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
EastEnders in popular culture going to tell when I have an idea for a new plotline in "EastEnders"?". In November 2005, Catherine Tate appeared in another sketch for Children In Need. The segment was a crossover between "EastEnders" and "The Catherine Tate Show", featuring Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell, Kacey Ainsworth as Little Mo Mitchell and Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater from "EastEnders" and Tate as her well-known character Lauren Cooper from "The Catherine Tate Show". Shaun Williamson frequently plays himself in Ricky Gervais's "Extras", where he is referred to at all times as "Barry from "EastEnders"". Derek Martin (Charlie Slater) appeared in episode