Eddie Hunter (EastEnders)
| Eddie Hunter | |||||||
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| Duration | 1986–1987 | ||||||
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Eddie Hunter was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Simon Henderson.
History
Eddie was a flamboyantly dressed friend of Simon Wicks and he was first seen in Albert Square in June 1986. Eddie and Simon were part of a band, and before Simon came to Walford, he had borrowed money from loan sharks and was left owing them huge amounts of money that he couldn't pay back. Eddie was happy to leave Simon with the debt and disappeared to work as a redcoat in Clacton, so the band dissolved. However, when the debts were finally repaid, Simon decided to regroup and he contacted Eddie to rejoin the band.
The reformed group consisted of Simon, Eddie, Kelvin Carpenter, Sharon Watts, Ian Beale and Harry Reynolds. They initially called themselves Dog Market and Eddie was the lead guitarist.
They were due to have their debut in The Queen Vic in August that year, but after their enormous amplifier fused the electrics in The Vic, publican Den Watts threw them out and shouted after them "You're Banned!", after which the group changed their name to The Banned.
Later on, arguments in the band prompted Simon to quit and he wrote his own solo song called "Every Loser Wins" (Nick Berry, who played Simon, realesed the song as a single, scoring a number 1 hit that same year).
Meanwhile, The Banned wrote a song called "Somethin Outta Nothin" (this was also released as a single by Letitia Dean and Paul Medford who played Sharon and Kelvin).
The Banned took part in a competition for a music contract, but for some unknown reason, Harry, who was a political activist, sabotaged their performance and they ended up being booed off stage. The Banned split up after this and Eddie disappeared. His last appearance was in January 1987.
Trivia
- Although this storyline spawned two hit singles in the real world, the actual story was not a great success with viewers. EastEnders creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland both felt it lacked credibility and branded it an experiment that failed.