Aunt Sal[1] is a recurring fictional character in the BBCsoap operaEastEnders, played by Anna Karen[2] Introduced in 1996, she appeared sporadically from 21 March 1996 until 29 December 1997, then from 28 September 2001 until 17 September 2004, 19 July 2007 until 4 April 2011 and 22 November 2013 to 20 January 2017.[3] She appears for just a few episodes at a time and has been collectively featured in 58 episodes of the show.
The character has, on occasion, been credited as Sal Martin,[4][5] which has been referenced at different times as both her maiden and married surname. In November 2023, it was reported that the character would be killed-off, off-screen, following Karen's death in February 2022. Aunt Sal died off-screen on 10 January 2024, and an episode featuring the character's funeral was broadcast on 15 January 2024.[6]David Sterne made a guest appearance as Aunt Sal's bereaved husband, Harold Martin.[7]
Creation and development
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In February 1996, it was announced that comedy actress Anna Karen would be joining the cast of EastEnders as Peggy Mitchell's sister Sal. Anna Karen and the actress who had played Peggy, Barbara Windsor, were "best friends" in real life and Windsor had expressed how happy she was to have Karen on the cast of EastEnders[8][9]
Producers decided to hire Karen after Michael French, who played "romeo" David Wicks decided to quit. They reportedly failed to lure back June Brown, who played Dot Cotton between 1985 and 1993 (although they were successful in doing so a year later). They asked Karen to audition and decided she "was just the ticket".[10]
Commenting on her casting, Karen said, "It's great to be back on the box and a real treat to be working alongside my old mate [Barbara Windsor]."[1]
Kate Lock brands Sal as "Peggy's blabbermouth sister" and "She has a hide thicker than Peggy's, a penchant for interfering and a tendency to become loud and hideously embarrassing after a couple of drinks".[11]
Storylines
Sal is the older sister of Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) and usually appears at Mitchell family occasions or when she's had an argument with her husband, Harold (David Sterne). Sal is a heavy smoker and when visiting her sister, enjoys parking herself at the end of the bar with her cigarette (that is, until the smoking ban, when she would just go upstairs). Peggy also goes to stay with her when she needs somewhere to rest. She is married to downtrodden Harold, and mentions a son in January 1997 and a daughter to Peggy at Grant (Ross Kemp) and Tiffany Mitchell's (Martine McCutcheon) wedding blessing ceremony. She also mentions in 1997 that she ran a pub. Her first appearance is at Peggy's 54th birthday party in 1996. This also coincides with the birth of Peggy's grandson and Sal's great-nephew, Ben Mitchell (Matthew Silver). She appears again in January 1997, to support Peggy through her breast cancer,[12] and then again at Grant and Tiffany's blessing where she stands in for Peggy in August 1997. Sal comes to stay with the Mitchell family for Christmas 1997. During her visit she takes baby Courtney Mitchell for a walk and leaves her outside the café in her pram. Whilst Sal is inside, Courtney is taken, causing everyone to panic. She is later found being looked after by Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer), Tiffany's best friend. Other appearances include Peggy and Harry Slater's (Michael Elphick) engagement party in 2001, Louise Mitchell's naming party in October 2002, Jamie Mitchell's (Jack Ryder) funeral in January 2003, and Sam Mitchell's (Kim Medcalf) wedding to Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs) in September 2004.
She returns in July 2007 for her nephew Phil Mitchell's (Steve McFadden) wedding to Stella Crawford (Sophie Thompson) and portentously notes that Stella would never be a Mitchell. She also returns when Peggy throws her a birthday party on 17 December 2007 and again on Christmas Day 2007 when she drunkenly infuriates Phil. On 8 July 2008 she returns again to keep an eye on Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) whilst they look after The Queen Vic as Peggy is away. She makes another appearance on 14 August 2008 for Peggy and Archie Mitchell's (Larry Lamb) engagement party. Sal straight away speaks her mind about Archie, not knowing that he is next to her. She spends Christmas Eve 2008 with Peggy, complaining about the price of her taxi and joking about Jean Slater's (Gillian Wright) health condition. She is next seen on 2 March 2009 when Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) invited her to dinner. Janine gets her drunk before extracting information about Peggy's past, so she can use something to humiliate Peggy. Sal reveals to Janine that she and her sister, Peggy were involved in pole dancing for the gangland in the 1960s. Janine couriers a huge photo of Peggy pole-dancing to ruin her political campaign. Peggy is humiliated and everyone finds out about her past.
