illegal activity that eventually ended George and Peggy's romance. Moriarty has been asked about Peggy's negative reaction to George's criminality because, as the interviewer noted, Peggy's backstory consists of a first marriage to a suggested gangster, Eric Mitchell, and Peggy had accepted his dealings and turned a blind-eye. Moriarty responded, "I suppose [Peggy being] made landlady [of the soap's pub] did that to her - airs and graces! But that’s what happens on soaps if you stay a long-term character. You’ve got to be made sympathetic and even moral to an extent. So they had Peggy and George being all right for a while, and then George would inevitably screw up and they’d make up again - over and over. Barbara turned to me one night as we were driving home and said, 'This is getting to be bloody boring now, isn’t it?' She wasn’t half right. Quite frankly, the show didn’t know what to make of George. That’s why they brought on [his daughter] Annie [Nadia Sawalha] - to do the dirty work for him! That’s actually quite accurate of the East End villain these days. They swan around in these dapper suits and get someone else to hide the money-or the bodies." The character was one of many to be axed in 1998 by Executive Producer Matthew Robinson, following a dip in ratings. See also List of soap opera villains References External links EastEnders characters Fictional criminals in soap operas Fictional businesspeople Fictional gangsters Television characters introduced in 1996 Male characters in television Male villains