Carmel Jackson
Encyclopedia
Carmel Jackson is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Judith Jacob
. Carmel, a Health Visitor
, was introduced in a recurring, minor role in 1986. Producers saw potential in the character. Script writers were asked to develop more promienent storylines, and Carmel became a regular character. She was portrayed as a well-meaning, caring individual who was forever getting everyone's problems dumped on her. She was featured in storylines about domestic violence and various family and career upsets. Jacob remained in the role until 1989, when she opted to leave. Off-screen, the character was the subject of criticism regarding the portrayal of her profession from the Health Visitors Association.
in June 1986 when she was assigned as Michelle Fowler
's health visitor. West Indian by origin, British by education, Carmel was unmistakable with her long dreadlocks
and colourful clothing.
Carmel was kept extremely busy in Walford. She was landed with all the long-term losers - Mary Smith, the prostitute, whose baby, Annie, was taken away from her; Sue Osman
, the mentally unstable mother who became obsessed with her baby, Ali's, welfare; Donna Ludlow
, the self-destructing heroin addict, and jobless Arthur Fowler
, among others.
In December 1986, Carmel started dating the much younger student Kelvin Carpenter
, much to his parents' dismay. Carmel later moved into the ground floor flat at number 3 Albert Square
and she and Kelvin lived together for a while. However, their age difference soon took its toll on Carmel, who grew tired of Kelvin's immature behaviour. She ended up throwing her toyboy out after she'd publicly dumped him in The Queen Vic.
Shortly after Carmel moved into the Square, her brother Darren arrived and managed to convince her to house him and his two children, Junior and Aisha, in her one bedroom flat. Darren and Carmel were the complete opposites of each other; Darren was inconsiderate and often dabbled on the wrong side of the law. He was regularly involved in dodgy scams, such as porn video laundering and instigating a counterfeit money ring. Carmel would despair over his thoughtless behaviour and criminal antics, but her rants were usually ignored.
Carmel was often left accountable for her brother's actions and also regularly took over caring for his two young children. Junior proved to be troublesome, and after Carmel discovered that he had been playing truant from school for several weeks, she reported Darren to the truancy officer, showing him up as an irresponsible parent. This did not please Darren, and he was even more annoyed when Carmel refused flatly to put up with his deviancy any longer. Animosity between the two increased when Carmel started dating Matthew Jackson later that year; Darren could not condone his sister dating a white
man. Carmel defended Matthew against her brother's inverted racism
, and after Darren got into more trouble for conning Ian Beale
, she threw him out. Darren then mysteriously disappeared, abandoning his children in the process. The children were initially left in the care of Carmel and Darren's parents away from Walford.
In September 1988, Matthew moved into Carmel's flat and the two were soon . Matthew was well liked in the community, even convincing Carmel's skeptical father that he was genuine. Carmel began planning their imminent wedding. She wanted to invite Matthew's estranged mother, Lynna, but he was opposed to this. His mother had abandoned him at 15 and had no subsequent contact. Carmel and Matthew married in January 1989, but the day was ruined when Matthew saw his mother in attendance. Carmel had contacted her against Matthew's wishes, thinking he would be pleased, but he was furious. After shunning their reception party, Matthew threatened to leave Carmel and when she attempted to prevent this, he grabbed her by the throat, held her up against a wall and berated her for her interference. Carmel was petrified and upon seeing her fear, Matthew released her and began apologising profusely. Carmel was shaken, but Matthew convinced her that his apology was sincere, so she dropped the matter.
More problems arose for the newlyweds when Carmel's sister Maxine announced that their parents could no longer cope with Junior and Aisha. She stated that if Carmel did not take the children, they would be put into care. Matthew was unwilling; however, the following month, Carmel's father had a stroke, so Maxine brought the children to Carmel, forcing her to take them. Matthew resented the fact that Carmel's time was being diverted from him; he found it increasingly difficult to cope with Junior's presence in particular. Matthew and Junior would regularly clash, leading to further animosity between Matthew and Carmel. Matthew became violent again, punching Carmel in the face during an argument about Junior. Carmel was left with a heavily bruised face, but once again a tearful Matthew convinced her to forgive him. Matthew's behaviour continued to alternate from contrite and caring to hot-tempered and violent, for seemingly no reason. Nevertheless, Carmel loved him and stayed with him as she believed she could help him combat and contain his rage.
