offer and he returns, professing his love to Sharon. Their romance is halted when Phil discovers that Sharon had been secretly messaging Grant and he reunites with Kat. Sharon then develops a feud with Kat when Phil continues to entrust her with his business dealings, making Kat jealous. Sharon is devastated when Phil proposes to Kat and plans to sabotage their wedding; when Kat fails to show up, Sharon comforts Phil and reveals her feelings. They share a kiss which is interrupted by Kat who arrives at the wedding, after being trapped in a boat by her ex-husband Alfie Moon (Shane Richie). Phil and Kat do not marry, but Sharon is upset when they move it to another date. Months later, Sharon is reunited with Keanu when he returns to see their son Albie. Sharon is hostile towards Keanu, but they resolve their past grievances and Sharon reveals to Linda that she still has feelings for him. They later share a kiss, but Sharon tells Keanu that she cannot be in a relationship with him, due to opposition from Phil. Creation Background Sharon Watts was one of the original twenty-three characters conceived by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. She was originally to be named Tracey, and she and her parents were to be the occupants of the soap's local pub, now known as The Queen Vic. Holland, who had worked as a barman in his youth, called upon his own personal experiences to invent the Watts family and the pub they lived in. Holland and Smith had always been critical of the way pubs had been portrayed on television, feeling they lacked vitality and life, so they were determined that their pub and occupants were going to be more "real". The Watts were seen by Holland as integral to the show's success, partly because he had already guessed that the pub was going to be a monstrous battleground where emotions would run high on a regular basis, and also because the occupants would be providing the majority of the drama. Sharon's original character outline, as written by Smith and Holland, appeared in an abridged form in their 1987 book, EastEnders: The Inside Story. In this passage, Sharon is referred to as Tracey and her parents as Jack and Pearl (known now as Den and Angie). Casting Although Sharon was meant to be fourteen, licensing regulations required