List of minor EastEnders characters (1989)

The following is a list of minor characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1989, by order of first appearance.

Maxine Roberts
Maxine Roberts was the selfish sister of Carmel Roberts, who first appeared when she attended Carmel's wedding to Matthew Jackson in January 1989. Maxine worked as a health care worker and she was highly ambitious. When Maxine's elderly parents could no longer cope with the responsibility of caring for her brother's two children, Maxine refused to take over as their guardian. She lived in a single room at the hospital where she worked, and made it clear that her career was more important. She tried to persuade Carmel to take the children in and when she initially refused, Maxine threatened to put them into care.

Carmel had no choice but to allow the children to live with her, although her husband was extremely opposed to this and it caused many arguments. When Carmel's father suffered a stroke in March 1989, Maxine brought her nephew Junior and niece Aisha to the Jacksons, insisting that they take them immediately. Matthew was furious, but he eventually relented.

Family

 * Brother: Darren Roberts
 * Sister: Carmel Roberts
 * Nephew: Junior Roberts
 * Niece: Aisha Roberts

Clare Butcher
Clare Butcher was played by Lucy Foxall in 1989, and then by Caroline O'Neill in 2002. She was the daughter of Frank Butcher. She lives in Manchester and was only seen twice in Walford, in 1989 and 2002. She is married and has children but neither her husband or her children have ever been seen.

She first appeared for her father Frank Butcher's wedding to Pat Wicks in 1989 and then left soon after.

During her years in Manchester, she was looking after her younger sister Janine for most of Janine's childhood until Janine came to Walford to live with Frank in 1989. After Frank abandoned Janine and left Walford in 1996, Janine started to become hostile towards her step-mother Pat so she was once again sent to Manchester with Clare. Clare also looked after her other sister Diane's son Jacques when he was abandoned by Diane in 1997.

Janine returned to Walford permanently in 1999 and over the years she started going out of control getting involved in drugs and prostitution. Clare returned to Walford briefly in 2002 and was shocked that Janine had stooped so low,. Clare left again only a few days later, abandoning Janine.

Family

 * Father: Frank Butcher
 * Mother: June Butcher (deceased)
 * Brother: Ricky Butcher
 * Sisters: Diane Butcher, Janine Evans
 * Half brother: Danny Butcher
 * Grandfather: Chike Butcher (deceased)
 * Grandmother: Mo Butcher (deceased)
 * Nephews: Jacques Butcher, Liam Butcher
 * Niece: Natasha Butcher (deceased)
 * Aunt: Joan Garwood

Christine Pretis
Christine Pretis did the bookkeeping for Frank Butcher at Frank's Autos, from August 1989 until 1990, when he decided to sack her, after deeming her services too expensive.

Christine later came to Frank's rescue when he had a visit from the Inland Revenue. She told him he could apply for an appeal, but in the meantime would have to give them £4,000–£5,000. She persuaded Frank to sell his Mercedes, telling him that the bailiffs would sell it at auction if he didn't.

Reggie Thompson
Reggie Thompson lived in sheltered accommodation, along with Ethel Skinner. Reggie and several other senior residents from Prosper Estate, were intending to go on a coach trip to Clacton in December 1989 and Reggie asked Ethel to go along too. Reggie was a bit of a cad and initially told Ethel that he couldn't commit to being her dance partner as he had too many other female suitors he didn't want to disappoint. However, when Ethel heard news that her former fiance, Benny Bloom, had died, he chivalrously agreed to be her partner. Ethel was very excited and she even showed Reggie a saucy nightdress she had bought for the trip. She and Reggie practiced their dancing at the community centre for many months and they even performed their dance at the Vic's talent contest in October 1989, in preparation for the big event.

During the trip Reggie preoccupied himself with another woman, Gladys, and spent most of his time getting extremely drunk with all of his friends. This infuriated Ethel and she accused Reggie of "carrying on" with Gladys, which he denied. However, Ethel later found him and Gladys together and she furiously chased Gladys out of the hotel while Reggie followed in hot pursuit. Reggie failed to show up to partner Ethel for the dance competition because he and Gladys had checked out of the hotel and ran away to be together.