EastEnders is a British television soap opera first broadcast on BBC One on 19 February 1985. The following is a list of characters who currently appear in the programme, listed in order of first appearance. In the case that more than one actor has portrayed a character, the current actor portraying the character is listed first. Present characters Regular characters Recurring and guest characters Named extras Cast changes Departing characters Future characters Former characters Lists of characters by year of introduction 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Spin-off characters References External links Cast and characters of EastEnders on IMDb