Junior soon worked out why his aunt was constantly covered in bruises. He tried to put a stop to the violence by informing various people about the abuse, which only made Matthew's temper worse. Matthew became irrationally jealous of Carmel's friendship with Dr. David Samuels, and during a family meal, he turned violent again. In a bid to protect his petrified aunt, Junior stabbed Matthew with a kitchen knife. Matthew spent time in hospital and attempted to convince Carmel that he had changed. She allowed him to come home when he had recovered and tried to get Matthew to seek professional help; however, Matthew was appalled by the idea and, in a rage, he began smashing up the house and threatening Carmel with more violence. Finally realising that she could not help Matthew, Carmel decided to end their relationship. She threw Matthew out and he left Walford in July 1989.
The following month, Carmel's father died, so she left Walford with Junior and Aisha to tend to her grieving mother. Her last appearance was in August 1989.
and Julia Smith
, attended an opening evening at the Anna Scher Theatre School
in North London
, in order to find actors for roles in their upcoming serial. According to Holland and Smith, Anna Scher's school was unlike many other drama schools, where students were "ironed out", all looking and sounding the same. At Anna Scher's school, students' natural personalities and accents were encouraged, "her students aren't taught how to act, they're helped to dig inside themselves and be." In Holland and Smith's own words, this was "just the sort of non-acting that [EastEnders] was looking for".
Often, former students who were already working in the acting profession attended Scher's classes, and on the night Holland and Smith attended, actress Judith Jacob
performed. Holland and Smith described Jacob as "an old friend", as they had previously worked with her on their medical drama Angels
, where Jacob had played nurse Beverley Slater between 1979 and 1981. Following the end of the class, Holland and Smith concluded that Judith Jacob "had been as good as ever", but that "there wasn't really a part for her" in the original character line-up.
However, in 1986, a year after the soap had first aired, Jacob was recruited by Julia Smith and offered a part in the serial, the minor role of Carmel Roberts, a health visitor who tended to the character Michelle Fowler
(Susan Tully
) after the birth of her baby Vicki
. In his book, EastEnders: The First 10 Years, author and EastEnders scriptwriter Colin Brake
has used Carmel as an example of the way minor characters can develop in EastEnders: "Often a new character is introduced for a limited number of episodes, to serve a particular storyline or the story function. If the casting is good and the character 'works' on the screen, then the writers may be asked if there is potential in the character for further appearances." This occurred with the character of Carmel, and later in 1986 she was reintroduced as a regular character, moving to the soap's focal setting of Albert Square
.
In 1987, an extended family was introduced for Carmel, including her brother Darren (Gary McDonald
), and his two children Junior (Aaron Carrington) and Aisha (Aisha Jacob). According to the EastEnders Handbook, parents of young child actors were sometimes upset unavoidably during filming of EastEnders. For instance, the parents of the baby who played Hassan Osman were affected when their baby was used in a storyline about cot death, as they had not been warned. This problem was avoided with the two-year-old girl who played Carmel's niece, Aisha Roberts, as she was the real-life daughter of actress Judith Jacob. The writers "obligingly" called the young character Aisha, to make it less confusing for the actors. The idea to use Jacob's real daughter had come from the serial's co-creator Julia Smith. Jacob was initially against the idea. In an interview she commented, "Children on the set can be so horrible", due to awkwardness inherent in disciplining someone else’s child in the workplace. However, she has said that she found it hard to turn Julia Smith down, and realised that she would get to spend more time with her daughter if she also was working on the set of EastEnders. This caused a problem once on-screen, when Aisha referred to Carmel as "mummy", even though Aisha’s character was not Carmel’s daughter. Despite the inconsistency, the producers left the scene in.
