EastEnders executive producer Ben Wadey has confirmed that viewers will eventually meet the mysterious Megan Hawkins, but not until after Christmas.
The Hawkins family, including Nicola Mitchell's (Laura Doddington) estranged sisters Gemma (Patricia Potter) and Jodie Hawkins (Anna Constable) and mother Rose (Marian McLoughlin), arrived in Walford this week with a dramatic storyline. Gemma revealed she was in trouble and needed Nicola's help, opening the boot of her car to reveal a man tied up and gagged. The man was later identified as Leo, the boyfriend of Gemma's daughter Megan, who had been treating Megan badly. Gemma and Jodie attempted to warn him off, but things went wrong and they ran him over, panicking and putting him in the boot. Nicola was initially furious but changed her mind upon learning Leo had been violent towards Megan.
Megan Hawkins will be introduced after Christmas
Speaking at an EastEnders event this week, Wadey shared news about Megan's eventual arrival. He teased: "Megan is out there and we will meet her down the line but not for a little bit. She's got her own storyline currently off screen but in time it will very much be on screen." He added: "We have established the character and done quite a lot of work already actually but it's exciting and probably a post-Christmas arrival for us."
Last month, it was announced that five members of the Hawkins family would join the show: Nicola's sisters Gemma and Jodie, their mother Rose, Gemma's husband Ned Roper (Jamie Bamber), and their son Ryder (Felix Uff). Fans are yet to meet Ned and Ryder, but Wadey has promised plenty of drama ahead.
Hawkins family storylines set to develop
Wadey explained the timing of the family's introduction. "I think there's going to be quite a lot of change ahead and things are not all as they see in after the first week or so," he said. He continued: "I deliberately waited quite a long time before bringing in a family of this size. I think timing is a really big thing. You want to make sure that you have the space in story terms that you can actually give all of these characters storylines in their own rights."
He added: "You need to make sure that when you've lined up a new unit of characters, that each of them have their own story that you can tell, and they're not just kind of floating in the background. We're bringing them into the show at a period where you want to get to know these characters a bit first. You kind of want to give them good stories and really intrigue everyone, but also get to know them and really care about them and understand who they are before in the months and years ahead where things really do get explosive."
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6am.
