List of EastEnders characters introduced in 1988
The following is a list of characters first appearing in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1988, by order of first appearance.
Sufia Karim
Sufia Karim is played by Rani Singh. Sufia makes her first appearance in Walford in 1988, when she moves to Walford with her husband Ashraf and their children Shireen and Sohail. In 1989 she discovers that Ashraf is having an affair with a woman named Stella. This affair is eventually exposed to the community, leading to the family leaving Walford for Bristol in June 1990.Melody
Melody, played by Lyanne Compton, is introduced in 1988 as the troublesome school friend of Junior Roberts, on whom she has a crush. They are mischievous, doing things such as stealing dogs from their owners and then claiming rewards when they return the dogs, professing to have found them, or charging children to see a free Punch and Judy show. Melody attends the local Brownies, where she is particularly troublesome for the Brown Owl, Marge Green.During her time in Walford, Melody is approached by a potential paedophile, who offers her sweets and a ride in his car; Melody responds by biting his hand. She reports the man to the police, but subsequently, her father prohibits her from seeing Junior for a while, though this does not last.
Melody is upset when Junior and his family move away in August 1989; they think about running away together, but are unable to set their plan in motion. Junior still visits Melody occasionally and on Halloween 1989, she and Junior dress as ghosts and throw eggs at Dot Cotton for refusing to offer anything desirable during their game of Trick or Treat. Following a chastising from Dot for this, Melody disappears with no explanation. Off-screen, the show acquired a new executive producer, Michael Ferguson, and many characters were dropped. According to writer Colin Brake, the storyline involving Melody and the unruly Brownies was intended to be fun, but references to Brownies behaving badly caused great offence to the Brownie movement, and an official complaint was made and upheld. The broadcasting commission said the EastEnders Brownie episodes "came near to parody," were unfair to the Brownies and harmed the Girl Guides' image. The BBC had to make a public apology for the misinterpretation of the movement. Brake has suggested that the mishap was a "salutary lesson to those in the script department to be very vigilant in ensuring, as far as possible, that no group or individual was offended by an unintentional slight in a script."
Kenny Beale
Kenny Beale, played by Michael Attwell, is the older brother of Pauline and Pete Beale. He had a guest stint in 1988. He was born and raised in Walford, 1941, to Albert and Lou Beale, where he lived with his family at number 45 Albert Square.Kenny was banished from Walford in 1965, at the age of 24, when his mother caught him in bed with his brother's wife Pat. He went to live in New Zealand, set up a business selling swimming pools, and married a New Zealander named Barbara. He didn't speak to any of his family for five years after emigrating, and after that it was only Pauline who corresponded with him.
He returns to Walford in 1988 with his daughter Elizabeth, after his marriage has hit a rocky patch. He visits his ill mother and finds out that he has been named as the father of Pat's younger son, Simon Wicks. After a month in Walford, he returns to New Zealand, saying goodbye to Simon, whose paternity has come into doubt again. He tells Simon that he hopes he is his father, although it is later revealed that Pat believes Brian Wicks is Simon's father.
Kenny remains off-screen following his 1988 departure and has a car accident in June 1992, prompting Pauline to travel to New Zealand and care for him. Upon Pauline's death in 2006, he sends a wreath to commemorate.
It is revealed in "CivvyStreet" that Kenny is named after his paternal grandfather, Kenneth Beale.
Elizabeth Beale
Elizabeth Beale, played by Lucy Bayler, was born in New Zealand to Kenny and Barbara Beale, and comes to Walford with Kenny when they visit her sick grandmother Lou.Elizabeth arrives in Walford with Kenny when Kenny's brother, Pete Beale, finds out he is not the biological father of Simon Wicks. Kenny had an affair with Pete's ex-wife, Pat Wicks, and could be Simon's father, however, neither of them are Simon's father. Elizabeth begins an unlikely, but brief liaison with her cousin Ian. She stays with Pete and her aunt, Kathy Beale, when her father returns to New Zealand. She soon angers Ian by flirting with other men, and Pete, who is in a bad mood after arguing with Kathy, throws her out of his house when she tries to bring a friend home to stay. She returns to New Zealand and Kathy contacts Elizabeth and Kenny when Lou dies.
Lewis Knight from Radio Times opined that Elizabeth had a "regrettable romance" with Ian.
Little Ali Osman
"Little" Ali Osman, played by Omer Mustafa Salih, is the second son born to café owners Sue and Ali Osman. He is born in March 1988 and is delivered in his parents' flat, 47B Albert Square, by Lofty Holloway and Pauline Fowler.Following his parents' split, he and his mother leave Walford in April 1989 but Ali snatches him in May, causing Sue to have a breakdown and be sectioned. Little Ali lives with his father, who struggles as a single parent and employs an unregistered child minder to look after Little Ali while he works. When health visitor Carmel Jackson notices that Little Ali is not being looked after properly, she investigates and finds that the child minder is neglecting the children in her care, leaving them alone all day. Unable to look after his son, Ali sends Little Ali to live with relatives.