Carmel's storylines included a brief relationship with a toyboy, Kelvin Carpenter
(Paul Medford), and numerous family and career-based problems. In 1988, Carmel gained a new partner, a white man named Matthew Jackson, played by Steven Hartley
. The characters were shown to marry in a register office in January 1989, beginning a domestic violence
storyline. By March 1989, Matthew was beating Carmel. This was the first time that EastEnders had dealt with the issue of domestic violence. After several months of abuse, a "particularly violent" incident ended with Junior stabbing Matthew with a kitchen knife to protect his aunt. By July 1989, the marriage "was as good as dead". Jacob has commented, "It was a great part to play. People couldn’t understand how a professional woman can stay with someone who beats her. That shows the durability of the character."
Jacob opted to leave the serial in 1989, and she has since commented that "They didn’t want me to leave, and made me a couple of offers to stay", but leaving seemed like the right thing to do at the time. On-screen Carmel's marriage collapsed, and the following month her father died, so she left Walford to tend to her grieving mother. She last appeared in August 1989.
, his wife Angie
and bad boy Nick Cotton
, than [black characters like] the Carpenter family and Carmel." In Robert Clyde Allen's book, To be Continued--: Soap Operas Around the World, Christine Geraghty has added "none of the black families [in EastEnders] rivaled the Fowler/Beale [family's] position at the heart of the programme's structure, and black characters were pushed to the margins of the story-lines. Carmel and [her brother] Darren clearly had an extended family along the lines of the Fowler/Beale nexus but its other members were rarely seen."
Conversely, in The Black and White Media Show Book, edited by John Twitchin of BBC TV's Continuing Education Department (published in 1988), EastEnders is praised for portraying black people on mainstream television, and for giving them "respectable, fleshed-out parts which allow them to be the most difficult of things — 'normal people'." Additionally, actress Judith Jacob has said that she looks back on her three years in EastEnders only with "delight". She has also said that she disagrees with the criticism EastEnders gets for paying "token lip service to blacks and minorities, who are usually depicted stereotypically." In 2006, she commented to the Walford Gazette, "EastEnders was the only show to [regularly employ] black actors. [Rival soap] Coronation Street
just recently started bringing in black characters. There has always been a good flow of people in EastEnders."
Further criticism has been aimed at Carmel's portrayal as a health visitor. In the late 1980s, a specialist nursing magazine called Nursing Times had a feature on the character, remarking that she "has come in for quite a bit of stick from HVA [Health Visitors Association] members who haven't felt that the character gives a good impression of their role". HVA members expressed disappointment that the character "has not developed in a way which promotes the role of health visitors more positively." Roma Iskander, who had discussed the role with EastEnders scriptwriters on behalf of the HVA, said that "Carmel isn't a positive image of a black woman or a health visitor." The magazine article suggested that Carmel's personal problems with family and clients served her right "for moving to Albert Square in the first place. Health visitors be warned — don't live on your work patch". However, in Dominic Strinati's book, Come on Down?: Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain, Christine Geraghty has argued that "the credibility of Carmel's character in the soap depended on her being part of the life of the Square, regularly and unproblematically available as a source of advice and support in her professional capacity as well as the focus of interest in terms of her personal life." Geraghty has said that tension arose from conflict in the 1980s soaps "between a desire to be positive about a particular issue and a commitment to credibility in terms of character and setting. The HVA, it would appear, want Carmel to be a model health visitor, demonstrating a wide range of skills in a professional manner. But the credibility of Carmel's character in the soap depends on her being a character who is part of the life of the Square, a professional who makes mistakes and whose personal life is almost a source of interest. Quite clearly, the demands for a positive image for health visitors as a profession are less pressing than the necessiity to be able to deploy Carmel as a soap opera character. Those making the programme are quite certain that this is the way it must be."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Judith Jacob
Judith Jacob
Judith Jacob , is a British actress best known for her role as the health visitor Carmel Roberts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from 1986 to 1989. During her stint in Albert Square, her character suffered from severe marital abuse and her husband's attempted murder and eventual...
