Trevor Short
Encyclopedia
Trevor Short is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
, EastEnders
, played by Phil McDermott
.
Trevor was the inseparable sidekick
of Paul Priestly
. He was a well-meaning individual but he wasn't blessed with much intelligence
and he managed to mess up almost every job he was given. He had several crushes on the younger women of Walford
, but despite his best efforts he never managed to find a girlfriend.
, who had roomed with him briefly at a youth hostel. Paul wasn't pleased to see Trevor initially, but he nevertheless found him a job working on a construction site with him.
A dim-witted individual "two biscuits short of a box" was how they described him in The Queen Vic. His life had been hard. Rejected by his parents, he spent his youth in and out of children's homes and never really felt that he belonged anywhere as a result.
Trevor managed to hit it off with the pensioner Mo Butcher
after he kindly mended a broken washing machine at the launderette. Mo decided to take Trevor under her wing, and roped him into helping with the renovation of the community centre. However, foolish Trevor stole the supplies from the construction site he was working at, and when Mo forced him to return them, he was caught and lost his job. An array of odd jobs followed for Trevor, all equally unsuccessful. He had a brief spell as the potman at The Vic but he proved a liability. Landlord Frank Butcher
gave him a job at his car lot, which only lasted a few days before his ineptitude became too much for Frank to bear. Ian Beale
hired him to remove a partition in his café, but this went awry when Trevor resurrected the partition after he'd just demolished it. Despite all these blunders, Paul still persisted in helping his friend out and allowed him to assist with the renovation of Julie Cooper's
salon
and the decorating of Karim's
new property. True to form, Trevor even managed to make a mess of these jobs when he struck a water main — flooding the market — and caused the Karim's ceiling to collapse.
In July 1989 Trevor began lodging with Mo Butcher, who he would often refer to as "Mrs. Mo". He found work tending a stall on the market, but had most of the contents stolen by thieves and was the victim of many practical jokes from hooligans such as Junior Roberts and his girlfriend Melody. He later worked on Pete Beale
's fruit and veg stall.
Trevor developed a crush on Paul's casual girlfriend, Diane Butcher
, which wasn't reciprocated. He sided with Diane when Paul jilted her in favour of Julie Cooper. He lent her his support and even invited her out one night, which Diane agreed to, but only to make Paul jealous. Trevor was overjoyed and thought that a relationship would be possible. His dreams, however were shattered when Paul dumped Julie and immediately reconciled with Diane.
More bad luck followed for Trevor when he became the prime suspect for a series of thefts at The Queen Vic. Trevor wasn't guilty and was just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. After receiving a tirade of abuse from Frank and being barred from The Vic, Trevor did some investigating for himself and discovered that the real culprit was Frank's daughter, Janine
. After confronting her, she ran away from home in fear. Trevor was beside himself with worry, hysterically blaming himself for the whole ordeal. Janine was eventually found inside a derelict van with the stolen items on her, and Trevor was exonerated.
During the latter part of 1989, Trevor managed to get himself into trouble with the DSS
for benefit fraud
. It turned out that Trevor had been signing on for unemployment benefit
while being employed at Pete's stall. For a while it looked as if Trevor would face prosecution or a heavy fine, and he reacted with typical hysteria
at the prospect of going to prison
. In the end, he managed to avoid this by signing off of 'the dole' and promising to never fraudulently claim benefits again.
In December 1989, Trevor was heartbroken when Paul decided he'd had enough of living in London, and moved away from Walford. He moped around feeling sorry for himself for a while but managed to take his mind off things by developing a new crush, this time on Shireen Karim. Shireen was polite enough to let him think his attention was appreciated and even agreed to go on a date with him. Trevor spent a lot of time preparing for the date, seeking advice from almost everyone on the Square, and it ended up being a success. However, after the date, Shireen told Trevor that it could only be a one off occurrence, as she was already betrothed. Trevor was outraged and made several attempts to point out the unfairness of arranged marriage
s to Shireen's father, all of which had no effect whatsoever.
In February 1990, Paul returned to Walford briefly to give Frank Butcher information on his missing daughter, Diane, who had run away from home. Trevor was overjoyed to see him again, but his happiness was fleeting as Paul soon announced that he was leaving once again, and this time for good. Seeing how upset Trevor was over this, Paul decided to ask him to join him in his home town of Leeds
. As Trevor had made such a great success of gardening
the local allotments
, Paul was sure that he could make a career of it up north. Trevor was overjoyed, and left with Paul in March 1990.
and Julia Smith
, both decided that the time had come to move on too; their final contribution coincided with the exit of one of EastEnders most successful characters, Den Watts
(Leslie Grantham
). A new producer, Mike Gibbon
, was given the arduous task of taking over the show and he enlisted the most experienced writers to take over the storylining of the programme, including Charlie Humphreys, Jane Hollowood and Tony McHale.