Ali's financial problems continue and he leaves Walford in October 1989 when he loses his home and business. Little Ali now lives in Northern Cyprus with his father.
Brian Wicks
Brian Wicks, played by Leslie Schofield, is the second husband of Pat Wicks. He only appears twice on-screen, but the character's history is heavily intertwined with several other key characters within the series, and he is mentioned regularly for the first three to four years. The character is involved in one of EastEnders most complicated storylines: the paternity of Simon Wicks.Brian began an affair with Pat around 20 years earlier, while she was married to her first husband, Pete Beale. During this time Pat became pregnant with her second son Simon, and claimed that Pete was the father. When Pat and Pete eventually divorced, Pat latched on to Brian. They married and Brian adopted Simon, and he and Pat's older child David Wicks both took on Brian's surname. They moved from Walford to Romford, after David was beaten up by Derek Branning, for getting his sister Carol pregnant resulting in the birth of David and Carol's daughter, Bianca.
Brian was mostly absent and used to beat Pat and her children, so she eventually left him after several years and returns to Walford. Pat causes havoc by revealing to Simon that Pete is not his father. Several other men are put in the frame, including Brian, Den Watts, Frank Butcher and Pete's brother Kenny Beale. Furious rows erupt between all concerned, but Pat ominously refuses to divulge the father's true identity.
Brian first appears in April 1988. He has been informed that Pat has settled down with Frank Butcher, and is running The Queen Vic pub. Brian is interested in Pat's monetary affairs and their brief reunion is not pleasant. After calling Pat a slag and almost getting into a fight with Frank, Brian leaves. It isn't until a dying Lou Beale pressurises Pat in July 1988 to give Simon peace of mind regarding his paternity, that Pat finally reveals that Simon's biological father is Brian, the mentally unstable man Simon grew up assuming was his stepfather. Simon and Brian never appear on-screen together, although later plots imply that they do correspond with each other, despite Simon claiming regularly that he hates him and describing to Frank that growing up with Brian was like "living with a nutter".
Aside from this plot, Brian continues to remain a menacing off-screen presence, continuously pestering Pat for money. Brian isn't seen again until May 1989. Pat has decided that she wants to marry Frank, and to do this she needs to divorce Brian. She meets Brian and asks for the divorce, but he makes it clear that he will only divorce her if she gives him either £1000 or one of Frank's cars as pay-off. Pat has no choice but to get Brian the car. She deceives Frank by claiming that her aunt Mabel's car has been written off and asks if he can provide one for her. Frank agrees to get her the car free of charge. He manages to get hold of a mini, and Pat telephones Brian to tell him of her success. Although he is slightly annoyed that the car he is getting is only a mini, he nevertheless agrees to give Pat a divorce.
In 2006, Brian's nephew Kevin Wicks and his stepchildren Deano and Carly come to live with Pat.
David Samuels
Dr David Samuels is played by Christopher Reich. David first appears in April 1988 as Dr. Harold Legg's nephew who is visiting from Israel. David has fallen on hard times in Israel. He was being shunned by the locals because he had treated a wounded terrorist, who was guilty of bombing a bus that had killed his best friend. He had also split from his fiancée Ruth, and wanted a new start. When his mother [|Hester] comes to visit Harold she asks him if it would be possible for David to join him in England for a while. Dr. Legg thinks it is a great idea, and David comes over the following month. On his arrival, he tends to Colin Russell when he is attacked. David helps his uncle out with the practice and lives in the flat above the surgery.Despite being extremely fond of each other, the new partners argue about almost everything. David wants to modernise the surgery and bring in computers, but Harold is set in his ways and is opposed to any obvious changes. Dr. Legg also disagrees with David's friendship with their secretary, Michelle Fowler. Particularly when the two get drunk one night at a Christmas party, leave together and end up in the same bed. David awakes the next day not remembering a thing, but is reassured when Michelle informs him that he had been too drunk to do anything untoward anyway. Harold is not convinced however, and berates David for the degradation he'd brought upon himself and the surgery.
Later David and Dr. Legg fall out over Dr. Legg's treatment of patients. David is appalled that Dr. Legg has decided to lie to Colin and withhold vital information from him about his depleting health. He is also angry over Dr. Legg's lack of persistence concerning Donna Ludlow's drug problem, and later blames himself for not providing sufficient help following her suicide in May 1989. Soon after David has stern words for Dr. Legg when he fails to diagnose Vicki Fowler with meningitis. Their altercation leads to Dr. Legg retiring and leaving the running of the surgery to David. However, David's contemporary methods alienate the older residents of Walford and after much protesting Dr. Legg eventually decides to rethink his retirement. David initially tries to fight this, but in August 1989, Ruth, arrives in Albert Square to reconcile with David, and she makes David and Harold realise how petty their arguing has become. The two doctors manage to patch up their differences, whilst David and Ruth put their past behind them and get back together. The following month they decide to marry and return to Israel together.
It is revealed in January 1990 that David and Ruth got married in Israel and Dr. Legg attended the wedding.
In 2019, David contacts Dot Branning from Israel to say that he cannot make it back to England for Dr. Legg's funeral.