. Carmel, a Health Visitor
Health visitor
Health visitors are UK community health nurses who have undertaken further training to work as part of a primary health care team. As their name suggests, their role is to promote mental, physical and social well-being in the community by giving advice and support to families in all age groups...
, was introduced in a recurring, minor role in 1986. Producers saw potential in the character. Script writers were asked to develop more promienent storylines, and Carmel became a regular character. She was portrayed as a well-meaning, caring individual who was forever getting everyone's problems dumped on her. She was featured in storylines about domestic violence and various family and career upsets. Jacob remained in the role until 1989, when she opted to leave. Off-screen, the character was the subject of criticism regarding the portrayal of her profession from the Health Visitors Association.
Storylines
Carmel was first seen in WalfordWalford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
in June 1986 when she was assigned as Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actress Susan Tully.Although she was one of the brighter people in Walford, that didn't stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square...
's health visitor. West Indian by origin, British by education, Carmel was unmistakable with her long dreadlocks
Dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also called locks, a ras, dreads, "rasta" or Jata , are matted coils of hair. Dreadlocks are usually intentionally formed; because of the variety of different hair textures, various methods are used to encourage the formation of locks such as backcombing...
and colourful clothing.
Carmel was kept extremely busy in Walford. She was landed with all the long-term losers - Mary Smith, the prostitute, whose baby, Annie, was taken away from her; Sue Osman
Sue Osman
Susan "Sue" Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sandy Ratcliff. She was one of the serial's original characters, appearing in its first episode on 19 February 1985 and departing on-screen in May 1989. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, Sue was...
, the mentally unstable mother who became obsessed with her baby, Ali's, welfare; Donna Ludlow
Donna Ludlow
Donna Ludlow is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Matilda Ziegler between 1987-1989. Donna was scripted as a troubled individual, desperate for attention, but shunned by almost all who encountered her...
, the self-destructing heroin addict, and jobless Arthur Fowler
Arthur Fowler
Arthur George Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Bill Treacher.The father of the Fowler family, Arthur was essentially a good man, but he made some foolish choices and he always ended up paying dearly for them, also being bossed to the brink of insanity by...
, among others.
In December 1986, Carmel started dating the much younger student Kelvin Carpenter
Kelvin Carpenter
Kelvin Carpenter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Paul J. Medford.Kelvin was a bright spark and full of initiative. He opened several businesses in Albert Square and even formed a band. He was a bit of a heartbreaker in EastEnders early years, but he ended up...
, much to his parents' dismay. Carmel later moved into the ground floor flat at number 3 Albert Square
Albert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
and she and Kelvin lived together for a while. However, their age difference soon took its toll on Carmel, who grew tired of Kelvin's immature behaviour. She ended up throwing her toyboy out after she'd publicly dumped him in The Queen Vic.
Shortly after Carmel moved into the Square, her brother Darren arrived and managed to convince her to house him and his two children, Junior and Aisha, in her one bedroom flat. Darren and Carmel were the complete opposites of each other; Darren was inconsiderate and often dabbled on the wrong side of the law. He was regularly involved in dodgy scams, such as porn video laundering and instigating a counterfeit money ring. Carmel would despair over his thoughtless behaviour and criminal antics, but her rants were usually ignored.
Carmel was often left accountable for her brother's actions and also regularly took over caring for his two young children. Junior proved to be troublesome, and after Carmel discovered that he had been playing truant from school for several weeks, she reported Darren to the truancy officer, showing him up as an irresponsible parent. This did not please Darren, and he was even more annoyed when Carmel refused flatly to put up with his deviancy any longer. Animosity between the two increased when Carmel started dating Matthew Jackson later that year; Darren could not condone his sister dating a white
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
man. Carmel defended Matthew against her brother's inverted racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, and after Darren got into more trouble for conning Ian Beale
Ian Beale
Ian Albert Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Woodyatt. He is the longest-serving character and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 19 February 1985...
