Mandy Salter

Mandy Salter
EastEnders character
File:Mandy salter.jpg
Portrayed by	Nicola Stapleton
Duration	1992–94
First appearance	12 March 1992
Last appearance	13 January 1994
Classification	Former; regular
Introduced by	Leonard Lewis
In-universe information Occupation Unemployed Mother Lorraine Salter

Mandy Salter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nicola Stapleton. Introduced in 1992, Mandy was portrayed as a teenage tearaway. She was featured in storylines about homelessness, child and drug abuse. Her relationship with Aidan Brosnan was one of the prominent storylines featured in 1993. Due to the character's devious behaviour, it has been suggested that Mandy was one of the most hated characters on television during her tenure. The character appeared in a special episode of Doctor Who in 1993, which was set in the fictional soap setting of Walford. Stapleton quit the role and Mandy departed on-screen in January 1994. Stapleton claims that she has been asked to reprise the role in the past, and although she turned these offers down, in 2009 she stated the door has been left open for Mandy to return. It was reported on 8 June 2011 that Stapleton was to reprise her role as Mandy, and will appear on screen from Autumn.

Development

Introduced in 1992 as a school girl aged 15 and abandoned by her mother, Mandy was portrayed as a troublesome teenager, with an underpinning storyline of child abuse and abandonment. Nicola Stapleton, 17 at the time, was cast in the role. During her stint in the soap, the character was featured in storylines about child and drug abuse, homelessness, blackmail, theft and prostitution (in the form of clipping).

Author Rupert Smith has classified Mandy as a "lost girl". He describes her as "poisonous [...] the daughter of a dodgy old lush that Pat had picked up in a hostess bar, and she arrived in Walford to work out some grudge she held against the entire world." He adds that "she lied, cheated and stole", suggesting that "there have been very few characters as entirely loathesome as Mandy Salter [...] The serpent in an East End eden." Author Kate Lock has suggested that, "You wanted to feel sorry for homeless waif Mandy but her deviousness made it hard to even like her."

In 1993, the character was paired romantically on-screen with Aidan Brosnan, played by Sean Maguire. Aidan and Mandy's romance was one of 1993's "major storylines", which ran throughout the year. Depicted as shy, naïve and impressionable, Aidan was quickly led astray by Mandy. In the storyline, Mandy introduced Aidan to alcohol and drugs and a swift decline for the couple culminated in them becoming homeless and sleeping on the streets or in abandoned squats. Aidan slipped into a depression, culminating in a suicide attempt, when in the Christmas Day 1993 episodes, he decided to jump off the top of a tower block. The producers' original plan had been for Aidan to succeed in his suicide bid; however, in the book EastEnders: The First Ten Years, author Colin Brake has revealed that "the powers-that-be" at the BBC intervened in the storyline. They felt that a suicide on Christmas Day would be "too depressing even for EastEnders", so they ordered for the scripts to be revised. In the revised version, Mandy arrived just in time to stop Aidan jumping to his death, her love for him convincing him not to end his life. 23 million viewers tuned in on Christmas Day 1993 to witness Aidan's suicide attempt; it was the highest rated television programme of the day, trumping its biggest rival Coronation Street by 3 million viewers. Nevertheless, the storyline spelt the end of the couple in the soap, Sean Maguire having chosen to leave to pursue other projects. The following episode, Aidan — resenting Mandy for her role in his misfortune — left to return to Ireland alone. Heartbroken, Mandy fled several weeks later, in January 1994.

In reality, Stapleton had grown tired of all the attention she received from being in such a high-profile show, and despite being offered a contract to continue, she quit the role. She has discussed a disagreement she had with the scriptwriters regarding a controversial scene involving Mandy, recalling, "Mandy had been technically raped and her line was, `Oh, rats.' I was up to the producer's office in five minutes. I couldn't believe it. It was stronger not to say anything than a line like that." In an interview in 2005 Stapleton commented: "Working on EastEnders was so high-profile it put me off working on soaps for a while[…] I've been asked a number of times to go back but I've done a lot of really credible stuff in theatre, and I thought, 'It took me a long time get here. I'm not ready to go back to Mandy just yet' […] The publicity with something regarding EastEnders is huge and sometimes you end up feeling like a famous person rather than an actress - I wanted my work to be more fulfilling than that."

In a 2009 interview with Walford Gazette, Stapleton said, "[EastEnders] always left the door open for Mandy to return. [But] at the moment I'm quite happy to be doing what I'm doing." She told the Daily Record that same year, "It doesn't bother me that I'm still recognised as Mandy from EastEnders. It means I made an impression with the character. I would never say never to going back. I don't think the show is as fabulous as it was 10 years ago but it's still pretty fantastic and you have to go where the work is."

Storylines

Mandy arrived in Albert Square in March 1992 when her mother left her in Pat Butcher's care while she was in hospital. Mandy eventually left, feeling unwanted by Pat's husband, Frank, but returned to Walford by late June — dossing in Mark Fowler's vacant squat at 23b Albert Square.

Mandy was troublesome from the start, attempting to blackmail Ian Beale by threatening to tell everyone in the Square that he visited prostitutes unless he gave her a job, thinking it would be a good first step on the career ladder. This failed, but Ian's dad, local market trader, Pete Beale, gave her a job on his stall. However, Mandy stole his profits, so the job didn't last long. She also angered Hattie Tavernier when she tried to ruin her relationship with Steve Elliot.

