Hattie Tavernier
Encyclopedia
Hattie Tavernier is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Michelle Gayle
between 1990 and 1993. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson
. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time. Portrayed as an intelligent, independent young woman, Hattie remained in the serial after the departures of many of her screen family, covering issues such as miscarriage and sexual harassment.
Michelle Gayle quit the role in 1993 to embark on a pop career. Gayle filmed no official exit storyline for Hattie. Her last scene aired on 21 December 1993, with Hattie departing to visit her parents off-screen in Norwich
for the Christmas holidays. Dialogue between characters at this time suggested that is was a temporary departure; however, Gayle did not return to the role. The character was hastily written out, appearing briefly one last time in February 1994 to show that Hattie had decided to remain in Norwich. In the scene, Hattie's former lover Steve Elliot
witnessed Hattie in the distance with another man. This fleeting appearance was played by a non-speaking and uncredited extra.
in the summer of 1990. The head of the Tavernier household, Celestine, is a strict, religious man and despite having a strong personality, Hattie is made to obey his rules. Hattie becomes friendly with local girl Samantha Mitchell
, but while Sam concentrates on boys and her modelling career, Hattie prefers to focus on school work.
Hattie is often forced to act older than her years to cope with her family's problems, standing by her brother Clyde when he is falsely accused of murdering Eddie Royle
, standing up to her father and acting as the voice of reason to her twin brother Lloyd, whose behaviour becomes problematic. Hattie lets her own school work suffer to help her less academic brother.
Hattie's hard work at school pays off and she receives excellent grades in her final year exams, so it angers her parents when, at 16, she announces that she is leaving education to work as a waitress for Ian Beale
's catering company, The Meal Machine. Hattie is soon promoted to Ian's Personal Assistant. She excels in her work but Ian confuses her keen attitude towards her job as a come-on; he uses his position of power to sexually harrass her, but Hattie puts a stop to this by kneeing him in the groin
when he tries to kiss her. Irrespective of this setback, Hattie remains working with Ian, despite Ian's wife Cindy
(who sees her as a threat) doing everything in her power to get her sacked.
Hattie begins a relationship with her school friend Steve Elliot
, who gets a job as chef at the Meal Machine in 1992. Hattie feels the relationship has a future, so when her parents decide to leave Walford that same year, she stays behind with her Grandfather Jules and older brother Clyde.
Hattie loves Steve, but he takes the relationship less seriously. To Steve's surprise, Hattie proposes to him on New Year's Eve 1992. He accepts despite reservations. Hattie busily prepares for her upcoming wedding, but when Steve loses his job at the Meal Machine, he has second thoughts about marrying. Hattie's enemy, Mandy Salter
, helps to convince Steve he is not ready for marriage; Steve opts to take a job as a chef on a ocean liner without informing Hattie that he is leaving. Unbeknown to Steve, Hattie is pregnant. She follows Steve to Southampton
, where he is due to depart from. When she finally catches up with him an emotional scene results in them sleeping together. Hattie thinks that she has managed to change Steve's mind about going but he believes their tryst is just a final bon voyage and he leaves a devastated Hattie to return to Walford alone. Hattie never tells Steve she is pregnant. After confiding in Michelle Fowler
, a single parent, Hattie decides to have her baby aborted
. Hattie books the termination, but at the last minute she changes her mind and decides that she wants to keep her baby. However, she suffers a miscarriage
the very next day.
Left nursing a broken heart, Hattie visits her parents in Norwich
in December 1993 to spend Christmas with her family and does not return, having decided to make a fresh start away from Walford. Steve returns to Walford in February 1994, hoping to reunite with Hattie, but after he makes a trip to Norwich to win her back, he discovers that she has moved on with her life and is dating another man.
, who took over from Mike Gibbon
. Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV
's The Bill
— a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging EastEnders in providing a realistic vision of modern life in London
. Due to his success on The Bill, Peter Cregeen
, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of EastEnders.