, she threw him out. Darren then mysteriously disappeared, abandoning his children in the process. The children were initially left in the care of Carmel and Darren's parents away from Walford.
In September 1988, Matthew moved into Carmel's flat and the two were soon . Matthew was well liked in the community, even convincing Carmel's skeptical father that he was genuine. Carmel began planning their imminent wedding. She wanted to invite Matthew's estranged mother, Lynna, but he was opposed to this. His mother had abandoned him at 15 and had no subsequent contact. Carmel and Matthew married in January 1989, but the day was ruined when Matthew saw his mother in attendance. Carmel had contacted her against Matthew's wishes, thinking he would be pleased, but he was furious. After shunning their reception party, Matthew threatened to leave Carmel and when she attempted to prevent this, he grabbed her by the throat, held her up against a wall and berated her for her interference. Carmel was petrified and upon seeing her fear, Matthew released her and began apologising profusely. Carmel was shaken, but Matthew convinced her that his apology was sincere, so she dropped the matter.
Junior soon worked out why his aunt was constantly covered in bruises. He tried to put a stop to the violence by informing various people about the abuse, which only made Matthew's temper worse. Matthew became irrationally jealous of Carmel's friendship with Dr. David Samuels, and during a family meal, he turned violent again. In a bid to protect his petrified aunt, Junior stabbed Matthew with a kitchen knife. Matthew spent time in hospital and attempted to convince Carmel that he had changed. She allowed him to come home when he had recovered and tried to get Matthew to seek professional help; however, Matthew was appalled by the idea and, in a rage, he began smashing up the house and threatening Carmel with more violence. Finally realising that she could not help Matthew, Carmel decided to end their relationship. She threw Matthew out and he left Walford in July 1989.
The following month, Carmel's father died, so she left Walford with Junior and Aisha to tend to her grieving mother. Her last appearance was in August 1989.
Character creation
In July 1984, before EastEnders went to air, the show's creators, Tony HollandTony Holland
Anthony John "Tony" Holland was an English television screenwriter best known as a writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early career:...
and Julia Smith
Julia Smith
Julia Smith was an English television director and producer.- Early career :London-born Smith became involved in television production when she directed the series Suspense in 1962...
, attended an opening evening at the Anna Scher Theatre School
Anna Scher Theatre
The Anna Scher Theatre is a community-based theatre school based in Islington, North London. The school turns out some of London's best child and adult actors.-Anna Scher:...
in North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, in order to find actors for roles in their upcoming serial. According to Holland and Smith, Anna Scher's school was unlike many other drama schools, where students were "ironed out", all looking and sounding the same. At Anna Scher's school, students' natural personalities and accents were encouraged, "her students aren't taught how to act, they're helped to dig inside themselves and be." In Holland and Smith's own words, this was "just the sort of non-acting that [EastEnders] was looking for".
Often, former students who were already working in the acting profession attended Scher's classes, and on the night Holland and Smith attended, actress Judith Jacob
Judith Jacob
Judith Jacob , is a British actress best known for her role as the health visitor Carmel Roberts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from 1986 to 1989. During her stint in Albert Square, her character suffered from severe marital abuse and her husband's attempted murder and eventual...
performed. Holland and Smith described Jacob as "an old friend", as they had previously worked with her on their medical drama Angels
Angels (TV series)
Angels was originally a British television seasonal drama series dealing with the subject of student nurses and was broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1978. The show's format then switched to a twice weekly soap opera format from 1979 to 1983. The show's title derived from the name of the...
, where Jacob had played nurse Beverley Slater between 1979 and 1981. Following the end of the class, Holland and Smith concluded that Judith Jacob "had been as good as ever", but that "there wasn't really a part for her" in the original character line-up.
