 Fatboy is one of four characters created for the first series of the EastEnders online spin @-@ off EastEnders : E20 who also appear in the main show , along with Zsa Zsa , Leon and Mercy . Fatboy , along with the other characters from E20 , was created by the show 's thirteen writers during a summer school run by the BBC in August 2009 . Open auditions for the cast were held at Theatre Royal Stratford East . Norwood 's casting was announced on 25 November 2009 , on which he said " I am so excited to be on the show . It 's an honour to now be part of a show that has been on in my house for as long as I have been alive . I am born and bred in the East End — a stone 's throw from the real Albert Square . It feels like a homecoming . I love being part of a cast that feels like family and can 't wait to have a scene in The Vic . " Kenny , who was also one of the writers , said a character like Fatboy would not have appeared in EastEnders had he not been written by young people . Norwood stated in 2013 that being from east London and playing a character from east London meant that he could " bring the truth to that character from the knowledge I have . [ I can ] try and bring the truth out of that instead of doing it from an outside perspective . " 