Mandy survived by stealing, conning people and relying on the charity of others. She made friends with Sam Butcher (who lived in the squat below her), and generally lingered around the Square, being a nuisance. Mark allowed Mandy to stay in the squat with him, but she became obsessed and upset him by stealing his late wife's diary — which led to her discovering Mark was HIV positive — and dressing in her clothes. She and the other squatters were evicted when the council took repossession of the flats. Kathy Beale took pity on her and allowed her to live with her until Mandy spread rumours that Kathy had been abusing her. Tired of her games, Kathy threw Mandy out and she ended the year homeless - sleeping in a make-shift shanty on the Square.

A sympathetic Mark Fowler took her in again, causing problems with Hattie, as her boyfriend, Steve, was Mark's flat mate. She was extremely unhappy about Mandy living with him. She was right to be apprehensive as Mandy was determined to talk Steve out of marrying Hattie, resulting in him abandoning her days before their wedding.

On Christmas Eve 1992, Mandy received a Christmas card from her mother, telling her that she was coming to visit. Mandy was extremely excited and waited for her to arrive. However, Lorraine didn't show, so on Christmas Day, Mandy went to Lorraine's flat. Her mother wasn't there but her boyfriend, Gary, was. He was immediately abusive to Mandy, taunting her and making derogatory comments, incensing Mandy and they had a fight. Gary became aggressive and started beating Mandy, only stopped by Mark's arrival. He had come looking for her. Mark punched Gary and took Mandy back to Walford to spend Christmas with him.

Mandy had few friends on the Square as she manipulated everyone she knew for her own means. She did, however, make one friend, trainee footballer Aidan Brosnan. They began dating, much to the despair of Aidan's guardian, Arthur Fowler, who was aware of Mandy's troublesome past. Mandy was a bad influence on Aidan and regularly encouraged him to skip football practice to be with her, and get him drunk so they would sleep together. On one occasion, he was so drunk that he fell and severely damaged his knee. He recovered, but soon after, Aidan had another knee injury whilst training. This time the damage was so bad it ended his career in professional football. The loss of his dream hit Aidan badly, but by now Mandy had fallen for him in a big way. She took Aidan under her wing and introduced him to the rave scene to take his mind off things, but disaster struck when, after taking ecstasy for the first time, he passed out in a drug-induced coma. After this, Aidan wanted to return to Ireland and his parents, but Mandy refused to give him up so easily. She followed him but soon returned, having had a poor reception from Aidan's family. However, Aidan found that he no longer fitted in at home and soon returned, looking for Mandy and hoping to make a fresh start with her. They quickly became Walford's most hated residents.

The young lovers were unable to find work or a place of their own so for a while they squatted in Pete Beale's empty flat, but were evicted by Phil and Grant Mitchell. After several weeks sleeping on the streets, they moved to another squat at number 5 Albert Square. In order to get cash, Mandy and Aidan would often beg around the Square and occasionally do odd jobs. It was on one such occasion that Grant Mitchell left his wife Sharon's pet poodle, Roly, in Mandy's care. However, Mandy lost control of Roly and he died after running straight into an oncoming truck. Grant was furious and Sharon was devastated. Mandy later got a job cleaning Dr Legg's surgery, but after stealing prescription slips and selling them to drug dealers, she was sacked. Mandy even turned to 'clipping' to earn some cash, where she'd act as a prostitute only to run off with the money without performing the sexual service. However, the other prostitutes in Kings Cross beat Mandy and she was arrested so Aidan then made her promise to stop.

Mandy managed to stop Aidan committing suicide

They both found jobs at the grocery store in Bridge Street for a while, but when that fell through, they went into decline. Richard Cole started a smear campaign against them, accusing them of being behind a series of robberies around the Square and everyone turned on them. Aidan's behaviour became increasingly erratic and he soon became severely depressed. Things reached an all time low on Christmas Eve that year when Aidan received a letter from his parents saying that they were disowning him. To make matters worse, Richard Cole — who owned the building where they were squatting — evicted them, leaving them homeless at Christmas. On Christmas Day 1993, Aidan was so depressed that he attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a tower block. Mandy managed to stop him but Aidan realised that Mandy was bad for him, and he returned to his family in Ireland.

Mandy was distraught at losing Aidan, which got her some sympathy from Pauline Fowler and she allowed her to move into 45 Albert Square. Mandy saw New Year in, huddled and sobbing on the Fowlers' couch. Early in 1994, Mandy turned to Ricky Butcher for comfort and they had a one-night stand. However, this only made her realise how much she missed Aidan, and she rejected Ricky's further advances. All alone, Mandy left Albert Square in January 1994, repaying the Fowlers' kindness by stealing Pauline's purse and hitching a ride with a lorry driver, who was heading west on the M11. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Reception

According to Josephine Monroe, author of The EastEnders Programme Guide, Mandy Salter was one of the most hated characters on television during her reign; a "teenager from hell". Stapleton has alleged that some viewers hated Mandy so much, due to her despicable deeds on-screen, that she was subjected to taunts in the street and her car was regularly vandalised.

Underpinning the character of Mandy was a storyline about child abuse, and Stapleton has revealed that she received "a lot" of letters from children in the same situation. She commented, "You want to help but all you are really permitted to do is say this is Childline's number and encourage them to talk to someone."

In popular culture

Mandy was featured in a special episode of the popular science fiction series, Doctor Who, which was entitled Dimensions in Time (1993). The episode was specially screened as part of BBC's annual fund-raising event, Children in Need. Viewers were asked to phone in and vote which EastEnders character, Mandy or 'Big' Ron, would appear in the show and save the Doctor from certain death. Two versions were filmed for each voting outcome, but the Mandy version won with 56% of the vote.

See also

• Dimensions in Time

External links

• Mandy Salter at BBC Online