However, in 1986, a year after the soap had first aired, Jacob was recruited by Julia Smith and offered a part in the serial, the minor role of Carmel Roberts, a health visitor who tended to the character Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actress Susan Tully.Although she was one of the brighter people in Walford, that didn't stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square...
(Susan Tully
Susan Tully
Susan Tully is an English television producer, director and former actress.Her most prominent television roles to date have been those of single mother Michelle Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and her pivotal part in early Grange Hill...
) after the birth of her baby Vicki
Vicki Fowler
Victoria Louise "Vicki" Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Emma Herry from the character's birth in 1986 to 1988, Samantha Leigh Martin from 1988 to 1995, and Scarlett Johnson from 2003 to 2004. The character was born in the serial, conceived in a...
. In his book, EastEnders: The First 10 Years, author and EastEnders scriptwriter Colin Brake
Colin Brake
Colin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who...
has used Carmel as an example of the way minor characters can develop in EastEnders: "Often a new character is introduced for a limited number of episodes, to serve a particular storyline or the story function. If the casting is good and the character 'works' on the screen, then the writers may be asked if there is potential in the character for further appearances." This occurred with the character of Carmel, and later in 1986 she was reintroduced as a regular character, moving to the soap's focal setting of Albert Square
Albert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
.
Character development
As Walford's health visitor, Carmel's principal purpose was to act as an advisor to the troubled residents of Albert Square. In the EastEnders Handbook, author Hilary Kingsley describes Carmel as "saintly by nature", adding "if anyone deserved a medal for patience it was Carmel Roberts when she was working as Albert Square's health visitor".In 1987, an extended family was introduced for Carmel, including her brother Darren (Gary McDonald
Gary McDonald (actor)
Gary McDonald is an English actor of Jamaican descent. A student at Elliott school in Putney, McDonald played football for Wimbledon FC under Dario Gradi....
), and his two children Junior (Aaron Carrington) and Aisha (Aisha Jacob). According to the EastEnders Handbook, parents of young child actors were sometimes upset unavoidably during filming of EastEnders. For instance, the parents of the baby who played Hassan Osman were affected when their baby was used in a storyline about cot death, as they had not been warned. This problem was avoided with the two-year-old girl who played Carmel's niece, Aisha Roberts, as she was the real-life daughter of actress Judith Jacob. The writers "obligingly" called the young character Aisha, to make it less confusing for the actors. The idea to use Jacob's real daughter had come from the serial's co-creator Julia Smith. Jacob was initially against the idea. In an interview she commented, "Children on the set can be so horrible", due to awkwardness inherent in disciplining someone else’s child in the workplace. However, she has said that she found it hard to turn Julia Smith down, and realised that she would get to spend more time with her daughter if she also was working on the set of EastEnders. This caused a problem once on-screen, when Aisha referred to Carmel as "mummy", even though Aisha’s character was not Carmel’s daughter. Despite the inconsistency, the producers left the scene in.
Carmel's storylines included a brief relationship with a toyboy, Kelvin Carpenter
Kelvin Carpenter
Kelvin Carpenter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Paul J. Medford.Kelvin was a bright spark and full of initiative. He opened several businesses in Albert Square and even formed a band. He was a bit of a heartbreaker in EastEnders early years, but he ended up...
(Paul Medford), and numerous family and career-based problems. In 1988, Carmel gained a new partner, a white man named Matthew Jackson, played by Steven Hartley
Steven Hartley
Steven Hartley is a British actor known for his television, film and theatre roles. He has appeared in leading roles on British television since 1985, including the series EastEnders from 1987-1989 and The Bill 2000-2002...
. The characters were shown to marry in a register office in January 1989, beginning a domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
storyline. By March 1989, Matthew was beating Carmel. This was the first time that EastEnders had dealt with the issue of domestic violence. After several months of abuse, a "particularly violent" incident ended with Junior stabbing Matthew with a kitchen knife to protect his aunt. By July 1989, the marriage "was as good as dead". Jacob has commented, "It was a great part to play. People couldn’t understand how a professional woman can stay with someone who beats her. That shows the durability of the character."
