Hattie Tavernier

Infobox EastEnders character 2


character_name=Hattie Tavernier
actor_name=Michelle Gayle
introducer=Michael Ferguson
years=1990–1993, 1994
first=5 July 1990
last=24 February 1994
dob= 12 April 1975
status= Single
home = Norwich
occupation= Personal assistant
father=Celestine Tavernier
mother=Etta Tavernier
brothers=Clyde Tavernier
Lloyd Tavernier
grandfathers=Jules Tavernier
nephews=Kofi Tavernier
cousins=Gidea Thompson

Hattie Tavernier is a fictional character that appeared in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" between 1990 and 1994. She was played by Michelle Gayle. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time.

Portrayed as an intelligent, independent young woman, Hattie remained in the serial after the departures of many of her screen family, covering issues such as miscarriage and sexual harassment. Michelle Gayle quit the role in 1993 to embark on a pop career. Hattie was hastily written out with no official exit in December that year. The character appeared briefly one last time in February 1994 to explain Hattie's departure; however, Michelle Gayle did not reprise the role and this fleeting appearance was played by a non-speaking and uncredited extra.

Character creation and development

Background

In the latter part of 1989 "EastEnders" acquired a new executive producer named Michael Ferguson, who took over from Mike Gibbon. Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV's "The Bill" — a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging "EastEnders" in providing a realistic vision of modern life in London. Due to his success on "The Bill", Peter Cregeen, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of "EastEnders".cite book |last=Brake|first= Colin|authorlink= Colin Brake|title= |year=1995|publisher=BBC Books|id=ISBN 0-563-37057-2]

Following a relatively unsuccessful inclination towards comic storylines throughout 1989, Ferguson decided to take the soap in a new direction in 1990. Big changes were implemented both off-screen and on-screen. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. "EastEnders" scriptwriter Colin Brake has said that it was a challenging period, but "the results on-screen were a programme with a new sense of vitality, and a programme more in touch with the real world than it had been for a while".

As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the new characters were the Jamaican Tavernier family, who collectively arrived on-screen in July 1990, comprised of grandfather Jules (Tommy Eytle), his son and daughter-in-law Celestine (Leroy Golding) and Etta (Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence), their eldest son Clyde (Steven Woodcock), and their twins Lloyd (Garey Bridges) and Hattie, played by Michelle Gayle. Colin Brake has described the Taverniers as the major new addition that year, and it heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the serial all at once. Their introduction has also been described as a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the soap.

Casting

At age 19, actress Michelle Gayle—already familiar to the younger audience for her role in "Grange Hill"—was required to "play down" for the role, because Hattie and her brother Lloyd were 15 year old school children. The casting of the Tavernier family has been described as difficult by producer Corinne Hollingworth. In 1991, she commented, "The most difficult job we've had was finding six black actors who fitted the bill for the Tavernier family. Here we needed two teeneagers [Hattie and Lloyd] who looked around fifteen, but were actually older, had left school and had matures attitudes to work. They had to love music, hanging around in tracksuits and, most importantly, they had to look as if they could be twins."cite book |last= Kingsley|first= Hilary|title= The EastEnders Handbook |year=1990|publisher=BBC books|id=ISBN 0-563-206010-563-36292-8-2] At the time Gayle commented that she loved playing younger parts, and found having Garey Bridges as her younger brother a great bonus: "It turns out that he and I know the same crowd of people in North London so we are often out together at night."

Personality

Hilary Kingsley, author of "The EastEnders Handbook", has described the character of Hattie in 1991: "Hattie is almost too well-balanced and happy to live in Albert Square. She loves music, sport, and could have a string of boyfriends but, unlike Sam Butcher, she's not yet interested. Clever at school, particularly at science, Hattie looks up to her big brother, Clyde, and protects her twin brother Lloyd, who is slower and quieter and can seem a bit of a wimp. She even let her own schoolwork slip at times to help him. Bossy, giggly and garrulous, she was an instant success helping as a waitress at Ian Beale's functions, even though it caused her parents distress. Hattie is as bright as her mother and loyal to her father. When her parents were quarrelling she was deeply upset, but nothing can dampen her natural good humour for long."

torylines

Hattie arrived in Albert Square in the summer of 1990 along with the rest of the Tavernier family. The head of the Tavernier household, Celestine, was a very strict and religious man, and despite having a strong personality, Hattie was often made to obey his disciplinarian rules.

