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
Peter Dean (actor) Beale, an original character in the BBC's new soap opera "EastEnders"; Dean was chosen after the actor who originally auditioned for the role (Leslie Grantham) was selected to play the character Den Watts instead. Dean played the cockney fruit and veg trader from the show's inception in February 1985 until his departure in May 1993. In reality, Dean's contract was terminated following irreconcilable differences with the show's producers. Since his departure, he has publicly slammed the producers for culling his character and did an exposé with "the Sun" newspaper, where he revealed some of the show's secrets and his opinions