Tom Hooper worked 10-hour days on "EastEnders", and learned to direct with speed. He was influenced in his early career by the cinematic style of American TV series such as "ER", "NYPD Blue" and "" and tried to work that style into his "EastEnders" episodes; one scene featuring Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) involved a crane shot, which Hooper believes made him infamous among the "EastEnders" production crew. In 1999, Hooper directed two episodes of Granada Television's comedy-drama television series "Cold Feet", which marked his move to bigger-budget productions. There was initially concern at Granada that Hooper might be an unsuitable director for
Andy O'Brien (EastEnders) first main character to be killed off in 1986, just over a year after the show began. During this time, rumours began to circulate in the British press that Ross Davidson was dropped because Julia Smith disapproved of the off-screen relationship he was having with Shirley Cheriton, the actress who played Debbie. This was denied by Smith in "EastEnders: The Inside Story". In 1994, Davidson gave his own account of why Andy was written out of the serial to the American-based fan newspaper, "Walford Gazette". He stated that hostility arose between him and Smith following the recording of an "EastEnders"