'EastEnders' Actor Dean Gaffney Claims Show Needs To Introduce More Older Characters

‘EastEnders’ actor Dean Gaffney has revealed how he thinks the soap’s bosses can pull in more viewers.

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Dean would be returning to Albert Square as Robbie Jackson on a permanent basis, one of the last decisions to be made by the soap’s former chief Sean O’Connor, who stepped down in the summer.

With many ‘EastEnders’ fans commenting that the soap is in something of a slump at present, Dean has now shared his idea for giving the show a boost, claiming producers should be going after more mature viewers, rather than the ‘Hollyoaks’ crowd.

He told The Sun: “I class myself as an older person in the show, and I think we need more of them. I think it’s important to introduce more older characters.

“It’s hard to replace people like Pam [St Clement] and Babs [Dame Barbara Windsor, who played Pat Butcher and Peggy Mitchell respectively].

“The show does go through rollercoasters and I think the bosses do think, ‘Oh we are in a young era where young people watch things like Hollyoaks’ and there’s a happy medium and I think that will be coming in the next few months.”

Dean added that the show is currently going through a “transition period”, and he anticipates seeing a slew of older characters arriving in Walford before long.

Since Sean’s departure as showrunner, former boss John Yorke took over the reins of the show on a temporary basis.

Sean’s time as executive producer was a particularly divisive one, with many criticising the creative decisions he took, most notably the killing off of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell, as well as the aftermath of Peggy Mitchell’s death.