Following a relatively unsuccessful inclination towards comic storylines throughout 1989, Ferguson decided to take the soap in a new direction in 1990. Big changes were implemented both off-screen and on-screen. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. EastEnders scriptwriter Colin Brake
has said that it was a challenging period, but "the results on-screen were a programme with a new sense of vitality, and a programme more in touch with the real world than it had been for a while".
As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the new characters were the Jamaican Tavernier family, who collectively arrived on-screen in July 1990, composed of grandfather Jules
(Tommy Eytle
), his son and daughter-in-law Celestine (Leroy Golding
) and Etta (Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
), their eldest son Clyde
(Steven Woodcock
), and their twins Lloyd (Garey Bridges
) and Hattie, played by Michelle Gayle
. Colin Brake has described the Taverniers as the major new addition that year, and it heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the serial all at once. Their introduction has also been described as a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the soap.
—was required to "play down" for the role, because Hattie and her brother Lloyd were 15 year old school children. The casting of the Tavernier family has been described as difficult by producer Corinne Hollingworth
. In 1991, she commented, "The most difficult job we've had was finding six black actors who fitted the bill for the Tavernier family. Here we needed two teenagers [Hattie and Lloyd] who looked around fifteen, but were actually older, had left school and had matures attitudes to work. They had to love music, hanging around in tracksuits and, most importantly, they had to look as if they could be twins." At the time Gayle commented that she loved playing younger parts, and found having Garey Bridges as her younger brother a great bonus: "It turns out that he and I know the same crowd of people in North London
so we are often out together at night."
Gayle has discussed how she became close friends with her peer group on the cast, including Sid Owen
who plays Ricky Butcher
and Danniella Westbrook
who plays Sam Mitchell
. She reflects, "I remember the three of us careering around the set on a milk float and we also took somebody's car from the car park and drove it until it ran out of petrol. Some of the older stars took their parts very seriously, but we were young and didn't worry about the future. I'm still friends with Sid - we've holidayed in Miami and New York together - and I still see Danniella whenever we have time."
It took a long time to cast the complete Tavernier family. Once EastEnders became a success, the producers had no difficulties in finding "good actors" who wanted to join the cast; however, what became hard was finding families—combinations of performers who "look and sound as though they could be related." According to producers Corinne Hollingworth
and Pat Sandys, the Taveriner family were especially difficult as four generations of the family were being featured. Hollingworth has commented "The most difficult job we've had was finding six black actors who fitted the bill for the Tavernier family. Here we needed two teenagers who looked around fifteen but were actually older, had left school and had mature attitudes to work. They had to love music, hanging around in tracksuits and most important, they had to look as if they could be twins. And for Clyde, we needed someone who looked as though he'd been a boxer but also seemed thoughtful."
Hilary Kingsley, author of The EastEnders Handbook, has described the character of Hattie in 1991: "Hattie is almost too well-balanced and happy to live in Albert Square. She loves music, sport, and could have a string of boyfriends but, unlike Sam Butcher, she's not yet interested. Clever at school, particularly at science, Hattie looks up to her big brother, Clyde, and protects her twin brother Lloyd, who is slower and quieter and can seem a bit of a wimp. She even let her own schoolwork slip at times to help him. Bossy, giggly and garrulous, she was an instant success helping as a waitress at Ian Beale's functions, even though it caused her parents distress. Hattie is as bright as her mother and loyal to her father. When her parents were quarrelling she was deeply upset, but nothing can dampen her natural good humour for long."
Reflecting on her time in the soap in 2007, Gayle said, "There were 19 million people watching every episode. People would come up to me in the street and ask things like, 'Hattie, what's going on with you and Ian?'. They always had a comment to make - and always as if it was the first time you had heard it. But you would think, 'how many times today?'." She added that "I remember chilling with Sid Owen
[who plays Ricky Butcher
] and Daniella Westbrook [who plays Sam Mitchell
] in our dressing rooms all the time and just really laughing a lot".
