Saeed Jeffery
Encyclopedia
Saeed Jeffery is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Andrew Johnson
.
Saeed was the original owner of the First til Last grocery store. He was never truly accepted in Walford, and his arranged marriage ended in divorce after it was discovered that he'd been making obscene phone calls to women. He left Walford in disgrace, leaving his business to his wife.
-born Saeed claimed to be a Cockney
but was looked upon as Asian
by everyone in Walford
. Inexperienced and naive, he took over the family business (the corner shop at 71 Bridge Street) when his parents retired to their native Bangladesh
. Although his father was well liked in the community, Saeed was seen as an outsider, particularly by Lou Beale
, who regularly commented that he didn't belong or know how to take care of his customers.
Saeed was unhappy in his arranged marriage
to his unwilling wife, Naima
, who shared a flat with him at 47B Albert Square
. Naima didn't like Saeed much and spent most of her time trying to undermine him; rebelling against the customs that her parents forced her to live by. Naima refused to share her husband's bed and Saeed started visiting prostitutes and later the strip-club where Mary Smith worked.
After continual pressure, Naima relented and finally consummated her marriage to Saeed, improving things between the couple, but their marital bliss was short-lived. Naima received an anonymous letter from Dot Cotton, who had discovered Saeed's sordid exploits. She felt it was her Christian duty to inform Saeed's wife and when Naima confronted Saeed, he did not deny it so she left him.
A few months later, Saeed was discovered making secret obscene phone calls to Naima's friend, Debbie Wilkins
. When Naima found out, she filed for divorce. Feeling humiliated and alone, Saeed took his parents' advice and moved to Bangladesh, where he allegedly remarried and now lives happily with his new wife and their seven children. Saeed currently works as a translator for the government in Dhaka
. His last appearance was on 26 December 1985 where his final scene was an emotional farewell with Lou Beale
before departing off in a taxi.
After Saeed's departure, Naima remained in Walford and ran the shop on her own until 1987 when she re-married and also returned to Bangladesh.
and Julia Smith
. Saeed and his wife Naima
were the first Asian
characters to appear in the soap. Black and Asian characters were two ethnic minorities that had previously been under-represented in British soap before EastEnders aired. Holland and Smith knew that for the soap to succeed there needed to be a varied group of characters, so that several different sections of the audience had someone to identify with. Additionally, if the programme was to be realistic, it had to reflect the cross-section of society that actually existed in the real location. For these reasons, different sexes, ages, classes, religions and races were all included in the original character line-up. Both Holland and Smith had been at the forefront of the move towards 'integrated casting' in television and had encountered an array of ethnic diversities in the process. Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their contacts to relay information about their origins and lifestyles and were then able to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically. Saeed was named after one of Tony Holland's Bengali
friends. Holland had attended Saeed's arranged marriage
, and he thought the notion of an arranged marriage, particularly an unhappy one, would be an interesting and informative topic to tackle in the soap.
Saeed's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story
(In this passage, Naima will be referred to as Najma).
Andrew Johnson
auditioned for the part and had a lot in common with Saeed. Like Saeed, he'd been born of mixed races and cultures, and like Saeed he'd found that it led to confusions as he grew up and he didn't know whether to categorise himself as Asian or English. At the interview he was heated on the subject of the "image" of Asians on television, which began to make Holland and Smith apprehensive about casting him. They feared that he may only want his race depicted in a certain way, only sympathetically or with dignity. They also worried about his physical stature. He was six feet tall, whilst Shreela Ghosh
(the actress playing his wife) was only five feet three, which sparked worries over how the two could both be contained in the same shot. Despite their initial worries, it was decided that Johnson's similarities with the character would be advantageous and he was cast in the role.
Saeed ran the corner shop, and his early storylines depicted the problems of his arranged marriage and portrayed a character caught between two cultures. Of the two, Saeed was the more keen partner in the marriage, but continuously found himself being pushed away by his wife. Despite being labelled as a stereotypical portrayal of Asian people today, at the time in the 80s such issues had not been widely covered, particularly on mainstream television.
