" Christine for the first time will be easier than she thinks. Thomas was "moved to tears" by the storyline when it aired. She explained: "When I watched Christine's first appearance, I got a bit teary. Even though I had been there and filmed it, when watching I just thought about the people going through the same thing in real life." She told Inside Soap that she hoped the storyline would affect the viewers in a similar way.
Relationships with the Mitchells and Patrick Trueman
Claudette, who knows the Mitchells, finds Vincent has been beaten by Phil Mitchell and vows revenge on Phil. She starts working in the Albert and meets Phil's aunt, Sal, who is visiting the Mitchells. It was hinted that Sal's return "could spark big trouble" for Claudette. Speaking to Inside Soap, Thomas said: "I can't wait for you to find out what little old Claudette has been up to. She thinks the past is long dead and buried - but unfortunately for her, some people return to dig it all up again." Sal reveals that Claudette used to work at a bar nearby and has known the Mitchell family for decades. She threatens to reveal secrets about Claudette, so she asks Vincent to speed up with his established plan to take down the Mitchells. Hinting towards the culmination of the storyline, Thomas said: "Christmas is magic. We've been filming some scenes recently that are off the hook. All I'll say is fasten your seat belts, because it's going to be a very bumpy ride."It is revealed that Claudette's husband, Henry, was an associate of Den Watts, Ted Hills, Gavin Sullivan and Eric Mitchell, Phil's father. Vincent was told by Claudette that Henry was killed by Eric 34 years previously on Christmas Eve after a confrontation when Vincent was a child. A drunken Phil kidnaps Pearl which leads to an altercation between Vincent and Phil. Vincent says that Eric killed his father but Phil says Henry just left Walford. The feud between the Mitchells and Hubbards leads to the death of innocent Fatboy, so Vincent tells Claudette that their feud killed him and they should end it, but this infuriates Claudette who then compares him to his father and accidentally reveals that Henry did not die when she said he did. When Ronnie's mother Glenda Mitchell makes a brief visit, she recognises Claudette and Vincent, and later tells Ronnie that Eric did not kill Henry because he was drunk that night and did not leave the house. Ronnie then blackmails Claudette with the information, so Claudette tells Vincent to end the feud as it cannot bring back Henry or Fatboy. Claudette and Patrick flirt with each other and eventually begin dating; however it is hampered by Denise Fox's disapproval.
Husband's murder and being buried alive
Claudette and Kim Fox-Hubbard have rivalry at Pearl's first birthday party, and when Claudette's foster son Linford Short announces that he and Vincent have entered Claudette into the Pride of Walford Awards and she is a finalist, a jealous Kim jumps on Pearl's bouncy castle in an attempt to take attention from Claudette, which Claudette punctures in retaliation. Later that day, Gavin meets Claudette and blackmails her, saying he wants money to stop him revealing a secret from her past. She fails to get money from Les or Vincent, so she meets Gavin at her home and tries to pay him off with sex. However, he says that it is worthless as she used to be promiscuous, and asks how she killed Henry, so Claudette strikes him over the head with a candelabra. It was then confirmed that there was "big shocks in store" for the Hubbards. Vincent arrives, and she lies about the circumstances, but when Gavin escapes, her lies are revealed and Vincent works out he was blackmailing her and she killed Henry. When she insults Henry, Vincent chokes Claudette, as Patrick arrives and stops him.Vincent reveals to Patrick that Claudette killed Henry, and as Patrick tries to call the police, Claudette tries to snatch the phone off him, but falls down the basement stairs, hitting her head on a brick. Patrick leaves to get help but when he returns, Vincent has buried Claudette underneath the basement and tells Patrick to forget it happened or they will both be arrested for murder. However, unknown to Vincent and Patrick, Claudette escapes from the basement in a "shock twist" and is brought into the hospital by paramedics after she was found by the side of a road. Before viewers could protest to the story's realism, Thomas tweeted to defend the twist. She insisted that Claudette's survival is plausible and posted a newspaper clipping about a woman who dug herself out of her own grave.
Patrick later sees Claudette. Realising that she is alive, he tells Vincent, who soon realises the truth. When Vincent goes to Donna's home, Donna reveals Claudette is with her and has told her what Vincent did to her. Donna refuses to believe that Claudette killed Henry, so Vincent reveals that Claudette killed Fatboy. Donna is distraught at being lied to and asks Vincent and Claudette to leave, but Patrick arrives and confirms that Claudette killed Henry. Claudette insists Henry's death was an accident and threatens to show the police her neck bruises if Patrick calls the police on her, but Donna sees past this, saying that Claudette's fostering her was just an attempt to lessen Claudette's guilt. Vincent tells Claudette to leave Walford for good or he will tell Gavin where she is. Claudette visits Pearl privately and says goodbye to her, promising that she will come back soon. However, Blackwood commented: "I doubt very highly that Claudette will rest easy and let this slide! We all know she is a woman of low remorse. We already saw that she said that she thought his dad was dirt under her feet."