In 2008, when asked if she would return to the serial, Gayle commented, "I'd go back for Sid Owen. It's great now they've got him and Patsy Palmer
[who plays Bianca Jackson
] back in it - it's such a big show. If the producers asked me back and there was a good storyline, I'd definitely return."
Robert Clyde Allen has discussed the Tavernier family in his 1995 book To be continued--: soap operas around the world. He suggested that black characters in EastEnders were incoporated into the working-class culture of the soap as opposed to offering something different from it. He noted that the Taverniers, the focus of black characters in the early 1990s, for a while had the same mixture of generations and attitudes that characterized the Fowlers, one of the soap's core white families who had a dominant position in the series. However he stated that "somewhat typically [...] the family broke up leaving the teenage Hattie on her own."
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 Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle is a British recording artist, actress and author. Gayle had success as a Soul and R&B singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
between 1990 and 1993. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson
Michael Ferguson (director)
Michael Ferguson is a British script writer, television director and television producer. Ferguson has been described as a “long term champion of realistic popular drama”. Ferguson was executive producer of the BBC soap opera, EastEnders between 1989 and 1991...
. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time. Portrayed as an intelligent, independent young woman, Hattie remained in the serial after the departures of many of her screen family, covering issues such as miscarriage and sexual harassment.
Michelle Gayle quit the role in 1993 to embark on a pop career. Gayle filmed no official exit storyline for Hattie. Her last scene aired on 21 December 1993, with Hattie departing to visit her parents off-screen in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
for the Christmas holidays. Dialogue between characters at this time suggested that is was a temporary departure; however, Gayle did not return to the role. The character was hastily written out, appearing briefly one last time in February 1994 to show that Hattie had decided to remain in Norwich. In the scene, Hattie's former lover Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Monero between 1991 and 1996.- Storylines :Steve is first seen in Albert Square in October 1991 as an old school friend of Hattie Tavernier and Sam Mitchell...
witnessed Hattie in the distance with another man. This fleeting appearance was played by a non-speaking and uncredited extra.
Storylines
Hattie and her family move to Albert SquareAlbert 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...
in the summer of 1990. The head of the Tavernier household, Celestine, is a strict, religious man and despite having a strong personality, Hattie is made to obey his rules. Hattie becomes friendly with local girl Samantha Mitchell
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
, but while Sam concentrates on boys and her modelling career, Hattie prefers to focus on school work.
Hattie is often forced to act older than her years to cope with her family's problems, standing by her brother Clyde when he is falsely accused of murdering Eddie Royle
Eddie Royle
Edward "Eddie" Royle is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michael Melia from 1990 until 1991.-Storylines:...
, standing up to her father and acting as the voice of reason to her twin brother Lloyd, whose behaviour becomes problematic. Hattie lets her own school work suffer to help her less academic brother.
Hattie's hard work at school pays off and she receives excellent grades in her final year exams, so it angers her parents when, at 16, she announces that she is leaving education to work as a waitress for 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...
's catering company, The Meal Machine. Hattie is soon promoted to Ian's Personal Assistant. She excels in her work but Ian confuses her keen attitude towards her job as a come-on; he uses his position of power to sexually harrass her, but Hattie puts a stop to this by kneeing him in the groin
Groin
In human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the torso with the legs, on either side of the pubic area. This is also known as the medial compartment of the thigh. A pulled groin muscle usually refers to a painful injury sustained by straining the hip adductor muscles...
when he tries to kiss her. Irrespective of this setback, Hattie remains working with Ian, despite Ian's wife Cindy
Cindy Beale
Cindy Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Collins.Cindy always had an eye for the lotharios of Walford and despite trying to settle down repeatedly with the more reliable Ian Beale, she was unable to remain faithful to him. She had a selfish...