Sal attends Peggy's hen night later in the month and following Peggy's wedding to Archie in April 2009 and the startling revelations that follow, Sal takes Peggy back to her home with her to escape Archie. Peggy returns home the following week but after feeling let down by Phil who won't kill Archie, she goes away on holiday with Sal to the Bahamas. She returns again in June and attends a meal at Ronnie Mitchell's (Samantha Womack) with Peggy. They snoop around and find an engagement ring. On 17 December 2009, she arrives at The Queen Vic as it is her 70th birthday. Everyone forgot, but the family tell her of a special lunch in her honour in the community centre, which is actually a Christmas lunch event to try to raise money for the debt-stricken Mitchells. She complains about the food and tells another diner she hopes there will be entertainment. She guesses that Ronnie is pregnant and Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) tells her about the Mitchells' debt problems. When the diners demand entertainment, she helps out by performing her fire eating routine. She later accidentally reveals that Ronnie is pregnant.
Peggy invites Sal to a family dinner in August 2010, but Sal manages to insult Ronnie, Roxy, Billy, Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), Pat Evans (Pam St Clement) and all of Peggy's children and grandchildren in the space of three minutes, leading them to argue, so Peggy throws her sister out. In November, she arrives uninvited for Ronnie and Jack's wedding. In April 2011, Ronnie goes missing, after she becomes depressed. Sal rings Roxy to let her know that Ronnie is with her. Sal appears when Roxy and Jack come to talk to Ronnie and take her home.
Sal returns again in November 2013, when she turns up uninvited for Roxy's hen party, before her wedding to Alfie Moon (Shane Ritchie). Sal rudely expresses her doubts about Alfie and marriage in general, stating that women in the Mitchell family are cursed when it comes to love. She then attends the wedding, but moments after Roxy and Alfie are married, Alfie realises that he is still in love with his ex-wife, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace). In September 2014, it is revealed that Sal is now living in Portugal, with Peggy and Ronnie. She speaks to Ronnie, off-screen and Peggy reveals that she does not want Phil to marry Sharon Rickman (Letitia Dean). Peggy then sends Sal and Ronnie back to Walford, in a bid to try and stop the wedding. She ultimately fails in the task, but reveals Peggy's feelings at the reception to all the guests by reading a text from her sister. To prove she is unaffected, Sharon drops her phone in a pint of beer. She returns in November 2015 for a family meal where Ronnie is arrested for murder, and she along with the other Mitchells disown Roxy after she is uncovered as the person who called the police. It is also revealed that Sal knows Claudette Hubbard (Ellen Thomas), and as Sal is leaving Walford, she reminds Claudette that she knows a secret from her past, and that one day it will be revealed.
In January 2016, Phil contacts Sal, asking for Louise's (now played by Tilly Keeper) address (albeit off-screen). This leads to Phil's discovery that Peggy's cancer has returned and that she is dying. In May 2016, Sal and Phil arrive at Ronnie's house, looking for Peggy. Peggy is hiding from them, because Sal wants all the family to know about Peggy's cancer. Ronnie denies that Peggy is there, but Sal recognises the smell of Peggy's perfume, so she reveals herself. Peggy refuses to return to Sal's house, saying that Walford is her home. The sisters then embrace emotionally. After Peggy commits suicide, Sal attends her funeral in July 2016, using a wheelchair. After the funeral, Sal explains to Sharon that Peggy called the police on her abusive husband, Eric (George Russo), to protect Phil, showing Phil just how much Peggy loved him. In September 2016, it is shown that Grant has been staying with Sal, but he later decides to return to Portugal. Sal later returns in December 2016 for Ronnie's hen party for her second wedding to Jack, where she reveals she has taught herself how to read tarot cards. She performs this on Ronnie and Roxy. Ronnie selects cards that show positivity, a happy life and marriage, while Roxy selects The Fool, The Devil and Death. Roxy exclaims to Sal and Ronnie that Sal does not know what she is doing. Sal attends Ronnie and Jack's wedding on New Year's Day 2017, after which Roxy and Ronnie die after drowning in a hotel swimming pool. Later that month, Sal attends Ronnie and Roxy's funerals, where she berates their mother, Glenda Mitchell (Glynis Barber), for walking out on them when they were children, resulting in Glenda fleeing the church in tears. In January 2022, Sharon mentioned that Phil was likely to be hiding in Sal's holiday home while on the run from the police.
In January 2024, Phil receives a call informing him that Sal has died. Sal leaves Phil, Grant and Sam £100,000 in her will.
