List of EastEnders characters (2012)

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The following are characters who first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders during 2012 listed by order of first appearance. New characters were introduced by Bryan Kirkwood, executive producer. He stepped down from the role in April. His last episode was on 13 July 2012.^[1] From 16 July, characters were introduced by his successor, Lorraine Newman.^[2]

The first character to be introduced was the undertaker, Les Coker (Roger Sloman). The first regular character to be announced was Ray Dixon (Chucky Venn), the biological father of Morgan Butcher (Devon Higgs), followed by Alice Branning (Jasmyn Banks), the daughter of Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman) and, Alice's brother, Joey (David Witts). June 2012 also saw the first birth of the year: Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and Michael Moon's (Steve John Shepherd) daughter, Scarlett. July saw the arrival of Masood Ahmed's (Nitin Ganatra) brother, AJ Ahmed (Phaldut Sharma). July also saw the second birth of the year: Lola Pearce's (Danielle Harold) daughter Lexi, Newman's first introduction. After the announcement that Sharon Rickman (Letitia Dean) was returning, her son Dennis Rickman Jnr (Harry Hickles), was introduced, along with guest character, Sharon's fiancé John Hewland (Jesse Birdsall). Danny Pennant (Gary Lucy) arrived in September, as part of a love triangle storyline involving Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) and Christian Clarke (John Partridge). Ava Hartman (Clare Perkins), the long-lost daughter of Cora Cross (Ann Mitchell) was introduced in November and Kirsty Branning (Kierston Wareing), Max's (Jake Wood) secret wife, made her first appearance on Christmas Day. December also saw the arrival of Zainab Khan's (Nina Wadia) family friend, Ayesha Rana (Shivani Ghai).