(who sees her as a threat) doing everything in her power to get her sacked.
Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Monero between 1991 and 1996.- Storylines :Steve is first seen in Albert Square in October 1991 as an old school friend of Hattie Tavernier and Sam Mitchell...
, who gets a job as chef at the Meal Machine in 1992. Hattie feels the relationship has a future, so when her parents decide to leave Walford that same year, she stays behind with her Grandfather Jules and older brother Clyde.
Hattie loves Steve, but he takes the relationship less seriously. To Steve's surprise, Hattie proposes to him on New Year's Eve 1992. He accepts despite reservations. Hattie busily prepares for her upcoming wedding, but when Steve loses his job at the Meal Machine, he has second thoughts about marrying. Hattie's enemy, Mandy Salter
Mandy Salter
Mandy Salter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nicola Stapleton. Introduced on 12 March 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...
, helps to convince Steve he is not ready for marriage; Steve opts to take a job as a chef on a ocean liner without informing Hattie that he is leaving. Unbeknown to Steve, Hattie is pregnant. She follows Steve to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, where he is due to depart from. When she finally catches up with him an emotional scene results in them sleeping together. Hattie thinks that she has managed to change Steve's mind about going but he believes their tryst is just a final bon voyage and he leaves a devastated Hattie to return to Walford alone. Hattie never tells Steve she is pregnant. After confiding in 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...
, a single parent, Hattie decides to have her baby aborted
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. Hattie books the termination, but at the last minute she changes her mind and decides that she wants to keep her baby. However, she suffers a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
the very next day.
Left nursing a broken heart, Hattie visits her parents in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
in December 1993 to spend Christmas with her family and does not return, having decided to make a fresh start away from Walford. Steve returns to Walford in February 1994, hoping to reunite with Hattie, but after he makes a trip to Norwich to win her back, he discovers that she has moved on with her life and is dating another man.
Background
In the latter part of 1989 EastEnders acquired a new executive producer named Michael FergusonMichael Ferguson (director)
Michael Ferguson is a British script writer, television director and television producer. Ferguson has been described as a “long term champion of realistic popular drama”. Ferguson was executive producer of the BBC soap opera, EastEnders between 1989 and 1991...
, who took over from Mike Gibbon
Mike Gibbon
John Michael "Mike" Gibbon is an English television producer and director. Gibbon married Moya McCarthy in July 1976 and they have a daughter, Sophie....
. Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
— a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging EastEnders in providing a realistic vision of modern life in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Due to his success on The Bill, Peter Cregeen
Peter Cregeen
Peter Cregeen is a British television director, producer and executive. He is possibly best known for being the original director of ITV's successful police drama, The Bill, and his substantial contribution to the serial thereafter...
, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of EastEnders.
Following a relatively unsuccessful inclination towards comic storylines throughout 1989, Ferguson decided to take the soap in a new direction in 1990. Big changes were implemented both off-screen and on-screen. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. 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 said that it was a challenging period, but "the results on-screen were a programme with a new sense of vitality, and a programme more in touch with the real world than it had been for a while".
As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the new characters were the Jamaican Tavernier family, who collectively arrived on-screen in July 1990, composed of grandfather Jules
Jules Tavernier (EastEnders)
Jules Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tommy Eytle between 1990 and 1997. Jules was depicted as a flirtatious older gentleman. He was introduced in 1990 and remained in the show after the departures of all of his on-screen family...
(Tommy Eytle
Tommy Eytle
Tommy Daniel Hicks Eytle was a Guyanese musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eylte's career was based in the United Kingdom, where he lived after emigrating in 1951....
), his son and daughter-in-law Celestine (Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding is a British actor, most famous for playing Celestine Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; a role that he played from 1990 to 1992, returning briefly in 1993....
) and Etta (Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence is a British former actress, most famous for playing the role of Etta Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She no longer acts and as of 2008 works in criminal law.-Career:...