However, Holland and Smith's initial fears regarding Johnson's apprehension to play the character in anything but a dignified way, came to fruition. Problems arose between Johnson and the script-writers when they attempted to involve Saeed in some unsavoury storylines, such as his tendency to visit prostitutes and make obscene phone calls to a female resident on the Square. Johnson was somewhat disturbed at the prospect of his character displaying simple human weaknesses, and so the decision was made to write the character out. On-screen Saeed and Naima's marriage collapsed, they eventually split and Saeed moved to Bangladesh. Saeed became the first original character to make a permanent exit from the show (David Scarboro
who played Mark Fowler
had left before this, but made subsequent returns to the show). He departed in December 1985. Johnson spoke out about the "contentious storylines" his character was involved with at the time, commenting, "I felt the scripts could damage race relations. Most people know nothing about Asians. Too many think they're greasy, horrible people who take jobs that Brits should have."
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 Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (actor)
Andrew Johnson is a British Asian actor.He is most famous for being one of the original cast members of EastEnders, playing the shop-keeper Saeed Jeffery from February 1985 - December 1985...
.
Saeed was the original owner of the First til Last grocery store. He was never truly accepted in Walford, and his arranged marriage ended in divorce after it was discovered that he'd been making obscene phone calls to women. He left Walford in disgrace, leaving his business to his wife.
Storylines
LondonLondon
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...
-born Saeed claimed to be a Cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
but was looked upon as Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
by everyone in Walford
Walford
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...
. Inexperienced and naive, he took over the family business (the corner shop at 71 Bridge Street) when his parents retired to their native Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. Although his father was well liked in the community, Saeed was seen as an outsider, particularly by Lou Beale
Lou Beale
Louise Ada "Lou" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War....
, who regularly commented that he didn't belong or know how to take care of his customers.
Saeed was unhappy in his arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
to his unwilling wife, Naima
Naima Jeffery
Naima Jeffery is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shreela Ghosh.Asian Naima tried to embrace Western culture, but this wasn't easy since her family constantly tried to force her to adhere to their ancient customs...
, who shared a flat with him at 47B 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...
. Naima didn't like Saeed much and spent most of her time trying to undermine him; rebelling against the customs that her parents forced her to live by. Naima refused to share her husband's bed and Saeed started visiting prostitutes and later the strip-club where Mary Smith worked.
A few months later, Saeed was discovered making secret obscene phone calls to Naima's friend, Debbie Wilkins
Debbie Wilkins
Deborah "Debbie" Wilkins is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shirley Cheriton.Debbie was Walford's first upwardly mobile character...
. When Naima found out, she filed for divorce. Feeling humiliated and alone, Saeed took his parents' advice and moved to Bangladesh, where he allegedly remarried and now lives happily with his new wife and their seven children. Saeed currently works as a translator for the government in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
. His last appearance was on 26 December 1985 where his final scene was an emotional farewell with Lou Beale
Lou Beale
Louise Ada "Lou" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War....
before departing off in a taxi.
After Saeed's departure, Naima remained in Walford and ran the shop on her own until 1987 when she re-married and also returned to Bangladesh.
Character creation and development
Saeed Jeffery was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, 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...
. Saeed and his wife Naima
Naima Jeffery
Naima Jeffery is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shreela Ghosh.Asian Naima tried to embrace Western culture, but this wasn't easy since her family constantly tried to force her to adhere to their ancient customs...
were the first Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
characters to appear in the soap. Black and Asian characters were two ethnic minorities that had previously been under-represented in British soap before EastEnders aired. Holland and Smith knew that for the soap to succeed there needed to be a varied group of characters, so that several different sections of the audience had someone to identify with. Additionally, if the programme was to be realistic, it had to reflect the cross-section of society that actually existed in the real location. For these reasons, different sexes, ages, classes, religions and races were all included in the original character line-up. Both Holland and Smith had been at the forefront of the move towards 'integrated casting' in television and had encountered an array of ethnic diversities in the process. Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their contacts to relay information about their origins and lifestyles and were then able to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically. Saeed was named after one of Tony Holland's Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
friends. Holland had attended Saeed's arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
, and he thought the notion of an arranged marriage, particularly an unhappy one, would be an interesting and informative topic to tackle in the soap.