Reception
In late 2015, Laura-Jayne Tyler of Inside Soap wrote "Dear Walford bosses. Please just make Aunt Sal a regular character. She'd be brilliant in the Mitchell house, nagging Phil and Sharon to death."[13]
Peggy Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared in the episode broadcast on 30 April 1991, featuring in 10 episodes. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast to Barbara Windsor, who made her first appearance in the episode broadcast on 7 November 1994. Peggy became a regular character, and Windsor played the role until she was forced to take a long break due to poor health and departed on 23 May 2003. She returned for two episodes broadcast on 16 and 17 September 2004, before rejoining as a regular character on 8 September 2005. Windsor announced in October 2009 that she would be leaving the show and departed on 10 September 2010. Windsor returned to the show for guest appearances on 20 September 2013, 25 September 2014, 17 February 2015 and 15 January 2016. She then appeared in six episodes between 9 and 17 May 2016, where the character was killed off. Her voice is last heard in the following episode, on 19 May 2016. Peggy's funeral aired on 4 July 2016. An archived recording of her voice was heard on 25 January 2022. On 26 July 2022, it was announced that Peggy would feature in a flashback episode set in 1979, alongside her husband Eric and their children Phil, Grant and Sam. Jaime Winstone played the role of Peggy for this special episode, which aired on 5 September 2022.
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is the primary setting for the soap. EastEnders is filmed at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, towards the north-west of London. Much of the location work is filmed in nearby Watford, which was chosen for many of the exterior scenes due to its close proximity and the town's name being so similar to Walford. Thus, any stray road signs or advertising boards which are accidentally filmed in the back of shots will appear to read Walford. Locations used in Watford include most interior and exterior church scenes of various churches, the snooker club, the County Court and Magistrates' Courts courtrooms, and the cemetery.
Alfie Moon is a fictional character from the BBC drama EastEnders, played by Shane Richie. He made his first appearance on 21 November 2002, and left on 25 December 2005. He returned on 21 September 2010, following the return of his on-screen wife, Kat Slater, two episodes previously, and they continued to feature until 22 May 2015. Alfie appeared in a guest stint between 26 December 2015 and 25 January 2016, before starring in the six-part drama spin-off series Kat & Alfie: Redwater in 2017. Richie returned for two short stints in 2018, concluding with his exit on 22 January 2019. Richie then made a virtual cameo appearance on 12 July 2022, followed by a permanent return from 12 September 2022.
Kathleen "Kat" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001 and Sumar-Elise Sandford in a flashback in 2018. Kat is the second eldest Slater family sister and first appeared on 18 September 2000. Kat's usual dress is very short skirts and leopard-print tops, with much make-up and heavy fake tan. Her initial stint saw her involved in many storylines, most significantly in a plot twist which sees her supposedly sister Zoe Slater, revealed to be her daughter after she was raped by her uncle Harry Slater as a child. Another key aspect to the character's storylines is her marriage to Alfie Moon, prior to which she became briefly engaged to Andy Hunter ; after Kat jilted Andy on their wedding day, he blackmailed her into sleeping with him in his revenge bid against Alfie and Kat. Wallace has won multiple awards for her portrayal as Kat, who has become one of the show's best loved characters.
The Queen Victoria is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.
Phil Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden. He was introduced to the soap opera on 20 February 1990 and was followed by his brother Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy. Phil was one of the major characters introduced by executive producer Michael Ferguson, who wanted to bring in some macho male leads. Phil and his brother Grant became popularly known as the Mitchell brothers in the British media, with Phil initially portrayed as the more level-headed of the two thugs. Storylines featuring the Mitchell family dominated the soap opera throughout the 1990s, with Phil serving as one of the show's central characters and protagonists since the 1990s. McFadden temporarily left the series in late 2003, then returned in April 2005 for a brief appearance before making a permanent return in October 2005, and has now overtaken Dot Cotton as the second-longest-serving character in EastEnders, surpassed only by original character Ian Beale. A teenage version of Phil, played by Daniel Delaney, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022, which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.
Roxy Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by Rita Simons. Roxy arrived in Walford with her sister Ronnie on 24 July 2007 and decides to move permanently to Walford from Ibiza where they ran a bar together. Roxy is the younger of the two sisters. She is described as the "fire", as opposed to Ronnie's "ice". Simons took a temporary hiatus in 2016, with Roxy off screen from 1 January until 4 May 2016. Following the announcement that Womack would be leaving the series, Simons' departure was also announced. Roxy departed the series in scenes broadcast on 1 January 2017, when she drowned in a hotel swimming pool along with Ronnie. Simons returned in 2019 to record a voiceover as Roxy, which was broadcast on 3 May 2019. A younger version of Roxy, played by Elodie de Rohan Willner, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022, which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s. Simons reprised her role on 27 April 2023 for a one-off appearance as a hallucination to her daughter, Amy Mitchell.
