EastEnders (Mark Thrippleton); wheeler-dealer Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham) and Laurie Bates (Gary Powell), who became Pete Beale's (Peter Dean) sparring partner. The majority of "EastEnders" characters are working-class. Middle-class characters do occasionally become regulars, but have been less successful and rarely become long-term characters. In the main, middle-class characters exist as villains, such as James Wilmott-Brown, May Wright, Stella Crawford and Yusef Khan, or are used to promote positive liberal influences, such as Colin Russell or Rachel Kominski. "EastEnders" has always featured a culturally diverse cast which has included black, Asian, Turkish, Polish and Latvian characters. "The expansion of minority representation
Matthew Rose (EastEnders) could show it to the police and clear my name". Absolom was nominated in the 'Most Popular Actor' category at the 1999 National Television Awards for his performance as Matthew. In 1998 he won 'Best Soap Actor' award at the TV Quick awards. In 2000, Absolom was awarded 'Best Actor' at the British Soap Awards. Matthew Rose (EastEnders) Matthew Rose is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera "EastEnders", played by Joe Absolom from 26 August 1997 to 3 February 2000. He was introduced in 1997. In a deviation from typical casting protocol, the role of Matthew was constructed