List of minor EastEnders characters (1986)

The following is a list of minor characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1986, by order of first appearance.

Neville Agard
Neville Agard, a corporate lawyer, began a relationship with Hannah Carpenter in 1985. Hannah and her daughter Cassie moved in with Neville and despite the fact that Neville admitted beating Cassie for misbehaving, Hannah planned to marry him.

Hannah was unaware of the extent of Neville's aggression towards Cassie, but when she discovered that he'd beaten her with a riding whip, she confronted him and he turned violent towards her. Hannah left him and returned to her former husband, Tony. Tony confronted Neville off-screen, and returned home covered in his blood after giving him a severe beating.

John Fisher
John Fisher was a drag queen hired by publican Angie Watts in January 1986 to perform for the premier drag night at The Queen Vic. Following the publicity over Angie's drink driving case, she and her husband, Den, worried that the brewery who owned the Vic might find cause to cancel their tenancy, and 'free entertainment' was seen as a way to bolster the evening trade.

The first drag night was a roaring success until Pete Beale started heckling the performer. John mistook Pete's intent, thinking he wanted to join in with the act. John playfully took Pete's pint on-stage and Pete leapt after it, causing a tussle to ensue. Seconds later, Den found himself on the floor untangling the pair. The surprise arrival of Den's mistress, Jan Hammond, prompted Den to close the pub early, so the act was halted prematurely.

Sharon Watts was quite impressed with the drag artiste and thought him to be a caring and sensitive person. When he mentioned that his other job was delivering 'kiss-o-grams', she hatched a plan for starting her own business. John performed several more drag evenings in The Vic. His last appearance was on 27 February 1986.

"Uncle"
"Uncle" (real name unknown) was a Jewish pawnbroker and friend of Albert and Lou Beale from the war years. He was a semi-regular character and his first appearance on screen was in February 1986, when he visited Lou after 20 years to return Albert's watch, which Lou had recently given to her grandson, Simon Wicks.

Simon had pawned it to pay loan sharks after he borrowed £1,500 for his failed band and after he could pay no more, he came to Walford to hide from them. However, they followed him and he was subsequently forced to pay twice that amount.

While Lou's son-in-law Arthur was in prison, Uncle loaned his wife Pauline money and he later helped Lou on her will. His last appearance was in July 1988 when he attended Lou's funeral.

Nigel Dean
Nigel Dean was a carpet salesman who visited Pauline Fowler and her mother Lou Beale at number 45 Albert Square on 17 April 1986.

Jestis Scanlon
Jestis Scanlon was a protection gang leader who appeared on 6 May 1986.

Trevor Smith
Trevor Smith was wanted by the police for the armed robbery of a bank in Walford. Trevor had the protection of the East End criminal organisation known as The Firm. They contacted publican, Den Watts, and instructed him to hide Trevor in his pub for several days, in order to escape the police. Den was against this, but he had little choice in the matter.

Albert Square was packed with policemen, who were all hunting for Trevor. This made Den and his wife Angie extremely nervous. Trevor made himself comfortable in the Queen Vic’s living quarters, and he had no qualms about ordering Den around in his own home. Eventually The Firm arranged for Trevor’s getaway. Two men dressed as gas men arrived at the Vic, where one swapped clothes with Trevor and he sped away from Walford in the back of a gas van.

Harry Reynolds
Harry Reynolds was a college friend of Kelvin Carpenter who first appeared along with Tessa Parker in June 1986. Both Harry and Tessa had radical Marxist beliefs and it wasn't long before they managed to recruit Kelvin to the same way of thinking.

Soon after his arrival, Harry, Kelvin and several other Walford youths decided to form a band. Harry was the manager, Ian Beale played drums, Sharon Watts and Kelvin provided vocals, Simon Wicks played the keyboard and Eddie Hunter was the lead guitarist. Harry and Kelvin decided that the band's music should demonstrate "decay in the capitalistic society" and have a strong political message. They initially called themselves Dog Market, but after they were banned from The Queen Vic for causing a power cut at their first gig, they decided to change their name to The Banned.

Simon and Harry began to disagree with the direction the band was taking. Harry had lost his argument to make the band a vehicle for communist propaganda and blamed Wicksy for the band taking a more practical attitude. They all decided to enter a competition for young musicians, and both Harry and Simon vowed to outdo each other by writing the best song to perform. The rest of the band all preferred Simon's song, which infuriated Harry and he started bad-mouthing him to the rest of the band, saying he was superfluous and a closet BBC Radio 2 listener. Simon then declared that the band had to choose between him and Harry, but as Harry owned all the instruments and equipment, they sided with him and Simon quit. The band then decided to use Harry's song "Something Outa Nothing". The day of the competition came and for some reason Harry then decided to sabotage their performance by switching the cartridge in the synthesizer, wrecking any hopes the group had of getting anywhere! The rest of the band were furious, particularly when Harry confessed that he did it to show them up. Harry was shunned after this and was not seen in Walford again. His last appearance was in October 1986.

Tessa Parker
Tessa Parker was a college friend of Kelvin Carpenter and Harry Reynolds who first appeared in June 1986. Both Harry and Tessa had radical Marxist beliefs and it wasn't long before they managed to recruit Kelvin to the same way of thinking. Tessa soon discovered that she and Kelvin had more in common than their beliefs. She found him attractive and they started dating.

Their romance quickly faded when Kelvin became more interested in pop music than overthrowing the Thatcher government. He sang with a group known as Dog Market and its successor, The Banned. Tessa secretly wanted to be in the group but she had no musical talent and was refused membership. She quietly left Albert Square when Kelvin told her it was time for them to "pack it in". Her last appearance was in July 1986.

