August.
19th
Inside Soap - Issue 160 .
" Albert Square will be invaded by a brand new family in September - an EastEnders bosses are hoping the sexy newcomers will be an instant hit with viewers.
The Slaters have been brought in to fill the shoes of the di Marcos, who left Walford amid emotional scenes earlier this month. The family consist of Grandma Mo Harris, her widowed son-in-law Charlie and his daughters - Lynne, Zoe, Maureen and Kat - who are set up to take up residence at 23 Albert Square, the house in which Reg Cox was found lying dead during the show's first ever episode! A fifth Slater daughter, Belinda, will join the rest of the clan later in the year.
A few of the new residents may be a little familiar, however. Laila Morse, the actress who plays Mo, starred alongside Ray Winstone in Love, Honour And Obey and Nil By Mouth. The Latter was directed by her brother Gary Oldman. Charlie Slater will be played by Derek Martin, who appeared as tough talking Alex Morris in Eldorado. Derek also starred in the ITV drama The Govorner.
Meanwhile, there's bound to be a happy reunion for Elaine Lordan, who plays Lynne, when she arrives in Walford for the first time. The actress starred alongside Todd Carty (Mark Fowler) in the Grange Hill spin-off Tucker's Luck way back in the early eighties.
All about Soap - Issue 12
Following the di Marco clan's exit from Walford, there's a new family moving into Albert Square - the Slaters. Head of the family is widower Charlie (played by actor Derek Martin, who starred as Alex Morris in Eldorado and has also appeared in The Governor.) And joining him at number 23 are his four daughters Kat ( Jesse Wallace ), Zoe ( Michelle Ryan ), Lynne ( Elaine Lordan ) and Maureen ( Kacey Ainsworth). A fifth daughter, Belinda, will be introduced later in the year. Lynne's boyfriend Gary ( played by Ricky Groves) ia also a new face in the square, as is Charlie's mother-in-law Mo Harris ( Played by actress Laila Morse).
- 29 August 2000
Soaplife - Issue 14
Charlie's Army! - EastEnders new family looks like a lot of trouble... and that means fun!
Rosa, Teresa, Nicky and Gianni... Jeff Healy, Irene Raymond, Dan Sullivan and even poor Ethel. Where are all the EastEnders going? The truth is they've all been moving out to make room for the largest family ever to move into Albert Square.
In a few weeks' time the Slaters will arrive in force and one look at the sexy daughters, hunky boyfriend, tough-as-nails dad and gran, and you can bet life will never be the same again for the residents of Walford!
Billed as 'gritty East End characters', dad Charlie, his five daughters and mum-in-law Mo will move into number 23 Albert Square - most famous for being the house where Reg Cox was found dead in the first ever episode of EastEnders. An omen of things to come? If so, from the look of the Slaters they won't be the victims!
The Rumour is that the action hots up the moment the family arrives with enmities sworn and love affairs started before you can even say 'hello'. So just who is who and who will do what? To give the scriptwriters a few ideas, we've let our imaginations run riot...
Dad Charlie - With five daughters, Charlie must know a lot about women, and as a widower he's sure to be on the lookout for a new mate. Frank and Peggy are due a few upsets, so it could be Peggy. Or perhaps Pauline's wishing she hadn't sent Jeff packing quite so quickly. Charlie might get lucky there. Or maybe Charlie will leave the romancing to his daughters and take over the role of Walford villain that Steve Owen and Phil Mitchell seem to have abandoned.
Gran Mo - Lou Beale is sure to turn in her grave when Mo moves in. mother-in-law to Charlie, she's the one that holds the family firmly together and acts as a surrogate mum to her granddaughters. We don't predict romance... but we do predict lots of run-ins with the likes of Pauline and Peggy.
Daughter Kat - Any red-blooded male will look twice when Kat walks into the Queen Vic. Most vulnerable could be Phil... Well, Lisa is becoming such a whinger!
Daughter Lynne - She comes complete with boyfriend Gary but for how long? He's got a Grant-ish look about him (except he smiles more) and we all know how faithless he was. If Lynne does need to look around, Beppe might need a shoulder to cry on if things go wrong with Sandra.
Daughter Maureen - Janine and bacon butties just don't go together and we can't see her lasting much longer... We reckon that 'Little Mo' has Kath's Cafe written all over her. Either that or she could share a market stall - and maybe more - with Mark.
Daughter Zoe - A real little stunner, Sonia could have trouble hanging on to Jamie, but our money's on a meeting of more than minds with bad boy Martin... Or worse, she could become best mates with teen terror Janine...
Daughter Belinda - She's still a mystery and won't appear until later in the year. Could she be the black sheep? Well, every good family has one, don't they?
Taken from BBC News at news.bbc.co.uk
Seven move into Albert Square.
Eastenders bosses have revealed the latest arrivals on the BBC soap - a family of seven set to cause ructions among the established residents of Albert Square. The Slaters will join EastEnders in the middle of September as a replacement for the di Marco family, of which all but Beppe left the square earlier this month.
They are made up of grandmother Mo with her widower son-in-law Charlie and his five daughters. One of the girls, Kat Slater, will clash with Mel Healy while Mo resumes a feud with Pat Evans going back 30 years.
The soap's executive producer John Yorke said the new characters would bring back some traditional East End values. " I hope that this is going back to EastEnders' roots, the classic EastEnders family which is all about surviving and fighting back all the time", he commented.
The Slaters are only the eighth family to arrive on the show in it's 15 year history. The addition is considered by the BBC as a major innovation for Yorke, who took over from Matthew Robinson at the beginning of the year. Mal Young, the BBC's head of drama series, said of the decision to bring in the whole new family: "We do not have enough solid families in the soap, there were a lot of fractured families and people who were alone."
Grandmother Mo is played by Laila Morse - the sister of acclaimed Dracula actor Gary Oldman. Mo is the widow of Pat Evans' brother Jimmy. She has decided to return to Albert Square after the deaths of both Jimmy and her daughter, Charlie's wife. But in coming back, Mo stokes the flames on her long-running argument with Pat, played by Pam St Clements, which began three decades earlier when Pat wrongly accused her of having an affair.
The air turns frosty around the Queen Vic barmaid Mel Healy, played by Tamsin Outhwaite, when she realises she has a rival for the men's admiration in Glamorous Kat Slater, 28. Kat is played by newcomer Jessie Wallace who described her character as "a bit of a floozy and a bitch and very lazy".
Cab driver Charlie Slater is played by Derek Martin, 69, who played Alex Morris in the BBC's ill-fated soap Eldorado.
The other Slater daughters are Lynne,33, Little Mo and teenager Zoe. The fifth daughter Belinda will be introduced to the soap at a later date. Lynne Slater's boyfriend Garry Hobbs will also be a new addition likely to cause friction. Garry has a roving eye and becomes interested in Mel.
John Yorke said the Slater family members were developed at an improvisation session for 30 actors and actresses earlier in the year. He chose the five actresses to play the sisters, he explained, because they got on so well. They went on to perform a Nolan Sisters routine at the session - which will be included on EastEnders as part of one of the Queen Vic's karaoke nights.
Say Hello to the Slaters. The Slater Family as
pictured in the Inside Soap Magazine issue 160.
Left to right:
Gary, Lynne, Charles, Zoe, Maureen and Kat.
Problems are about to start for Mel.