), their eldest son Clyde
Clyde Tavernier
Clyde Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steven Woodcock. Introduced in the summer of 1990, Clyde was featured in various prominent storylines including an inter-racial relationship with Michelle Fowler, and being framed for the murder of publican Eddie...
(Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock is a British actor, most famous for his role as Clyde Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; a role that he played from July 1990 to July 1993....
), and their twins Lloyd (Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges is a British actor, best known for playing the role of Lloyd Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Career:...
) and Hattie, played by Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle is a British recording artist, actress and author. Gayle had success as a Soul and R&B singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
. Colin Brake has described the Taverniers as the major new addition that year, and it heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the serial all at once. Their introduction has also been described as a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the soap.
Casting
At age 19, actress Michelle Gayle—already familiar to the younger audience for her role in Grange HillGrange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
—was required to "play down" for the role, because Hattie and her brother Lloyd were 15 year old school children. The casting of the Tavernier family has been described as difficult by producer Corinne Hollingworth
Corinne Hollingworth
Corinne Hollingworth is a British television producer and executive, best known for her contributions to British soap operas, including BBC's EastEnders and five's Family Affairs...
. In 1991, she commented, "The most difficult job we've had was finding six black actors who fitted the bill for the Tavernier family. Here we needed two teenagers [Hattie and Lloyd] who looked around fifteen, but were actually older, had left school and had matures attitudes to work. They had to love music, hanging around in tracksuits and, most importantly, they had to look as if they could be twins." At the time Gayle commented that she loved playing younger parts, and found having Garey Bridges as her younger brother a great bonus: "It turns out that he and I know the same crowd of people 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...
so we are often out together at night."
Gayle has discussed how she became close friends with her peer group on the cast, including Sid Owen
Sid Owen
Sid Owen is an English actor, television presenter and former singer, most famous for playing the role of Ricky Butcher in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, which he appeared in from 1988 until 2000, 2002 until 2004 and then again from March 2008.-Career:Prior to his role in EastEnders he had a...
who plays Ricky Butcher
Ricky Butcher
Richard Francis "Ricky" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sid Owen. Introduced as a school boy in 1988, Ricky is one of the longest-running, male protagonists to feature in EastEnders. Owen originally left the role in 2000 to pursue a music career...
and Danniella Westbrook
Danniella Westbrook
Danniella Westbrook is an English actress and television presenter. She is known for being the original actress to play Samantha Mitchell in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1990–93, 1995–96, 1999–2000 and 2009–10. Away from EastEnders she has presented various shows, and was also a...
who plays Sam Mitchell
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
. She reflects, "I remember the three of us careering around the set on a milk float and we also took somebody's car from the car park and drove it until it ran out of petrol. Some of the older stars took their parts very seriously, but we were young and didn't worry about the future. I'm still friends with Sid - we've holidayed in Miami and New York together - and I still see Danniella whenever we have time."
It took a long time to cast the complete Tavernier family. Once EastEnders became a success, the producers had no difficulties in finding "good actors" who wanted to join the cast; however, what became hard was finding families—combinations of performers who "look and sound as though they could be related." According to producers Corinne Hollingworth
Corinne Hollingworth
Corinne Hollingworth is a British television producer and executive, best known for her contributions to British soap operas, including BBC's EastEnders and five's Family Affairs...
and Pat Sandys, the Taveriner family were especially difficult as four generations of the family were being featured. Hollingworth has commented "The most difficult job we've had was finding six black actors who fitted the bill for the Tavernier family. Here we needed two teenagers who looked around fifteen but were actually older, had left school and had mature attitudes to work. They had to love music, hanging around in tracksuits and most important, they had to look as if they could be twins. And for Clyde, we needed someone who looked as though he'd been a boxer but also seemed thoughtful."
