Adam Best (EastEnders)
| Adam Best | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Adam best.jpg Adam's facial expression appears permanently constipated because of his illness. | |||||||
| Portrayed by | David Proud | ||||||
| Duration | 2009— | ||||||
| First appearance | 10 September 2009 | ||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||
| Introduced by | Diederick Santer | ||||||
| |||||||
Adam Best is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by David Proud, the first adult actor with a visible disability to appear regularly in the soap.[1] Both Proud and his character live with spina bifida. The character made his first appearance in the episode broadcast on 10 September 2009.
Creation
Adam is the son of character Manda Best, played by Josie Lawrence. Both the character and the actor have spina bifida and are wheelchair users.[1][2] He is being introduced as part of a series of measures by the BBC to raise the profile of disabled actors.[2] He began filming in June 2009 and appeared on-screen from September 2009.[1]
Casting
Speaking of his casting, Proud said he is "delighted and honoured to be joining such a talented cast [and] very excited and looking forward to bringing the character to life."[1] The show's executive producer, Diederick Santer, said it was "about time" the show cast an adult actor with a disability, as up until Proud's casting, all disabilities in the show had been portrayed by children or able-bodied adults: "In recent years, we've had a number of regular and guest characters with disabilities, some of them children like Janet Mitchell [who has Down's syndrome] and more recently Syd's son, Noah [who is deaf]. We've also told the story of Jean Slater who suffers from bipolar disorder. But this is the first time we've had a regular adult character with a visible disability played by an actor with a disability. It's about time."[1]
In an interview with magazine Disability Now, Proud said he was offered the part of Adam at the same time as wondering whether a regular part would come up: "It was spooky the way it all worked out."[3] He went on to say "To move representation of disability in the media forward is something I take a lot of pride in. It is one of those lovely bonuses of doing what I do, you feel like hopefully if you do it right you're encouraging more disabled people to get into acting and not just increasing people's awareness of disability," and said he is not worried about the inevitable narrow-mindedness of some of the EastEnders audience: "Someone once said, 'If you can't laugh at yourself you're missing the joke of the century'. You will always get some people that disagree with the majority but I don't think it's their opinions that would matter to me."[3] Proud also said that the programme's sets may cause problems for the character, but will serve to highlight them: "We haven't tackled the height of the Queen Vic bar yet! But it's all representative, I mean, the world isn't accessible, and it's important that the set highlights this for my character."[3] Although the character's spina bifida is not the focus of his storyline, he still has to deal with other people's reactions to his disability.[4]
Personality
The character is described as "a 20-year-old self-obsessed, snobbish Oxford University student,"[1] though Proud disagrees with this assessment of the character's personality, saying, "The word I would use is 'spiky'. He's lovely and refreshing, not a stereotype, a very unique character. There's lots of potential with him. He does ruffle feathers and stuff but I think the response [to him] is going to be good."[3] He added that the character is ambitious and driven by success, and that he is "hard to be friends with."[4] He told British newspaper The Sun that his own independent nature was used to shape the scriptwriters' characterisation of Adam.[5] Santer said that the character would be "interesting, but possibly irritating".[6]
It is said that the character will form a low opinion of his mother's partner Minty Peterson (played by Cliff Parisi) and will fall for Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu), the girlfriend of Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins).[1][2]
Storylines
Adam's introduction to the show begins when Manda tells her boyfriend Minty that Adam is on a summer holiday abroad but will return to the UK in a couple of weeks due to his academic studies. Minty is reluctant when Manda suggests Adam could stay with them in a flat in Walford, because they haven't got any rooms vacant as they have a lodger Darren Miller. However, Manda makes arrangements for Adam to stay and he arrives on 10 September 2009.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Green, Kris (4 June 2009). "First disabled adult role for 'Enders". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
- ^ a b c Holmwood, Leigh (5 June 2009). "EastEnders hires disabled actor for first time". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Pride of the Square". Disability Now. Scope. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
- ^ a b "David Proud 11.09.2009". BBC Online. BBC. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ^ "I can't reach the bar in the Queen Vic... but life's like that". The Sun. News International. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
- ^ "Disabled character for EastEnders". BBC News Online. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2009.