Debbie Wilkins

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EastEnders character
Debbie Wilkins
Portrayed by	Shirley Cheriton
Created by	Tony Holland and Julia Smith
Duration	1985–1987
First appearance	21 March 1985
Last appearance	14 May 1987
Profile
Date of birth	1960
Status	Married
Home	Crawley
Occupation	Bank Clerk
Family Father Derek Wilkins Mother Iris Wilkins

Deborah "Debbie" Wilkins was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Shirley Cheriton.

Debbie was Walford's first middle class yuppie. She had an on/off relationship with her ill-fated boyfriend Andy and she tended to be a bit too pretentious for the working class locals of Albert Square.

Contents 1 Character creation and development 2 Debbie's relationship with Andy 3 Life after Andy 4 References

[edit] Character creation and development

Debbie Wilkins was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. The character of Debbie along with her boyfriend Andy O'Brien were an attempt by Holland and Smith to represent the influx of middle-classed people that were opting to move to the usually working-class areas of the East End of London. Gentrification of the East End was on the increase in the 1980s, and in Holland's experience, the new, wealthier residents were never welcomed or truly accepted within the community, and this was what he hoped to convey on-screen with these two characters.^[1]

Debbie's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

"Debbie and Andy are living together, they're not married — but it's a serious relationship. The mortgage is in her name... Debbie is bossy and a planner... She and her mother decided at an early stage to beat the East-end at its own game, and get Debbie into a different environment... She wanted to work in a bank and do well... She became part of a household of six: three women, three men in a huge shared flat in Wandsworth... Andy used to come over and visit her... A strange stilted courtship began... They moved to the Square, so Debbie's back in the area that she came from... Partners, in love, and determined to make it the best home ever — they are not so much acquisitive, as lovers of their comfort... Her interfering manner upsets other occupants of the Square... Andy knows she has an unfortunate manner and tries to cover for her when he can. Debbie isn't a snob in the social sense, but as she's skilled labour — a professional woman — she's bound to feel sometimes slightly a cut above the others... Actually, not being accepted by others, being made to feel that they're "outsiders" will frequently prompt Andy and Debbie to consider moving out... Unlike Debbie, who's an ambitious woman working in a traditionally male world, Andy is a very unambitious man working in a traditionally female world... They became in love with the idea that everyone thought they were the perfect couple... The decision to attempt the experiment of living together: A "domestic" relationship, was a difficult one, and they agonised over it for months. Wouldn't they get bored? Would they feel imprisoned? How would they fill the hours, with only the two of them?... They want to knock down walls, put in double-glazing, and all the rest of it.... Forced to move into a different class... They're not habitat/Guardian East-end, and they're certainly not nouveau-riche, but they are, to a lot of people, a possible sign of a shape of things to come in the Borough..." (page 62)^[1]

Holland and Smith required the character of Debbie to be bossy, interfering and a definite outsider. They had both worked with the actress Shirley Cheriton on their previous television series about nurses, entitled Angels. Cheriton had proved an extremely popular addition to the cast of Angels and had secured herself a large number of fans. Both Holland and Smith perceived Cheriton to be a "rung or two up from her working-class origins", but she was not posh either, which was perfect for the part of Debbie. They initially worried that Cheriton would have reservations about playing a person who was not immediately liked by everyone, but Cheriton liked the role so she was instantly hired.^[1]

The characters of Andy and Debbie were created to represent a young couple with outwardly mobile pretensions, but it was decided that the formula did not work and both characters were eventually written out of the show.^[1] Andy ended up being the first main character to be killed off in 1986, just over a year after the show began. During this time, rumours began to circulate in the British press that Ross Davidson (Andy) was axed because Julia Smith disapproved of the off-screen relationship he was having with Shirley Cheriton. This has subsequently been denied in EastEnders: The Inside Story.^[1] Debbie remained in the show for another year as the writers tried unsuccessfully to reintegrate the character after Andy's departure. Debbie eventually departed after being married off to a policeman played by Gary Whelan, which ironically happened to her character Katy in Angels years earlier; marrying a policeman also played by Gary Whelan.^[1]