The departure of two of the soap's most popular characters, Den and Angie Watts
(Anita Dobson
), had left a massive void in the programme which needed to be filled. In addition, several other long running characters left the show that year, including two original cast members, Sue
and Ali Osman
(Sandy Ratcliff
and Nejdet Salih) and their family; Donna Ludlow
(Matilda Ziegler
); Carmel Jackson
(Judith Jacob
) and her family and one of the show's more controversial characters, Colin Russell (Michael Cashman
). So, it was decided that 1989 was to be a year of change in Walford. EastEnders script-writer, Colin Brake
, has suggested that "it was almost as if Walford itself was making a fresh start".
At the time the programme had come under criticism in the British media for being too depressing
, arguably a reputation that it has never been able to shake. The programme makers were determined to change this. In 1989, there was a deliberate attempt to increase the lighter, more comic aspects of life in Albert Square
. This led to the introduction of some characters who were deliberately conceived as comic or light-hearted. Such characters included Trevor Short, the "nearest thing to a village idiot that Walford had seen in many years", and his friend, northern heartbreaker Paul Priestly
(Mark Thrippleton
); Julie Cooper
(Louise Plowright
), the man-mad hairdresser
; Marge Green
— a batty older lady played by veteran comedy actress, Pat Coombs
; wheeler-dealer Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham) and Laurie Bates
(Gary Powell
, who became Pete Beale
's (Peter Dean) sparring partner.
Trevor Short was a dim-witted odd job man, who drifted into Albert Square
in search of his friend and a new home. He was a well-intentioned but lonely misfit that rarely got anything right; a role that had been largely absent since the departure of Lofty Holloway
in 1988 — although Trevor would prove to be a substantially less successful character in comparison. The writers' original intention had been for Trevor to be a tall Scot
. The actor Phil McDermott audition
ed for the role even though he was a short London
er of Irish
descent. Despite McDermott's obvious differences to the original character conception, he managed to get the job by crying for five minutes on cue during his audition.
Humour was an important element in the storylines during 1989, with a greater amount of slapstick and light comedy than ever before. Trevor's character in particular was regularly used for comic effect, with emphasis placed on his inferior intelligence and ability to turn any small task into a disaster. As well as playing sidekick to Paul, Trevor was also featured heavily with the hardened battleaxe Mo Butcher
(Edna Doré
); docile Trevor being the perfect foil for taking the brunt of Mo's bossy and dominant personality, which he did willingly.
1989's changes were a brave experiment and while some found this period of EastEnders entertaining, many other viewers felt that the comedy stretched the programme's credibility somewhat. Although the programme still covered many issues in 1989, such as domestic violence
, drugs, rape
and racism
, the new emphasis on a more balanced mix between "light and heavy storylines" gave the illusion that the show had lost a "certain edge".
By the end of the year EastEnders had acquired a new executive producer, Michael Ferguson
, who had previously been a successful producer on ITV
's The Bill
. Ultimately, Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a new sense of vitality and creating a programme that was more in touch with the real world than it had been over the last year. A new era began in 1990 with the introduction of the Mitchell brothers, two hugely successful characters who would go on to dominate the soap thereafter. As the new production machine cleared the way for new characters and a new direction, a number of characters were axed from the show at the start of the year. Among them was Trevor, as well as every other "comedic" character that had been introduced to the show in 1989. By March 1990 they had all gone. Several of the actors were upset to be leaving the programme so soon, but with the show's new direction there was no place for characters "whose prime function was to be comic relief".
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 Phil McDermott
Phil McDermott
Phil McDermott is a British actor. Before turning to acting he was a trainee priest, a scrap metal worker, a weighbridge operator and a carpenter. He is most famous for playing a regular character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He played the dim-witted odd-job man, Trevor Short from 1989-1990...
.
Trevor was the inseparable sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
of Paul Priestly
Paul Priestly
Paul Priestly is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Mark Thrippleton.Paul, a builder, came to London with a building firm he worked for, then decided to go it alone. He found work around the Square — the money wasn't great but there were benefits — for instance,...
. He was a well-meaning individual but he wasn't blessed with much intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
and he managed to mess up almost every job he was given. He had several crushes on the younger women of 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...
