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
Paul Coker (EastEnders) cheeky" and "always managed to add some light relief to his scenes", and that the "naked funeral parlour romp" was "TV history". In July 2015, Paul's affair with Ben was longlisted at the Inside Soap Awards in the "Best Affair" category, but it did not make the viewer-voted shortlist. Paul Coker (EastEnders) Paul Coker is a character from the BBC soap opera "EastEnders", played by Jonny Labey. He first appeared in episode 5077 of the show, originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2015. Paul, a gay character, is the grandson of established characters Les Coker (Roger Sloman)