[edit] Debbie's relationship with Andy

Debbie was a bank clerk and she arrived in Albert Square in March 1985 when she moved into number 43 with her boyfriend, nurse Andy O'Brien. As the pair were the only outwardly 'middle-class' people in Walford, they tended to 'stick out like a sore thumb'. They would regularly throw cocktail parties and run around in their matching jogging suits, much to the bemusement of the locals. They had a rocky relationship from the word go, as Debbie's interests seemed to focus on success and making money, whilst Andy wanted to settle down and make a family. This situation was complicated further by the fact that Debbie was being wooed by local policeman Roy Quick. This then led to Debbie and Andy having an open relationship; dating other people, but living together as a couple. The situation was not ideal, however, as Andy would often get jealous when he witnessed Debbie being pursued by other men. More problems arose later that year when Debbie decided she wanted a career change and quit her job at the bank. Andy was furious as they now had no funds to repay their mortgage, but Debbie soon got a job as a barmaid in The Queen Vic.

Later that year, Debbie was the target of a malicious stalker, who would regularly ring her up, threaten her and make lewd comments. Debbie wrongly believed that Ali Osman was the culprit and later confronted him, which infuriated his highly strung wife Sue. The culprit was eventually unmasked as being Saeed Jeffery, the local shop-keeper who was married to Debbie's friend, Naima Jeffery. Debbie tried to get Saeed professional help, but Naima wasn't so understanding and upon finding out about her husband's sordid escapades, she threw him out. On the advice of Roy, Debbie began taking self-defence classes so she could better protect herself should she be put in danger again.

Roy was infatuated with Debbie and asked her to marry him several times, but Debbie broke his heart when she decided that Andy was the man for her after all and in 1986 they decided to get back together as a full-time couple and they got engaged soon after. She was then fired by landlady Angie Watts as an act of jealousy over her renewed relationship with Andy, so she got a job helping run Naima's grocery store. Debbie and Andy's happiness was not to last, however, as in August 1986, kind-hearted Andy ran in front of a truck to save a toddler from being hit and was instantly killed. Debbie spent many months coming to terms with her lover's death. Her grief was compounded with guilt as the last time she saw Andy they had a blazing row and she told him to 'drop dead!', which ironically, he did.

[edit] Life after Andy

Debbie was unable to pay her mortgage after Andy died so she moved in with the recently divorced Naima. Debbie later had a flirtatious fling with the owner of The Dagmar wine-bar, James Wilmott-Brown, but it never progressed into anything serious. She also made an ill-fated attempt to woo new Walford arrival, Colin Russell, and was shocked to later discover he was gay. Debbie busied herself campaigning against issues such as feminism, homophobia and racism during this time, but her rants usually fell on deaf ears and her attempts to bring sophistication to the square were equally unsuccessful.

In 1987 the women of Walford came under attack by a man known as the 'Walford attacker'. Sharon Watts, Sue Osman and Pat Wicks had all had encounters with the vicious attacker and in April of that year, Debbie was attacked too. Whilst she was alone in the launderette, the 'Walford attacker' attempted to assault her. Debbie managed to ward him off using self-defence, which led to his eventual capture. Debbie's heroic act led to her meeting Detective Terry Rich, who had been investigating the case. He asked Debbie if she would help him out by acting as his girlfriend in an under-cover stake-out that was being held in a nearby restaurant, which Debbie agreed to do. After getting to know each other on their mock date, the two started seeing each other and when Terry was transferred to another division, Debbie made the decision to leave with him. They got engaged and threw a celebratory leaving party in The Queen Vic. Debbie's last appearance was in May 1987, but later that year she wrote to Naima to tell her that she was pregnant. According to the EastEnders Handbook, written by Hilary Kingsley, Debbie and Terry married off-screen.^[2]

[edit] References

v • d • e EastEnders original characters Ian Beale | Kathy Beale | Lou Beale | Pete Beale | Kelvin Carpenter | Tony Carpenter | Nick Cotton | Arthur Fowler | Mark Fowler | Michelle Fowler | Pauline Fowler | Lofty Holloway | Naima Jeffery | Saeed Jeffery | Harold Legg | Andy O'Brien | Ali Osman | Hassan Osman | Sue Osman | Ethel Skinner | Annie Smith | Mary Smith | Angie Watts | Den Watts | Sharon Watts | Debbie Wilkins