Personality
Writer Kate Lock has suggested that "Hattie was an intelligent girl with a promising future." Of her demeanour upon her introduction, author Rupert Smith has surmised that of the Taverniers, only Hattie seemed to be a happy child, but added that "her time would come", later referencing Hattie's misfortune with men as evidence of his classification of her as an "eternal victim".Hilary Kingsley, author of The EastEnders Handbook, has described the character of Hattie in 1991: "Hattie is almost too well-balanced and happy to live in Albert Square. She loves music, sport, and could have a string of boyfriends but, unlike Sam Butcher, she's not yet interested. Clever at school, particularly at science, Hattie looks up to her big brother, Clyde, and protects her twin brother Lloyd, who is slower and quieter and can seem a bit of a wimp. She even let her own schoolwork slip at times to help him. Bossy, giggly and garrulous, she was an instant success helping as a waitress at Ian Beale's functions, even though it caused her parents distress. Hattie is as bright as her mother and loyal to her father. When her parents were quarrelling she was deeply upset, but nothing can dampen her natural good humour for long."
Exit
Gayle was permitted time off from filming in the summer of 1993 to develop a singing career. She returned to filming later in the year but decided to quit the role permanently at the end of 1993 to focus on music. On-screen, Hattie departed in December 1993 to visit her parents off-screen and never returned. The character appeared briefly one last time in February 1994 to explain Hattie's departure; however, Michelle Gayle did not reprise the role and this fleeting appearance was played by a non-speaking and uncredited extra.Reflecting on her time in the soap in 2007, Gayle said, "There were 19 million people watching every episode. People would come up to me in the street and ask things like, 'Hattie, what's going on with you and Ian?'. They always had a comment to make - and always as if it was the first time you had heard it. But you would think, 'how many times today?'." She added that "I remember chilling with Sid Owen
Sid Owen
Sid Owen is an English actor, television presenter and former singer, most famous for playing the role of Ricky Butcher in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, which he appeared in from 1988 until 2000, 2002 until 2004 and then again from March 2008.-Career:Prior to his role in EastEnders he had a...
[who plays Ricky Butcher
Ricky Butcher
Richard Francis "Ricky" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sid Owen. Introduced as a school boy in 1988, Ricky is one of the longest-running, male protagonists to feature in EastEnders. Owen originally left the role in 2000 to pursue a music career...
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
In 2008, when asked if she would return to the serial, Gayle commented, "I'd go back for Sid Owen. It's great now they've got him and Patsy Palmer
Patsy Palmer
Patsy Palmer is an English actress. Palmer made an early television appearance on the children's drama show Grange Hill, but is best known for playing Bianca Jackson in the popular British television soap opera EastEnders. Originally in the cast from 1993–1999, Palmer returned to EastEnders in...
[who plays Bianca Jackson
Bianca Jackson
Bianca Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Patsy Palmer. The character was introduced by executive producer Leonard Lewis and appeared initially from 1993 to 1999, when Palmer opted to leave. In 2002 executive producer John Yorke brought the character...
Reception
In the 1992 book Come on down?: popular media culture in post-war Britain, the authors have referenced Hattie and the rest of the Tavernier family as non-white characters who appeared to have been integrated into part of the predominantly white communal setting of the soap. However, they suggested that this attempt at inclusion "is the single clue to an understanding of why EastEnders is a development of an old form of representation of working-class life. The ethnic minority households are accepted in the working-class community , but the black, white and Asian families remain culturally distinct." They suggested that there was no attempt to portray hybridity between black-white cultures.Robert Clyde Allen has discussed the Tavernier family in his 1995 book To be continued--: soap operas around the world. He suggested that black characters in EastEnders were incoporated into the working-class culture of the soap as opposed to offering something different from it. He noted that the Taverniers, the focus of black characters in the early 1990s, for a while had the same mixture of generations and attitudes that characterized the Fowlers, one of the soap's core white families who had a dominant position in the series. However he stated that "somewhat typically [...] the family broke up leaving the teenage Hattie on her own."