Julie Haye was introduced in September 1997 as a love interest for the character Nigel Bates (played by Paul Bradley). Actress Karen Henthorn was cast in the role. Henthorn had previously auditioned to play the minor role of a pregnancy counsellor for the character Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer). She was not offered the part, but she was instead asked to audition for the much bigger role of Julie. Having been called back to Elstree Studios to discuss the role with the casting director, Henthorn was told that "EastEnders" were creating a new "semi-regular" character, Julie Haye, specifically as a love interest for Nigel Bates. Actor Paul Bradley, who played Nigel, had decided to leave the serial the following year, reportedly for fear of being typecast. As Nigel was "such a popular character", and because he had such an unsuccessful love live throughout the course of the show, the producers of "EastEnders" felt that the viewing public would not want him to have anything other than a "happy ending". "So Julie was being introduced as a vehicle for Nigel’s exit". Because the character Julie was in the process of being conceptualised, the casting director asked Henthorn to read through scenes from previous episodes of "EastEnders" between Nigel and his deceased wife, Debbie. The audition proved successful and they re-called Henthorn to read through some new scenes, which she had to learn for a screen test. Henthorn has commented, "this meeting was with the same director and two casting directors and took place on the Friday morning. I was offered the job that lunchtime!"