Eddie Hunter
Eddie Hunter was a flamboyantly dressed friend of Simon Wicks and he was first seen in Albert Square in June 1986. Eddie and Simon were part of a band, and before Simon came to Walford, he had borrowed money from loan sharks and was left owing them huge amounts of money that he couldn't pay back. Eddie was happy to leave Simon with the debt and disappeared to work as a redcoat in Clacton, so the band dissolved. However, when the debts were finally repaid, Simon decided to regroup and he contacted Eddie to rejoin the band.

The reformed group consisted of Simon, Eddie, Kelvin Carpenter, Sharon Watts, Ian Beale and Harry Reynolds They initially called themselves Dog Market and Eddie was the lead guitarist. They were due to have their debut in The Queen Vic in August that year, but after their enormous amplifier fused the electrics in The Vic, publican Den Watts threw them out and shouted after them "You're banned!", after which the group changed their name to The Banned.

Later on, arguments in the band prompted Simon to quit and he wrote his own solo song called "Every Loser Wins" (Nick Berry, who played Simon, released the song as a single, scoring a number 1 hit that same year). Meanwhile, The Banned wrote a song called "Something Outa Nothing" (this was also released as a single by Letitia Dean and Paul Medford who played Sharon and Kelvin). The Banned took part in a competition for a music contract, but for some unknown reason, Harry, who was a political activist, sabotaged their performance and they ended up being booed off stage. The Banned split up after this and Eddie disappeared. His last appearance was in January 1987 when he attended Kelvin's eighteenth birthday party.

Johnny Earthquake
When Simon Wicks decided to form a band, he auditioned several musicians to join. Johnny Earthquake was one of the hopefuls and he had once had his own band called "Johnny Earthquake and the Tremors." Simon and the other members of the band weren't impressed with Johnny's audition or his obvious penchant for alcohol, so he was not asked to join.

Irene Holloway
Irene Holloway was the aunt of Lofty Holloway — his mother's sister. Lofty did not have a close relationship with his stern mother, but he doted on his auntie Irene and she was the only relative he had contact with.

Auntie Irene first appeared in July 1986, when her nephew Lofty and his fiancée Michelle Fowler visited her in the nursing home where she lived. She had been told that she only had six months to live, as she had terminal cancer. She told Michelle that she had been in love with a man in 1938, but he was killed in an accident and she had never married.

She attended Lofty and Michelle's wedding in September 1986, only to see her beloved nephew jilted at the altar. Later in the year Lofty and Michelle sorted out their differences and finally got married. Irene worried that Michelle was merely using Lofty, but Michelle promised she would not hurt him. Satisfied, Irene gave their union her blessing and also paid for their honeymoon as a wedding gift.

Irene visited Lofty and Michelle in March 1987, giving Lofty instructions about her funeral. Irene worried that Lofty would not cope once she was gone and tried to make him accept that she would soon be dead. Lofty was distressed at the prospect of losing his aunt and cried into her lap. In June 1987 Lofty went to visit Irene at the hospital. She was in obvious pain and could no longer see. The following episode Lofty heard that his aunt had finally succumbed to the cancer that had been slowly killing her for years. He attended her funeral on 23 June 1987.

Family

 * Nephew: Lofty Holloway

Owen Hughes
Owen Hughes was Mark Fowler's Welsh friend who returned to Albert Square with Mark after they worked together on a farm in Wales. He was first introduced sleeping rough in the Fowlers' doorway with Mark, waiting for the family to wake up and let them in.

Owen's most notable characteristics were his obsession with the band Pink Floyd, his 'out there' conversations (particularly about marrows) suggesting he was permanently stoned, and the fact that he had body odour.

Owen and Mark were soon hounded out of Albert Square by Tony Carpenter, after he discovered his 11-year-old daughter Cassie smoking cannabis, which she stole from them. They left in a hurry on Owen's motorbike and Owen was never seen again.

Sandra Marsh
Sandra Marsh was a nurse who worked at the same hospital as Andy O'Brien. When she was informed that Andy had been killed in a motor accident, she identified his body and contacted his parents in Glasgow to inform them of his death.

Sam Sangers
Sam Sangers was a conman who was tried to con Debbie Wilkins out of her deceased boyfriend, Andy O'Brien's possessions, until Pauline Fowler got involved and sent him away.

Monty Krietman
Monty Krietman was a solicitor who was blackmailed by Dr. Harold Legg to handle Dot Cotton's shoplifting case.

Jaggat Singh
Doctor Jaggat Singh first arrived in Albert Square in November 1986. He was employed by Dr. Harold Legg to cover the surgery for him several days a week.

Naima Jeffery showed a romantic interest in Jaggat and they went on several dates. Naima's cousin Rezaul Gabir was furious as Jaggat was a Sikh and Naima was Muslim and he tried to provoke Jaggat into a fight in The Queen Vic one night. However, Jaggat just laughed off Rezaul's aggression and they eventually became friends. In the end nothing serious ever developed between Jaggat and Naima anyway, as Naima ended the relationship to marry Farrukh - a suitor from Bangladesh.

Having Lou Beale, Ethel Skinner and Dot Cotton as patients sharpened his interest in the elderly and Jaggat left the Square in December 1987 for full-time work with old people in a Northern home. Shortly before leaving, he persuaded Ethel to move into sheltered housing at Prosper Estate.

Dario Chimisso
Dario Chimisso — an Italian lawyer — was the romantic interest of Jan Hammond. He took her away on a business trip to Venice, Italy so she could get over her recent split from Den Watts. Here she accidentally bumped into Den, who was there on a second honeymoon with his wife Angie. Den was jealous of Jan's friendship with Dario, even though she claimed it was platonic on her part. However, in August 1987, Jan sent Den a letter informing him that she and Dario had gotten married on a gondola in Venice. This news upset Den, although it amused his ex-wife, Angie.