Kelly Taylor is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Brooke Kinsella. The character was introduced by executive producer John Yorke, in 2001. She was only due to appear in eight episodes as part of a prostitution/homelessness storyline featuring Michelle Ryan's established character, Zoe Slater, who had run away from home in late 2001 and was living at the same brothel as Kelly. However, the viewer response to Kelly was positive, so she was reintroduced as a regular at the end of 2002. The character remained in the serial until 2004, when executive producer Louise Berridge decided that her storylines had come to a natural end.
In March 2008, Kinsella said in an interview with Woman magazine that she would love to return to EastEnders at some point, but the ball is in the court of the producers.
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Character creation
The character Kelly Taylor was introduced in December 2001 by the executive producer, John Yorke. Kelly was introduced on a short-term basis as part of a storyline that saw the regular character, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), living rough on the streets of London and being taken in by a madam of a prostitution organisation, Roxy Drake (Tracy Brabin). Kelly was one of the young girls already working as a prostitute for Roxy.
Actress Brooke Kinsella was cast in the role. In the past, Kinsella had auditioned for the parts of Janine Butcher, Zoe Slater and Sonia Fowler, but had been unsuccessful. Kinsella has commented, "I went up for the part of every girl in the Square. I was closest to getting the part of Zoe. I did workshops with all the Slater girls but you have to say they are all dark and look very alike while I'm blonde. Obviously that wasn't the right one for me. It was hard at the time but I'm very glad because I love playing Kelly. She's totally different from any other character and she's good fun to play."
The character was only brought in to appear in eight episodes, however the producers were impressed with Kinsella's performance and there was a positive reception from viewers, so she was asked to return to the role the following year. In the storyline, Kelly ran away from Roxy and she and Zoe went on an extended holiday to the Canary Islands. Kinsella has said that establishing Kelly as a regular character was a gradual process: "Kelly wasn't automatically made a regular and I kept thinking, 'It will be just a few more episodes'. It's a horrible feeling, not knowing if you have a job or not." By the end of 2002, Kelly and Zoe had returned to the serial, and Kelly's first big storyline was a brief romance with the character Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker). Kinsella has said, "That was the first on-screen kiss for both of us and that was the first time I thought there might be places for Kelly to go because it didn't involve Zoe. Kelly was interacting with other characters on [Albert Square]. It came bit by bit. She moved in with the Slaters, helped Zoe set up the stall and that's all slowly securing her on the Square."
Development and reception
The friendship between Kelly and Zoe was a recurring storyline for both characters. In the British press, Kelly and Zoe were compared to two former popular characters, who also shared a close screen friendship, Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer) and Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon). Kinsella has commented, "It is nice to be compared because they were great [characters] but, hopefully, [Michelle Ryan] and I will bring our own characters to light and show what we can do. We have so much in common and we balance each other out - when she's crazy I'll calm her down and vice-versa. It's worked well, which is why Kelly has been kept on, which is great for me but also for Michelle because she's got somebody to have fun with. Kelly's been one of the slowest developing characters and that's been good for me. I wasn't thrown into it and having Michelle has been great for me."
On-screen, the characters moved into a flat together, worked together, and fought over the same boys. In December 2003, EastEnders made headlines in the UK press, after they screened a lesbian kiss between Kelly and Zoe. The storyline was featured in a special New Year's Eve episode that was filmed on-location in Scotland. In the storyline, a group of teenagers had travelled from London to Scotland for New Year's Eve; however, the minibus they were driving crashed, leaving them stranded and injured on the freezing cold Scottish moors. While stranded, Kelly cared for an injured Zoe, they became overemotional, and kissed. Kinsella has explained the reasons behind the kiss: "They're stuck in the hills, thinking they're going to die - it's a way of saying goodbye and also of showing how much they love each other as friends. Which is quite sweet really." She claims that the lesbian kiss was made easier, due to the fact that she was kissing her off-screen best friend: "That made it so much easier. We thought we were just going to be laughing and giggling the whole way through, but we were very professional. It was so cold that we just wanted to get it over with. We were shaking from cold - not from nerves - and it was raining, so we just thought, 'Let's do it and get it done with'. I was really scared but it was fine. Now it just seems like a dream, I can't really remember it. We laugh about it now. When it came down to it, the truth was that it was just like any other screen kiss. The episode featuring the lesbian kiss attracted 9.5 million viewers, and the precise moment that they kissed was watched by 44% of the available viewing audience.
The kiss between the characters received criticism. The lesbian news site AfterEllen.com branded it a "gratuitous ratings-stunt…The writers bottled out and the two young women dismissed it as a one-off, assuring each other that neither of them was “like that,” leaving lesbian and bisexual viewers feeling cheated. This was a wasted opportunity, a chance to explore an emotionally complex situation between best friends that became just another exploitive TV moment instead." In an interview about homosexual television characters in The Guardian, scriptwriter Daran Little criticised UK lesbians in British soap: "Most lesbian characters are so lipstick. They start off straight and, lo and behold, they just can't resist it. You can see the straight fantasy at work behind the character". Journalist Paul Flynn stated that Zoe was an example of this, describing her as a "tabloid-friendly 18-year-old - who…brushed with lesbianism for all of five minutes."
Storylines
Kelly first appears on screen in December 2001. She is a young prostitute who is being pimped by the malicious Roxy Drake (Tracy Brabin). She had been thrown out by her family when she was a young girl and Roxy had taken her in off the streets. Kelly felt that she owed her and she had soon been persuaded to act as an underage prostitute for Roxy's clientele. Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), another runaway, has also been taken under Roxy's wing and she gives her a place to stay. Here, she meets and befriends Kelly, and on Roxy's instruction, Kelly sets about trying to convince Zoe to prostitute herself too. Zoe refuses to oblige, after which a furious Roxy starts demanding money from her in exchange for her hospitality. On Christmas Day that year, Kelly helps Zoe escape Roxy's evil clutches and Zoe returns to Albert Square, leaving Kelly to face up to a fuming Roxy.
Kelly is next seen in December 2002 when Zoe runs away from home for a second time, following her father's heart attack. She and Zoe decide to leave the United Kingdom and go to stay in Tenerife with one of Kelly's rich punters. Zoe returns to Walford and brings Kelly back with her. She takes up lodging with the rest of the Slaters and is soon welcomed in as part of the family. Now that she has given up prostitution, Kelly has no money, so Zoe decides that she should become a partner in her clothing stall, and the two run it together in Bridge Street market.
On New Year's Eve, Kelly sets her sights on the inexperienced Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker) and the two share a kiss. This leads Spencer to imagine that something more serious will happen between them, and he adorns Kelly with gifts and flowers in the hope that she will agree to date him. However, it is just a bit of fun for Kelly and she rebuffs all his further advances.
In order to buy into the stall, Kelly had stolen money from her ex-punter, Simon, and in January 2003 he shows up demanding that she pay him back. When she cannot repay him, he threatens her with the police, so Kelly cons Spencer into giving her money and also steals money from the stall to raise the funds. Zoe soon discovers that the money is missing, so Kelly blames Spencer and then flees. When the truth finally emerges, Zoe manages to talk Kelly out of leaving Walford and she quickly forgives her. Spencer decides to give up on Kelly after this, but on the night of his 18th birthday in April, Kelly decides to give him a night to remember by taking his virginity. Spencer is ecstatic, but his brother, Alfie (Shane Richie), manages to upset things by offering Kelly money to take Spencer out for a second date. Kelly wrongly assumes that Alfie knows about her past as a prostitute and furiously accuses Spencer of trying to buy her body, which puts a halt on their potential relationship.