that the time had come to move on too; their final contribution coinciding 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 Paul Priestly, a northern heartbreaker, and his sidekick Trevor Short (Phil McDermott), "the nearest thing to a village idiot that Walford had seen in many years"; 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. Paul Priestly was a cheeky, carefree romeo, whose principal purpose was to become Walford's latest teen heartthrob. Since 1985 this role had been occupied by the hugely popular Simon Wicks (Nick Berry), but as the character aged and took on a more mature role, the programme needed a new teen pin-up to appeal to the younger audience. The actor Mark Thrippleton shared many similarities with the character of Paul. Like Paul he came from Leeds, had a strong Yorkshire accent, and