Saeed's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story
EastEnders books
This is a list of books about or relating to the British soap opera EastEnders.-Non-fiction books:* EastEnders: The Inside Story* Public Secrets: EastEnders and its Audience* EastEnders Special...
(In this passage, Naima will be referred to as Najma).
- "He is quarter English, three-quarters Bengali and she is wholly Bengali. Their parents were originally from Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, and they are Muslims and cousins...Najma had an easier childhood...He left school at eighteen and went to cramming college for a year...In despair, his parents sent him back to India. He had always felt an outsider in England because he's an Indian (the "paki" at school), but he didn't fit in in India either. The other Bengali children of his generation called his "Sahib"...Najma had an easier childhood. She became aware that she couldn't accept the traditional role of an Indian wife, but she wasn't enough of a rebel to leave home and adopt a totally different lifestyle...Saeed's mother's father became seriously ill. It was decided that Saeed's parents should return home to India, and a hasty marriage was arranged between Najma and Saeed so the young couple could then run the food store...They are in a confusing situation, accepting the customs of their parents, yet - because of having been born, brought up and educated in this country - feeling that they're slightly English...Neither of them is particularly docile, having lived through the jungle of the school playground, and the cut and thrust of working-class urban life...Saeed and Najma will make a big effort to mix, and most of the time, fail...Saeed might even visit the pub, and try to give the impression that he's a real cockney...but he wouldn't want to go home to a cockney wife." (page 58)
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (actor)
Andrew Johnson is a British Asian actor.He is most famous for being one of the original cast members of EastEnders, playing the shop-keeper Saeed Jeffery from February 1985 - December 1985...
auditioned for the part and had a lot in common with Saeed. Like Saeed, he'd been born of mixed races and cultures, and like Saeed he'd found that it led to confusions as he grew up and he didn't know whether to categorise himself as Asian or English. At the interview he was heated on the subject of the "image" of Asians on television, which began to make Holland and Smith apprehensive about casting him. They feared that he may only want his race depicted in a certain way, only sympathetically or with dignity. They also worried about his physical stature. He was six feet tall, whilst Shreela Ghosh
Shreela Ghosh
Shreela Ghosh , a former dancer, actress and reporter, became publicly known in the United Kingdom when she was cast as Naima Jeffery in 1985, one of the original characters in BBC's soap opera, EastEnders. She has since given up performing to work as an arts executive...
(the actress playing his wife) was only five feet three, which sparked worries over how the two could both be contained in the same shot. Despite their initial worries, it was decided that Johnson's similarities with the character would be advantageous and he was cast in the role.
Saeed ran the corner shop, and his early storylines depicted the problems of his arranged marriage and portrayed a character caught between two cultures. Of the two, Saeed was the more keen partner in the marriage, but continuously found himself being pushed away by his wife. Despite being labelled as a stereotypical portrayal of Asian people today, at the time in the 80s such issues had not been widely covered, particularly on mainstream television.
However, Holland and Smith's initial fears regarding Johnson's apprehension to play the character in anything but a dignified way, came to fruition. Problems arose between Johnson and the script-writers when they attempted to involve Saeed in some unsavoury storylines, such as his tendency to visit prostitutes and make obscene phone calls to a female resident on the Square. Johnson was somewhat disturbed at the prospect of his character displaying simple human weaknesses, and so the decision was made to write the character out. On-screen Saeed and Naima's marriage collapsed, they eventually split and Saeed moved to Bangladesh. Saeed became the first original character to make a permanent exit from the show (David Scarboro
David Scarboro
David Timothy Scarboro was a British actor who was best known for portraying Mark Fowler in the popular British soap opera EastEnders.-Early career:...
who played Mark Fowler
Mark Fowler
Mark Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark was an original regular character in the series starting February 1985 but became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made...
had left before this, but made subsequent returns to the show). He departed in December 1985. Johnson spoke out about the "contentious storylines" his character was involved with at the time, commenting, "I felt the scripts could damage race relations. Most people know nothing about Asians. Too many think they're greasy, horrible people who take jobs that Brits should have."