Christine Hewitt

Christine Hewitt
EastEnders character
Portrayed by	Elizabeth Power
Introduced by	Leonard Lewis
Duration	1992–93
First appearance	25 February 1992
Last appearance	7 October 1993
Classification	Former; regular
Profile
Occupation	Cook
Family Husband Greg Hewitt (?–1993) Sons Jonathan Hewitt

Christine Hewitt (often credited as Mrs Hewitt) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Elizabeth Power. Introduced in 1992 as a lonely divorcée who became besotted with married Arthur Fowler while he tended her garden. She left in 1993 once her affair with Arthur was discovered by his wife Pauline.

Storylines

Christine was first seen in February 1992. Arthur was hiring himself out as a gardener and Christine was one of his clients. After Arthur's son gave up working as his assistant, he advertised for a new one and was shocked when Christine arrived in Walford, enquiring about the job. She wanted it for her son Jonathan, but when he proved lazy and unreliable, an embrrassed Mrs Hewitt took his place as Arthur's assistant.

In May 1992, a phonecall from New Zealand brought news that Kenny Beale had been in a car crash, so Pauline decided to go there to tend to her crippled brother. While Pauline was away, Christine became a regular visitor to Albert Square, causing a certain amount of gossip, and it was clear that she was becoming very fond of Arthur. Arthur was oblivious, but Pete Beale was more astute and he tried to remind Christine that Arthur was a married man — and married to his sister, to boot! However, Christine managed to win him round and he even found himself taking her out for a while instead. In August, things came to a head when Christine actually made a pass at Arthur. He turned her down and she disappeared, sending him a letter and a photo conveying her feelings. Arthur knew that he had to face her one last time and visited her at her house. There he told her that he felt something for her too, but was married and loved his wife. They said goodbye and the matter seemed over.

Christine and Arthur.

When Pauline came home, however, she learnt all about Christine from gossips such as Dot Cotton. She initially believed Arthur when he feigned innocence, but all that changed when she discovered Christine's letter and photo. A furious Pauline then went to visit Christine to discover the truth, and found her to be a sad, lonely figure who drank too much of an afternoon. Pauline was then persuaded to forgive and forget, but Arthur couldn't resist one last rendez-vous with Mrs Hewitt himself, which gave her renewed hope. Over the next few weeks, Arthur kept finding excuses to drop in on Christine, until she told him not to come unless he meant business. On Christmas Eve, Arthur sneaked away from home to be with Christine and finally the inevitable happened and they ended the night in bed together.

The affair continued during 1993 with Arthur continuously running between Christine and Pauline. Christine became more needy and manipulative, cooking up absurd lies and a fake burglary to lure Arthur round, then hitting the bottle if he refused to come. Kathy Beale's decision to open the café in the evenings as a bistro gave Christine an opportunity to see more of Arthur — she applied to be the cook and got the job. However, working in Walford was not enough for Christine, and she began to make greater demands on Arthur, asking him to choose between her and Pauline. Arthur managed to put her off and began having second thoughts about their affair, after which Christine's behaviour became more erratic. She began stalking Arthur around the Square, drunkenly declaring her love, buying inappropriate gifts for his son Martin and threatening to tell Pauline unless he told her first.

In September, under severe pressure, Arthur finally told Pauline the truth, and tried to tell her that he wanted her and not Christine. Hurt, embarrassed and angry, Pauline refused to listen and threw him out, but not before hitting him on the head with a frying pan. This spelt the end for Christine, as Arthur then decided he wanted nothing more to do with her, and in October she disappeared to face a lonely future, divorced by her husband Greg, and ditched by her lover.

Creation and development

Liz Power was offered the role by one of the programme's producers, Leonard Lewis, for whom she'd worked with previously on Juliet Bravo and Softly, Softly.^[1] She has commented "I got a call out of the blue asking if I could go up to the BBC at Elstree to meet him. Mrs Hewitt was going to be in five episodes and I thought, 'wonderful'."^[1] Mrs Hewitt made her first appearance on-screen in February 1992, as a lonely divorcee who employed the long running character, Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher), to tend to her garden—used as a plot device to rebuild Arthur's relationship with his son Mark Fowler (Todd Carty), while they worked together on Christine's garden.^[2] Power filmed her scenes for the five episodes and thought that would be the end of it; however, she was subsequently contacted by Leonard Lewis and asked to reprise the role. Power commented "It was all I could do to stop myself screeching down the phone. They didn't tell me which direction the story was going to take. I got on so well with [Bill Treacher] from the word go. We really liked each other."^[1] Mrs Hewitt was reintroduced in a storyline that saw her become Arthur Fowler's mistress, but when the affair ended Power left the series, making her final appearance on-screen in October 1993.^[1]

Reception

The unlikely affair between Christine and Arthur was dubbed the 'Bonk of the Year' by tabloids in the British press.^[2]

According to Power, director, Russell Mulcahy was a fan of EastEnders and while in Hollywood he used to get friends to video the Arthur and Mrs Hewitt scenes. It was due to his like of the storyline and characters that he cast Power and Treacher opposite one another again in the film Talos The Mummy. She has commented, "he thought it would be a good idea to get us together again. He thought it would be a great joke. We played a caretaker and his wife."^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Stepping out in comic style", TheNorthernEcho. URL last accessed on 2007-09-30.
2. ^ ^{a b} Brake, Colin (1995). EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37057-2.