Aunt Sal
| Sal Martin | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||||||
 Sal Martin in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Anna Karen | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1996–98, 2001–04, 2007— | ||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 21 March 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 4 April 2011 (to date) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; recurring | ||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Corinne Hollingworth (1996) Jane Harris (1997) John Yorke (2001) Louise Berridge (2003) Diederick Santer (2007) Bryan Kirkwood (2010) | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Sally "Sal" Martin, often referred to as Aunt Sal,[1] is a recurring fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Karen.[2] She has appeared sporadically over the years, usually for only one or two episodes at a time. As of April 2011, Sal has collectively featured in 41 episodes of the show since she first appeared in 1996.
Storylines
Sal is the older sister of Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) and usually appears at Mitchell family occasions or when she's had a row with her husband. Sal is a heavy smoker and when visiting her sister, enjoys parking herself at the end of the bar with her cigarette (that is, until the smoking ban, when she would just go upstairs). Peggy also goes to stay with her when she needs somewhere to rest. She is married to downtrodden Harold, and mentioned a son in January 1997 and a daughter to Peggy at Grant and Tiffany's wedding blessing ceremony. She also mentioned in 1997 that she ran a pub.
Her first appearance was at Peggy's 54th birthday party in 1996. This also coincided with the birth of Sal's great nephew, Ben. She appeared again in January 1997 to support Peggy through her breast cancer,[3] and then again at Grant (Ross Kemp) and Tiffany Mitchell's (Martine McCutcheon) blessing where she stood in for Peggy in August 1997. Sal came to stay with the Mitchell family for Christmas 1997. During her visit she took baby Courtney Mitchell for a walk and left her outside the café in her pram. Whilst Sal was inside, Courtney was taken, causing everyone to panic. She was later found being looked after by Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer), Tiffany's best friend. Other appearances included Peggy and Harry Slater's (Michael Elphick) engagement party in 2001, Louise Fowler's naming party in October 2002, Jamie Mitchell's (Jack Ryder) funeral in January 2003, and Sam Mitchell's (Kim Medcalf) wedding in September 2004.
She returned in July 2007 for Phil's (Steve McFadden) wedding to Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson) and portentously noted that Stella would never be a Mitchell. She also returned when Peggy threw her a birthday party on 17 December 2007 and again on Christmas Day 2007 when she drunkenly infuriated Phil. On July 8, 2008 she returned again to keep an eye on Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey (Emma Barton) whilst they looked after The Queen Vic as Peggy was away.
She made another appearance on August 14, 2008 for Peggy and Archie's (Larry Lamb) engagement party. Sal straight away spoke her mind about Archie, not knowing that he was next to her. She spent Christmas Eve 2008 with Peggy, complaining about the price of her taxi and joking about Jean Slater's (Gillian Wright) health condition. She was next seen on March 2, 2009 when Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) invited her to dinner. Janine got her drunk before extracting information about Peggy's past, so she could use something to humiliate Peggy. Sal revealed to Janine that she and her sister, Peggy were involved in pole dancing for the gangland in the sixties. Janine couriered a huge photo of Peggy pole-dancing to ruin her political campaign. Peggy was humiliated and everyone found out about Peggy's past. The Walford Gazette found out about and took pictures. However, even though Archie was pleased about this Peggy grew proud about her controversial past and said that it was a change in the culture of Walford.
Sal attended Peggy's Hen Night later that month and following Peggy's wedding to Archie in April 2009 and the startling revelations that followed, Sal took Peggy back to her home with her to escape Archie. Peggy returned home the following week but after feeling let down by Phil who wouldn't kill Archie, she went away on holiday with Sal to the Bahamas. She returned again in June and attended a meal at Ronnie's (Samantha Womack) with Peggy. They snooped around and found an engagement ring.
On 17 December 2009, she turned up at The Queen Victoria as it was her 70th birthday. Everyone forgot but they told her of a special lunch in her honour in the community centre, which was actually a Christmas lunch event to try to raise money for the debt-stricken Mitchells. She complained about the food and told another diner she hopes there will be entertainment. She guessed that Ronnie is pregnant and Roxy told her about the Mitchells' debt problems. When the diners demand entertainment, she helped out by performing her fire eating routine. She later let slip that Ronnie is pregnant. Peggy invited Sal to a family dinner in August 2010, but Sal insulted all of Peggy's children and grandchildren, leading them to argue and so Peggy threw her sister out. On 11 November, she turned up uninvited for Ronnie and Jack Branning's (Scott Maslen) wedding.
In April 2011, Ronnie goes missing after she becomes depressed. Sal rings Roxy to let her know that Ronnie is with her. Sal appears when Roxy and Jack come to talk to Ronnie and take her home.
Creation and development
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In February 1996, it was announced that comedy actress Anna Karen would be joining the cast of EastEnders as Peggy Mitchell's sister Sal. Anna Karen and the actress who plays Peggy, Barbara Windsor, are "best friends" in reality and Windsor has expressed how happy she was to have Karen on the cast of EastEnders.[4][5]
Producers decided to hire Karen after Michael French, who played "romeo" David Wicks decided to quit. They reportedly failed to lure back June Brown, who played Dot Cotton between 1985 and 1993 (although they were successful in doing so a year later). They asked Karen to audition and decided she "was just the ticket".[6]
Commenting on her casting, Karen said, "It's great to be back on the box and a real treat to be working alongside my old mate [Barbara Windsor]."[1]
Kate Lock brands Sal as "Peggy's blabbermouth sister" and "She has a hide thicker than Peggy's, a penchant for interfering and a tendency to become loud and hideously embarrassing after a couple of drinks".[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Bosom pals for 30 years". The Mirror. 16 March 2002. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Me and My Trolley ...with Anna Karen". The People. 19 January 1997. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Thursday 23 January 1997", walford.net. URL last accessed 2008-09-21.
- ^ "Asthma Campaign - Actors and authors put weight behind the". The Independent. 31 March 2002. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) [dead link] - ^ "TAKE A BUTCHER'S AT BABS". The People. 3 February 1996. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "EastEnder Olive". The Mirror. 13 February 1996. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Lock, Kate (2000). EastEnders Who's Who. BBC Books. p. 27. ISBN 0-563-55178-X.
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