Andy O'Brien

**Andy O'Brien** was an altruistic, middle-class paediatric nurse who moved to Albert Square with his girlfriend, Debbie Wilkins, in March 1985. Andy's relationship with Debbie was often rocky, due to their opposing views of how they wanted to spend their lives together. Andy was eager to start a family with Debbie, but she was not so keen, wanting to keep her options open. Despite not being married, Andy and Debbie continued to live together throughout their relationship.

In 1986, Debbie started an open relationship with Detective Sergeant Quick, the local police detective, which caused Andy's jealousy to get the better of him. He attempted to ravage Debbie and DS Quick's relationship many times, but was often unsuccessful. After Debbie and DS Quick's relationship broke down, Andy and Debbie got engaged. They set their wedding for November, but they never got married, as Andy was killed in August 1986 when he was struck by a lorry whilst saving a child.

## Biography

### Early years

Andy was born in Scotland and raised by a succession of foster-parents, all of who genuinely wanted him to be a part of their family. This helped Andy to grow up and become a mature and secure man in life. He was a student nurse at Glasgow Royal Infirmary back when he was training to become a paediatric nurse.

### 1985: Relationship with Debbie Wilkins

Andy and his girlfriend, Debbie Wilkins, moved into 43 Albert Square in March. Andy often deemed himself as selfish and initially feared that he and Debbie would be perceived as selfish because of their middle-class status among a working-class community. Very shortly after arriving in the Square, Andy decided that he wanted to integrate himself into the community more through altruistic activities, and soon got involved in a protest that Dr. Legg was leading over plans to demolish part of Albert Square. Through this, Andy and Debbie struck a friendship with married Foodstore owners Naima and Saeed Jeffery. Debbie then invited the pair over to their house for a meal, where Naima and Saeed asked Andy and Debbie how long they had been married. The pair were surprised to learn that Andy and Debbie were not married, but still lived together.

In August, Andy befriended a paediatric patient of his, Stuart. He took Stuart to Albert Square and bought him a present. Stuart died in September, leaving Andy devastated. He then went out and rescued a pair of kittens, Starsky and Hutch, for him and Debbie to look after.

Andy and Debbie's relationship hit a rough patch when he felt Debbie was more focused on her revision than she was on their relationship. He planned a romantic meal for Debbie at a restaurant but was let down when she did not go because of her exam revision. Andy was then left fearful that Debbie would leave him once she received a promotion, so he turned to local stallholder Pete Beale for advice. Debbie passed her exams and then made Andy a meal, but he felt Debbie was controlling the relationship and got annoyed. It was not long before the pair reconciled though and all was forgotten until later on in the year, when Saeed announced his plans to sell the Foodstore. Debbie was interested in buying the Foodstore off of Saeed, but she failed to consult Andy over her plans, leading to another argument. Debbie then quit her job, leaving Andy furious and putting Debbie in financial difficulty. However, the pair soon reconciled once more when they had sex after arguing over money. Andy then proposed to Debbie, believing it could help ease her financial problems. Debbie was uncertain over marrying Andy, as she wanted to remain independent.

### 1986: The fight for Debbie, affair with Angie and death

Andy and Debbie's relationship continued to break down at the start of 1986 when Debbie was mugged and saved by Detective Sergeant Quick. DS Quick sent Debbie flowers and advised her to start attending self-defence classes. He then taught Debbie some self-defence moves in The Queen Victoria, to which Andy walked in on, and got jealous over. Debbie invited DS Quick to her and Andy's house for tea to say thank-you to him for his kindness in her time of need; Andy was deeply unhappy by Debbie's infatuation over DS Quick and ruined the evening for her by inviting Naima along to the meal and spoiling the dessert. Debbie was furious with Andy and told him she would not marry him. Debbie then embarked on a relationship with DS Quick.

A friendship with Mary Smith was struck in February when Mary sought medical advice from Andy over her daughter, Annie Smith, who was suffering with breathing difficulties. Andy soon learnt that Mary was illiterate and so offered to teach her how to read and write. Their friendship was soon damaged though, when Mary began developing feelings for Andy, and misread his signals. Mary changed her appearance in an attempt to seduce Andy, but when he told her he did not fancy her, she soon returned to her punk ways. Andy then told Debbie about Mary's infatuation over him, while Debbie told Andy that DS Quick had proposed to her. Following the news of DS Quick's proposal, Andy had an affair with Angie Watts, who was married to Den Watts. Their affair continued until Den caught Andy and Angie together. Angie then ended their affair and Andy was left feeling outcast. He later reformed a friendship with Mary following their misunderstanding, and began teaching her to read and write again, as well as getting her a job in the hospital canteen where he worked.

Debbie eventually turned down DS Quick's proposal after much consideration, which caused her relationship with him break down. She then reconciled with Andy once more, and the pair officially got engaged. Their relationship continued to strengthen and Andy bought Debbie an engagement ring, asking her to marry him on 30th November, St. Andrew's Day. Debbie was thrilled. The turbulent couple's relationship hit the rocks once more in August though, when Andy offered to loan Simon Wicks £100 without consulting Debbie first. Debbie was infuriated with Andy for giving away cash and told him to "drop dead". Following their argument, Andy went to work, but on his way, he saw a young boy, Sam, run into the road after dropping his ball. A lorry sped towards Sam, so Andy heroically saved Sam from being hit. However, Andy was hit by the lorry instead, and was killed.

## Background information

* Andy was one of the original set of twenty-three characters in *EastEnders*.
* Andy was involved in one of the show's biggest storylines of 1985 when he was revealed to be one of the four suspects to have gotten Michelle Fowler pregnant. The other three suspects were Tony Carpenter, Ali Osman and Den Watts. Den was soon revealed to be the father of the baby.
* Andy was originally set to marry Angie Watts and become the owner of The Dagmar when it officially opened in 1987, but due to Ross Davidson coming into conflict with Julia Smith, the show's then-producer, Andy was killed off instead.
* Andy was the show's first main character to be killed off.

## First and last lines

"Bloody hell!" (First line, after seeing Naima's shop has been vandalised)

"Oh don't be ridiculous! Look, if I wanna lend him money love I shall do. Nag, nag, nag. We're not married yet, you know?" (Final line)