Five times the soaps forgot to give major characters a backstory – as fans beg for updates

SOAP fans have raged over the lack of backstory of iconic characters – from Jean Slater to Kim Tate.

We take a look at the most requested characters from EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale that viewers would like to know more about before they arrived on their soap.

Jean Slater – EastEnders

Jean (played by Gillian Wright) has been on the BBC soap since 2004, with storylines including supporting Stacey (Lacey Turner) with her bipolar disorder, relapsing and attempting suicide after Stacey flees Walford due to being framed for attempted murder by Janine Malloy (Charlie Brooks).

More recently, Jean became a great grandmother to Charli Slater and is in a rocky relationship with Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman).

But after taking to a fan forum, one fan pointed out: “Jean Slater has been around for 20 years now and we’ve still never even been told what her maiden name was or met a single relative of hers.”

One of her major storylines was dealing with her bipolar disorder and viewers know that Jean’s daughter Stacey inherited it from her, but due to Jean’s lack of backstory, it is unknown whether Jean got it from someone in her family.

Jean has not mentioned any details about her parents, upbringing or life before she had Stacey and Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky).

The Slater family tree is huge with the likes of Kat, Zoe, Charlie, Lynn, Little Mo and Belinda, but none of them are directly related to Jean.

Shona Platt – Coronation Street

Shona (played by Julia Goulding) arrived onto the cobbles as a homeless person sleeping rough back in 2016.

Viewers were shocked when they found out that before meeting David (Jack P Shepherd), Shona was already familiar with him as her estranged son, Clayton, was the teen who stabbed his wife Kylie (Paula Lane) to death.

David rejected Shona, however they were drawn back together after Shona helped save his niece Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon) her abusive ex Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper) in 2017.

Since then she has turned her whole life around thanks to Roy Cropper (David Neilson), who gave her a job at Roy’s Cafe, and David Platt who married her and gave her and family.

Even though Shona fits in with the Platt family, viewers no nothing about her family before she met them, except for her son Clayton.

Taking to a fan forum, one fan wrote: “I’ve always felt like Corrie’s Shona is still very underdeveloped; does she have any relatives; Mom, Dad, siblings? If she does what’s the story with them and why do they never visit/ why does she never visit them.

“What was Shona’s life like before she met David and she got a job in the cafe? She’s slowly just become an extension of David, but there is still so much we don’t know about her (some of these questions may have been addressed at some point in her tenure but not in any great deal).”

Kim Tate – Emmerdale

Kim (played by Claire King) is known for her many feuds, concocting money making and vengeful schemes against other residents in the Dales.

Her character debuted on the ITV soap in 1989, as part of the original Tate family alongside her husband Frank and step-children Zoe and Chris.

However, taking to a fan forum, one fan noticed: “We actually know very little about Kim Tate life before marrying into the Tate family.

“We know her maiden name was Barker and she was Frank’s secretary. For all we know she could have siblings and other family.”

Gray Atkins – EastEnders

Gray (played by Toby-Alexander Smith) was introduced in 2019, as the patriarch of the Atkins family, which included his wife Chantelle (Jessica Plummer) and young children Mia and Mackenzie.

He was part of a harrowing storyline about domestic abuse which led to Chantelle’s tragic death, after Gray pushed her onto an opened dishwasher that was loaded with sharp cutlery and failed to get help.

He was arrested and charged for multiple murders including that of his wife Chantelle Atkins, Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami), which led to his exit from the BBC soap in 2022.

Gray married into the Taylor family, but viewers don’t know much about his own family.

Details about his past and upbringing would have given viewers an insight into how and why Gray turned into the serial killer and abuser he is.

One fan spotted: “There was a suggestion of abuse, but that was never followed up on and then there was the thought he was lying, because there was an additional suggestion he’d done something to cause his mum’s death. Nothing was ever truly stated either way, but there was clearly something more to his past.”

Richard Hillman – Coronation Street

The con man and murderer (played by Brian Capron) appeared on the ITV soap from 2001 to 2003.

Viewers know that Richard was married twice before Gail Platt (Helen Worth), but never got the family he craved until he married her. And that is all we know about his past, with no mention of his own family.

Richard first met Gail after Alma Sedgewick’s (Amanda Barrie) funeral and they begin a relationship, however, one fan noticed: “We never really knew if Richard Hillman was actually Alma’s cousin, which is how he was first introduced.”

Another chimed in: “I’ve always chosen to believe that he got wind of Alma’s illness (whether or not he was related to her), tried to get her to do the equity release but didn’t manage it, and went to the funeral hoping to meet other older people so he could tout for business.

“Or maybe he was a consistent ambulance chaser/funeral goer in order to get business. His entire business was totally fake and he was a pro con-man so that suggests he was doing it before Alma died.”