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. From 16 July, characters were introduced by his successor, Lorraine Newman. The first character to be introduced was the undertaker, . The first regular character to be announced was Ray Dixon, the father of Morgan Butcher, followed by , the daughter of Derek Branning and, Alice's brother, . June 2012 also saw the first birth of the year: Janine Butcher and Michael Moon's daughter, . July saw the arrival of Masood Ahmed's brother, AJ Ahmed. July also saw the second birth of the year: Lola Pearce's daughter , Newman's first introduction. After the announcement that Sharon Rickman was returning, her son , was introduced, along with guest character, Sharon's fiancé . arrived in September, as part of a love triangle storyline involving Syed Masood and Christian Clarke. , the long-lost daughter of Cora Cross was introduced in November and , Max's wife, made her first appearance on Christmas Day. December also saw the arrival of Zainab Masood's family friend, .