During her first year on the Square, Hattie became friendly with local girl Samantha Mitchell, but while Sam was a bit of a wild child, concentrating on boys and her 'modelling' career, Hattie preferred to knuckle down with her school work. Hattie particularly disapproved of Sam's friendship with Mandy Salter, and upon her arrival in 1992 the two grew distant from each other.

Hattie's family had a turbulent time in Albert Square, and Hattie was often forced to act older than her years in order to cope with their problems. She was one of the few people to stand by her brother Clyde when he was falsely accused and imprisoned for the murder of Eddie Royle. She was also one of the few members of her family that stood up to her volatile father, who had become increasingly opposed to her mother Etta's successful career as acting head of Walford Primary School. Hattie was also the voice of reason to her twin brother Lloyd, whose behaviour had become increasingly erratic since he was diagnosed as suffering from the degenerative disease, sickle-cell anaemia. Hattie even let her own school work suffer to help her not so bright brother.

Hattie's hard work at school paid off and she received excellent grades in her final year exams, so it was an even bigger surprise to her parents when a 16-year-old Hattie announced that she didn't want to continue with her education and instead wanted to build a career in the catering business. Despite huge rows and opposition from her parents, Hattie left school and got a job working as a waitress for Ian Beale's catering company, 'The Meal Machine'.

It wasn't long before bright spark Hattie was promoted to Ian's Personal Assistant. Hattie excelled in her work but Ian confused her keen attitude towards her job as a 'come-on' and used his position to sexually harass her. Hattie soon put a stop to this, swiftly kneeing him in the groin when he tried to kiss her. Irrespective of this setback, Hattie remained working with Ian, despite Ian's wife Cindy (who saw her as a threat) doing everything in her power to get her sacked.

Hattie began a relationship with her old school pal Steve Elliot, who had got a job as chef at the Meal Machine in 1992. Hattie felt the relationship had a future, so when her parents decided to leave Walford that same year, she stayed behind with her Grandfather Jules and older brother Clyde.

Hattie was in love, but Steve never took the relationship as seriously, and so she was often let down by his thoughtless behaviour. The relationship altered when Hattie fell pregnant in 1993. Despite the fact that the pregnancy was unplanned, Hattie wanted to keep the baby and so she asked Steve to marry her (although she never divulged to Steve that she was pregnant as she wanted to be sure that he was marrying her out of love, and not out of an obligation to their baby). A shocked Steve accepted the proposal, but after much stirring from Hattie's arch-nemesis, Mandy, he panicked and decided that he didn't want to be tied down. Days later he took a job as a chef on an ocean liner without informing Hattie he was going.

Upon realising that Steve had 'done a runner', Hattie became frantic. She coaxed Phil Mitchell into driving her to Southampton, where Steve was due to depart from. When she finally caught up with him an emotional scene resulted in the pair ending up in bed together again. Hattie thought that she'd managed to change Steve's mind about going, but he thought the night of passion was just a final 'bon voyage' and he left a devastated Hattie to return to Walford alone. When she returned things were made instantly worse for her due to the sudden reappearance of her father, who was furious to learn that Hattie had gotten herself pregnant. Celestine agreed not to divulge her pregnancy to her mother and after a heart to heart with Michelle Fowler Hattie decided to have the baby aborted. Hattie booked an appointment, but at the last minute she changed her mind and decided that she wanted to keep the baby after all. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Hattie suffered a miscarriage the very next day. Left nursing a broken heart and a miscarriage, Hattie decided that she wanted out of Walford and went to Norwich to stay with her parents for a while.

She returned later in the year, but Cindy Beale's bitching and jealousy finally got too much for her, so she quit her job at The Meal Machine, telling Ian where to go in the process. In December 1993 Hattie went to Norwich to spend Christmas with her family and never returned (the character was due to return, but Michelle Gayle quit to develop a singing career and so no official exit was given). It was eventually revealed that Hattie had decided to make a fresh start in Norwich as there was nothing left for her in Walford.

Steve returned to Walford in 1994, with the hope of reuniting with Hattie, but after he made a trip to Norwich to win her back, he discovered that she'd moved on with her life and was dating another man.

References

External links

*EEcharlink|hattie_t