List of EastEnders characters introduced in 1989

The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1989, by order of first appearance.

Maxine Roberts

Maxine Roberts, played by Ella Wilder, is the selfish sister of Carmel Roberts (Judith Jacob) and Darren Roberts (Gary McDonald), who first appears at Carmel's wedding to Matthew Jackson (Steven Hartley) in January 1989

Maxine is a health care worker and she is highly ambitious. When her elderly parents can no longer cope with the responsibility of caring for her brother's two children, Maxine refuses to take over. She lives in a single room at the hospital where she works and makes it clear that her career is more important. She tries to persuade Carmel to take the children in and when she initially refuses, Maxine threatens to put them into care. Carmel believes that her niece and nephew should live with her, despite her husband's opposition and it causes many arguments. When Carmel's father has a stroke, Maxine brings the children, Junior Roberts (Aaron Carrington) and Aisha Roberts (Aisha Jacob) to the Jacksons, insisting that they take them immediately. Matthew is furious but he eventually relents.

Paul Priestly

Paul Priestly, played by Mark Thrippleton, is a builder, who came to London with a building firm he worked for, then decided to go it alone. He finds work around the Square – the money isn't great but there are benefits – for instance, Julie Cooper (Louise Plowright) discusses his building estimates while sharing a bed with him.