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
Letitia Dean was born and brought up in Hackney, east London. The lie paid off and she got the part, clinching the deal because of her laugh, which Holland and Smith described as "the dirtiest in the world!" Dean played Sharon Watts, the troubled and spoilt adopted daughter of landlords 'Dirty' Den (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), from the show's inception in 1985 until 1995 — Sharon becoming one of the most popular and long-running characters in the serial. While appearing on "EastEnders", Dean forayed into singing with her fellow "EastEnders" castmate, Paul Medford (who played Kelvin Carpenter). A song