Jack Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Scott Maslen. He made his first appearance on 29 October 2007. He is the youngest child of Jim and Reenie Branning and the brother of April Branning, Carol Jackson, Derek Branning, Suzy Branning and Max Branning. The character was introduced to the show during a period when EastEnders was being routinely criticised in the media for its reliance on resurrecting old characters. The casting of Maslen provoked some controversy, being the first time an actor had been poached from one mainstream soap to another. It was quickly established that Jack is a morally ambiguous character with a murky past in the police force resulting in the paralysis of his young daughter, Penny. Tabloid media have praised the character for his role as resident Romeo, commenting frequently on his good looks and attractiveness, although broadsheet press have been more critical of Maslen's acting. On 1 July 2019, Maslen filmed his 1,000th episode as Jack.
Veronica "Ronnie" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Samantha Womack. She and her younger sister Roxy Mitchell were introduced by executive producer Diederick Santer in July 2007. Ronnie is described as the "ice" to Roxy's "fire". As an extension to the already established Mitchell family, Ronnie quickly became a prominent character, taking over the square’s local nightclub. She later formed an on-off relationship with her business partner, Jack Branning.
Archie Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Larry Lamb. He first appeared on 8 July 2008 as a newest member of the Mitchell family—who had first appeared on the soap in 1990—and became the show's main antagonist until the character was killed-off on Christmas Day 2009; with Archie making his last appearance as a corpse on 28 December 2009 and later serving as a posthumous impact throughout the majority of 2010, which involves making a brief voice appearance on 19 July 2010 on a family video tape overheard by his ex-wife Glenda and their two daughters Ronnie and Roxy respectively.
"The Secret Mitchell" was a storyline in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, involving the characters of Ronnie Mitchell and Danielle Jones, starting in May 2008 and climaxing on 2 April 2009. It became one of the most dramatic storylines in EastEnders and also impacted on the "Who Killed Archie?" storyline.
The Mitchell family is a fictional family in the UK soap opera EastEnders. They were first introduced in February 1990, when brothers Phil and Grant Mitchell bought the local garage, the Arches. Their sister Sam was introduced later in 1990, and their mother Peggy shortly after in 1991, before being reintroduced as a regular character in 1994, with the role recast to Barbara Windsor. Since then, they have been significantly expanded to include both the immediate and extended families. Phil has been the longest running Mitchell on the show, and the family has expanded significantly in the years since, remaining a large presence on the square.
Glenda Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Glynis Barber. The character first appeared in the programme on 7 January 2010. She was axed in February 2011 and departed on 8 March 2011. She returned for two episodes in January 2016 and three in May 2016. She made an unannounced return on 30 December 2016 episode for the departures of her two daughters. She made her second departure from the show on 10 February 2017. Glenda has been described as "complex", "vulnerable"," "demure, dynamic and assured". She is the former wife of Archie Mitchell ; mother of both her son Danny and Archie's two daughters Ronnie and Roxy.
Danny Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by soap newcomer Liam Bergin, who appeared from 21 January 2010 to 18 June 2010. He, along with his mother Glenda, made a previously unannounced return on 30 December 2016, before departing again on 20 January 2017.
"Who Killed Archie?" is a storyline from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It began on 25 December 2009, Christmas Day, when the character Archie Mitchell, played by Larry Lamb, was murdered by an unseen person. Events leading up to and following the murder put several characters in the frame, in the style of a Whodunit mystery. The culprit was kept a tight secret within the production crew as well, with only seven people knowing the identity of the killer. The murderer was revealed as Stacey Slater during a live episode titled "EastEnders Live", broadcast on 19 February 2010, the show's 25th anniversary. Turner was told thirty minutes before the broadcast that Stacey was the killer, and actors rehearsed several possible endings. Finally, a two-hander episode between Stacey and her ex-lover Max Branning on 26 March 2010 explained how she killed Archie - who had previously been the show's main antagonist prior to the character's death and murder storyline.
Michael Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve John Shepherd. The character is a second cousin once removed of Alfie Moon, and first appears on 1 October 2010 after Alfie's return. He is also the father to Tommy Moon, whose mother is Alfie's wife Kat Moon. Michael is later joined by his father Eddie Moon and half brothers Tyler Moon and Anthony Moon.
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