, but despite his best efforts he never managed to find a girlfriend.
Storylines
Trevor arrived in June 1989 in search of his friend, the builder Paul PriestlyPaul Priestly
Paul Priestly is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Mark Thrippleton.Paul, a builder, came to London with a building firm he worked for, then decided to go it alone. He found work around the Square — the money wasn't great but there were benefits — for instance,...
, who had roomed with him briefly at a youth hostel. Paul wasn't pleased to see Trevor initially, but he nevertheless found him a job working on a construction site with him.
A dim-witted individual "two biscuits short of a box" was how they described him in The Queen Vic. His life had been hard. Rejected by his parents, he spent his youth in and out of children's homes and never really felt that he belonged anywhere as a result.
Trevor managed to hit it off with the pensioner Mo Butcher
Mo Butcher
Maureen "Mo" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She was introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She was portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering...
after he kindly mended a broken washing machine at the launderette. Mo decided to take Trevor under her wing, and roped him into helping with the renovation of the community centre. However, foolish Trevor stole the supplies from the construction site he was working at, and when Mo forced him to return them, he was caught and lost his job. An array of odd jobs followed for Trevor, all equally unsuccessful. He had a brief spell as the potman at The Vic but he proved a liability. Landlord Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
gave him a job at his car lot, which only lasted a few days before his ineptitude became too much for Frank to bear. 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...
hired him to remove a partition in his café, but this went awry when Trevor resurrected the partition after he'd just demolished it. Despite all these blunders, Paul still persisted in helping his friend out and allowed him to assist with the renovation of Julie Cooper's
Julie Cooper (EastEnders)
Julie Cooper is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Louise Plowright from 1989-1990. The character was one of Mike Gibbon's introductions, but she was axed in 1990 at the start of Michael Ferguson's reign as executive producer...
salon
Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for men and women...
and the decorating of Karim's
Ashraf Karim
The Karims are a fictional family that appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1987 and 1990.-Creation and development:The Muslim Karim family were introduced as the owners of the soap's grocery store, the First til Last, following the departure of the character Naima Jeffery in 1987,...
new property. True to form, Trevor even managed to make a mess of these jobs when he struck a water main — flooding the market — and caused the Karim's ceiling to collapse.
In July 1989 Trevor began lodging with Mo Butcher, who he would often refer to as "Mrs. Mo". He found work tending a stall on the market, but had most of the contents stolen by thieves and was the victim of many practical jokes from hooligans such as Junior Roberts and his girlfriend Melody. He later worked on Pete Beale
Pete Beale
Peter "Pete" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Peter Dean. He made his first appearance in the programme's first episode, on 19 February 1985. The character was created by Tony Holland, one of the creators of EasEnders; he was based on a member of...
's fruit and veg stall.
Trevor developed a crush on Paul's casual girlfriend, Diane Butcher
Diane Butcher
Diane Maureen Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sophie Lawrence. Diane appeared as a regular character between 1988 and 1991, when Lawrence decided to leave. The character made several brief returns in 1993, 1994, and 1997...
, which wasn't reciprocated. He sided with Diane when Paul jilted her in favour of Julie Cooper. He lent her his support and even invited her out one night, which Diane agreed to, but only to make Paul jealous. Trevor was overjoyed and thought that a relationship would be possible. His dreams, however were shattered when Paul dumped Julie and immediately reconciled with Diane.
More bad luck followed for Trevor when he became the prime suspect for a series of thefts at The Queen Vic. Trevor wasn't guilty and was just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. After receiving a tirade of abuse from Frank and being barred from The Vic, Trevor did some investigating for himself and discovered that the real culprit was Frank's daughter, Janine
Janine Evans
Janine Butcher is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, currently portrayed by Charlie Brooks. Rebecca Michael originally portrayed the character from 1989 until 1993, when the role was given to Alexia Demetriou for three years. Brooks took on the role in 1999...
. After confronting her, she ran away from home in fear. Trevor was beside himself with worry, hysterically blaming himself for the whole ordeal. Janine was eventually found inside a derelict van with the stolen items on her, and Trevor was exonerated.
During the latter part of 1989, Trevor managed to get himself into trouble with the DSS
Department of Social Security
The Department of Social Security is the name of a defunct governmental agency in the United Kingdom.The DSS replaced the older Department of Health and Social Security, from 1988 until 2001, when it was itself largely replaced as a department of the Government of the United Kingdom by the...
for benefit fraud
Benefit fraud
Benefit fraud is a form of welfare fraud as found within the system of government benefits paid to individuals by the UK welfare state.- What is benefit fraud? :...