Jacob opted to leave the serial in 1989, and she has since commented that "They didn’t want me to leave, and made me a couple of offers to stay", but leaving seemed like the right thing to do at the time. On-screen Carmel's marriage collapsed, and the following month her father died, so she left Walford to tend to her grieving mother. She last appeared in August 1989.
Reception
Co-creator of EastEnders, Julia Smith, has been quoted as saying, "Our EastEnd setting was chosen for the diversity of its past — the strong culture it has and the multi-racial community that has developed." However, the way that EastEnders treated their black characters during the 1980s has been criticized. Stephen Bourne, author of Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television has commented that "[EastEnders] black characters have rarely been as interesting as their white counterparts, or been given storylines of any substance...Viewers were more likely to tune in to watch the antics of Dirty DenDen Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
, his wife Angie
Angie Watts
Angela "Angie" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anita Dobson from the first episode of the show until 1988 when the actress decided to quit and the character was written out....
and bad boy Nick Cotton
Nick Cotton
Nick Cotton is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders played by John Altman on a recurring basis from the soap's debut episode in February 1985, through to his last appearance to date in 2009. Nick is the son of characters Charlie and Dot Cotton, and the father of Ashley and...
, than [black characters like] the Carpenter family and Carmel." In Robert Clyde Allen's book, To be Continued--: Soap Operas Around the World, Christine Geraghty has added "none of the black families [in EastEnders] rivaled the Fowler/Beale [family's] position at the heart of the programme's structure, and black characters were pushed to the margins of the story-lines. Carmel and [her brother] Darren clearly had an extended family along the lines of the Fowler/Beale nexus but its other members were rarely seen."
Conversely, in The Black and White Media Show Book, edited by John Twitchin of BBC TV's Continuing Education Department (published in 1988), EastEnders is praised for portraying black people on mainstream television, and for giving them "respectable, fleshed-out parts which allow them to be the most difficult of things — 'normal people'." Additionally, actress Judith Jacob has said that she looks back on her three years in EastEnders only with "delight". She has also said that she disagrees with the criticism EastEnders gets for paying "token lip service to blacks and minorities, who are usually depicted stereotypically." In 2006, she commented to the Walford Gazette, "EastEnders was the only show to [regularly employ] black actors. [Rival soap] Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
just recently started bringing in black characters. There has always been a good flow of people in EastEnders."
Further criticism has been aimed at Carmel's portrayal as a health visitor. In the late 1980s, a specialist nursing magazine called Nursing Times had a feature on the character, remarking that she "has come in for quite a bit of stick from HVA [Health Visitors Association] members who haven't felt that the character gives a good impression of their role". HVA members expressed disappointment that the character "has not developed in a way which promotes the role of health visitors more positively." Roma Iskander, who had discussed the role with EastEnders scriptwriters on behalf of the HVA, said that "Carmel isn't a positive image of a black woman or a health visitor." The magazine article suggested that Carmel's personal problems with family and clients served her right "for moving to Albert Square in the first place. Health visitors be warned — don't live on your work patch". However, in Dominic Strinati's book, Come on Down?: Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain, Christine Geraghty has argued that "the credibility of Carmel's character in the soap depended on her being part of the life of the Square, regularly and unproblematically available as a source of advice and support in her professional capacity as well as the focus of interest in terms of her personal life." Geraghty has said that tension arose from conflict in the 1980s soaps "between a desire to be positive about a particular issue and a commitment to credibility in terms of character and setting. The HVA, it would appear, want Carmel to be a model health visitor, demonstrating a wide range of skills in a professional manner. But the credibility of Carmel's character in the soap depends on her being a character who is part of the life of the Square, a professional who makes mistakes and whose personal life is almost a source of interest. Quite clearly, the demands for a positive image for health visitors as a profession are less pressing than the necessiity to be able to deploy Carmel as a soap opera character. Those making the programme are quite certain that this is the way it must be."