. It turned out that Trevor had been signing on for unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system...
while being employed at Pete's stall. For a while it looked as if Trevor would face prosecution or a heavy fine, and he reacted with typical hysteria
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
at the prospect of going to prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. In the end, he managed to avoid this by signing off of 'the dole' and promising to never fraudulently claim benefits again.
In December 1989, Trevor was heartbroken when Paul decided he'd had enough of living in London, and moved away from Walford. He moped around feeling sorry for himself for a while but managed to take his mind off things by developing a new crush, this time on Shireen Karim. Shireen was polite enough to let him think his attention was appreciated and even agreed to go on a date with him. Trevor spent a lot of time preparing for the date, seeking advice from almost everyone on the Square, and it ended up being a success. However, after the date, Shireen told Trevor that it could only be a one off occurrence, as she was already betrothed. Trevor was outraged and made several attempts to point out the unfairness of 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...
s to Shireen's father, all of which had no effect whatsoever.
In February 1990, Paul returned to Walford briefly to give Frank Butcher information on his missing daughter, Diane, who had run away from home. Trevor was overjoyed to see him again, but his happiness was fleeting as Paul soon announced that he was leaving once again, and this time for good. Seeing how upset Trevor was over this, Paul decided to ask him to join him in his home town of Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. As Trevor had made such a great success of gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
the local allotments
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
, Paul was sure that he could make a career of it up north. Trevor was overjoyed, and left with Paul in March 1990.
Character creation and development
1989 was a year of big change for EastEnders, both behind the cameras and in front of them. Original production designer, Keith Harris, left the show, and co-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...
, both decided that the time had come to move on too; their final contribution coincided with the exit of one of EastEnders most successful characters, Den Watts
Den 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"....
(Leslie Grantham
Leslie Grantham
Leslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
). A new producer, 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....
, was given the arduous task of taking over the show and he enlisted the most experienced writers to take over the storylining of the programme, including Charlie Humphreys, Jane Hollowood and Tony McHale.
The departure of two of the soap's most popular characters, Den and Angie Watts
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....
(Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson is an English television actress and singer. She gained her highest profile while playing Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
), had left a massive void in the programme which needed to be filled. In addition, several other long running characters left the show that year, including two original cast members, Sue
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...
and Ali Osman
Ali Osman
Ali Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original EastEnders cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly five years afterwards, making his final appearance on 10 October...
(Sandy Ratcliff
Sandy Ratcliff
Alexandria "Sandy" Ratcliff is an English former actress. Ratcliff made an impression as a model and film actress in the 1970s, but she is best known for being one of the original cast members in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in the 1980s...
and Nejdet Salih) and their family; 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...
(Matilda Ziegler
Matilda Ziegler
Matilda Ziegler is a British television, stage and film actress best known for her roles as Irma Gobb in Mr. Bean and as Donna Ludlow in the long-running BBC1 serial EastEnders and Ruth in the BBC Three sitcom Swiss Toni.-Television career:Matilda Ziegler's first screen role remains her most...
); Carmel Jackson
Carmel Jackson
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...
(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...
) and her family and one of the show's more controversial characters, Colin Russell (Michael Cashman
Michael Cashman
Michael Maurice Cashman is a British former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.- Acting :...
). So, it was decided that 1989 was to be a year of change in Walford. EastEnders script-writer, 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 suggested that "it was almost as if Walford itself was making a fresh start".
At the time the programme had come under criticism in the British media for being too depressing
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, arguably a reputation that it has never been able to shake. The programme makers were determined to change this. In 1989, there was a deliberate attempt to increase the lighter, more comic aspects of life in 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...
. This led to the introduction of some characters who were deliberately conceived as comic or light-hearted. Such characters included Trevor Short, the "nearest thing to a village idiot that Walford had seen in many years", and his friend, northern heartbreaker Paul Priestly
Paul Priestly
Paul Priestly is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Mark Thrippleton.Paul, a builder, came to London with a building firm he worked for, then decided to go it alone. He found work around the Square — the money wasn't great but there were benefits — for instance,...
(Mark Thrippleton
Mark Thrippleton
Mark Thrippleton is an English actor from Leeds.Thrippleton worked as a roofer and tiler before taking up acting in the 1980s.In 1984 he appeared in How We Used to Live — a British educational drama tracing the lives and fortunes of fictional Yorkshire families from Ewardian times...
); Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper (EastEnders)
Julie Cooper is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Louise Plowright from 1989-1990. The character was one of Mike Gibbon's introductions, but she was axed in 1990 at the start of Michael Ferguson's reign as executive producer...
(Louise Plowright
Louise Plowright
Louise Plowright is a British actress, who trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and first came to prominence playing abrasive hairdresser Julie Cooper in the television soap opera EastEnders from 1989 to 1990....
), the man-mad hairdresser
Hairdresser
Hairdresser is a term referring to anyone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques...
; Marge Green
Marge Green
Marjorie "Marge" Green is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Pat Coombs. Introduced in 1989, elderly Marge was scripted as comical and timid. The character was one of many to be axed in 1990 when the show changed Executive Producer.-Storylines:Marge first...
— a batty older lady played by veteran comedy actress, Pat Coombs
Pat Coombs
Pat Coombs was an English actress. Coombs was considered one of Britain's great character actresses, specialising in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female — comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, film and television sitcoms...
; wheeler-dealer Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham) and Laurie Bates
Laurie Bates
Laurie Bates is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Gary Powell. Laurie was introduced by producer Mike Gibbon in September 1989 as a rival to the long-established character Pete Beale – he opened up a business in direct competition to him and then dated his...
(Gary Powell
Gary Powell (actor)
Gary Powell is a British actor. He is possibly best known for playing the character Laurie Bates in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Laurie made his first screen appearance in September 1989 as a love interest for Kathy Beale , but the character was one of many to be written out of the serial early...
, who became Pete Beale
Pete Beale
Peter "Pete" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Peter Dean. He made his first appearance in the programme's first episode, on 19 February 1985. The character was created by Tony Holland, one of the creators of EasEnders; he was based on a member of...
's (Peter Dean) sparring partner.
Trevor Short was a dim-witted odd job man, who drifted into 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...
in search of his friend and a new home. He was a well-intentioned but lonely misfit that rarely got anything right; a role that had been largely absent since the departure of Lofty Holloway
Lofty Holloway
George "Lofty" Holloway is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tom Watt. Lofty is one of the serial's original characters, making his first appearance in the third episode, 26 February 1985....
in 1988 — although Trevor would prove to be a substantially less successful character in comparison. The writers' original intention had been for Trevor to be a tall Scot
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The actor Phil McDermott audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
ed for the role even though he was a short 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...
er of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
descent. Despite McDermott's obvious differences to the original character conception, he managed to get the job by crying for five minutes on cue during his audition.
Humour was an important element in the storylines during 1989, with a greater amount of slapstick and light comedy than ever before. Trevor's character in particular was regularly used for comic effect, with emphasis placed on his inferior intelligence and ability to turn any small task into a disaster. As well as playing sidekick to Paul, Trevor was also featured heavily with the hardened battleaxe Mo Butcher
Mo Butcher
Maureen "Mo" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Edna Doré between 1988 and 1990. She was introduced as the matriarch figure of the Butcher family, Frank Butcher's elderly mother. She was portrayed as a battle-axe, tough and interfering...
(Edna Doré
Edna Doré
Edna Doré is a British actress. Doré is one of Britain's best known senior citizen actresses. She is known for her bit-part roles in situation comedies and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in the BBC soap opera EastEnders .- Career :She began her career as a chorus girl in ENSA, then spent...
); docile Trevor being the perfect foil for taking the brunt of Mo's bossy and dominant personality, which he did willingly.
1989's changes were a brave experiment and while some found this period of EastEnders entertaining, many other viewers felt that the comedy stretched the programme's credibility somewhat. Although the programme still covered many issues in 1989, such as 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...
, drugs, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and 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...
, the new emphasis on a more balanced mix between "light and heavy storylines" gave the illusion that the show had lost a "certain edge".
By the end of the year EastEnders had acquired a new executive 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...
, who had previously been a successful 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...
. Ultimately, Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a new sense of vitality and creating a programme that was more in touch with the real world than it had been over the last year. A new era began in 1990 with the introduction of the Mitchell brothers, two hugely successful characters who would go on to dominate the soap thereafter. As the new production machine cleared the way for new characters and a new direction, a number of characters were axed from the show at the start of the year. Among them was Trevor, as well as every other "comedic" character that had been introduced to the show in 1989. By March 1990 they had all gone. Several of the actors were upset to be leaving the programme so soon, but with the show's new direction there was no place for characters "whose prime function was to be comic relief".